Tom Hardy: 10 Roles That Passed You By

10. PFC. John Janovec - Band Of Brothers

Despite his unmitigated cinema success, Tom Hardy's recent role in the BBC series Peaky Blinders should come as no surprise considering it was the small, rather than silver screen which gave him his first big break. He may have left Drama school early, but it was a role in Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks' Band Of Brothers which set him on his path to stardom.

He may have only appeared in two episodes, but Hardy's role as Private John Janovec was far from insignificant. Regardless of the fact that David Schwimmer at the height of his Friends fame only appeared in three, in a series depcting the brutality of war, it is Jenovec's death which may be the most memorable, if not the most futile.

When their own fighting is over but with war in the east still looming over them, Points, the final episode of the series, shows the men of Easy Company dealing with what is now peace time in Austria. At one particular check point Janovec is working side by side with a German soldier discussing the best countries to fight in. It is returning from this post that his own war comes to an end, in a swerving jeep avoiding a fallen barrel from a passing lorry.