8 Reasons Why Tom Hardy Will Be The Biggest Actor Of 2015

3. He's One Of The Greatest Actors Alive...

Film fans have been shouting about the power of Tom Hardy since as far back as 2008, the year Bronson was released (some might go back further - Hardy was incredible in the previous year's Stuart: A Life Backwards, a made-for-TV movie in which Hardy plays a mentally disturbed man with muscular dystrophy). In the time since then, Hardy has arguably never put a foot wrong. It's not just the trademark focus and commitment Hardy brings to his performances, but the sheer range and depth he's displayed in the last five years alone. He's been a luvvy-ish conman in Inception, a loved-up field agent in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, a troubled fighter in Warrior, a patriarchal bootlegger in Lawless, a hulking, psychotic villain in The Dark Knight Rises, a regular Welsh bloke in Locke and a hangdog ex-criminal in The Drop. It's a collection of work that hardly any other modern actor can compete with. This could be the year the dam finally breaks and all that effort is suddenly recognised by a much wider audience, coming to Hardy's back catalogue after 2015's inevitable mass exposure.