Photo:Karwai Tang/WireImage
Karwai Tang/WireImage
Get to knowTom Hiddleston’s parents.
Likehis romantic life(includinghis relationship with fiancée Zawe Ashton), Hiddleston has kept his family mostly out of the spotlight since gaining international fame withhis Marvel role as Loki.
“Everyone is entitled to a private life. I love what I do and I dedicate myself with absolute commitment to making great art and great entertainment and in my mind I don’t conflict the two,” the actor, whowelcomed his first childwith Ashton in 2022, previously toldThe Telegraphabout headlines surrounding his personal life. “My work is in the public sphere and I have a private life. And those two things are separate.”
Though Hiddleston’s parents aren’t public figures, they have accompanied him to a handful of events over the years and the actor has spoken fondly of them in interviews.
Here’s everything to know about Hiddleston’s parents, Diana and James.
His mother was a stage manager
Hiddleston clearly got his love of the arts from his mother, Diana. In addition to being a former stage manager, perThe Telegraph, Diana is a big opera fan; her parents ran the Aldeburgh Festival, an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music.
His father ran a biotech company
While Hiddleston and his mother chose careers in the arts, his father pursued one in the sciences. Per a previous feature withThe Guardian, his dad, a physical chemist, “ran a biotech company that liaised with Oxford University.”
His mother got him interested in acting
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Speaking withThe Telegraph in 2014, Hiddleston noted that his mother’s career as a stage manager inspired his love of acting at a young age.
“She loved it, and she recognized that I loved it as well, which made it a very special thing to share,” Hiddleston told the publication of visiting the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford and the National Theatre in London with his family.
He noted that several productions he saw when he was a teenager made a big impression on him, including Sam Mendes’s 1997 version ofOthellostarring Simon Russell Beale — a show in which he would star in 2007. “I saw that three times,” Hiddleston told the publication.
His father initially didn’t want him to pursue acting
Despite his mom’s encouragement, Hiddleston recalls that his dad was skeptical at first about him pursuing it as a full-time career.
“He was genuinely worried that I would be bored and unfulfilled,” Hiddleston toldThe Telegraph. “Acting was completely other from anything he knew and he just couldn’t see that it was a real job.”
However, he noted that his father eventually changed his tune after seeing him in action. “He’s seen that it takes six months to make aThorfilm. I’ve described my working process to him; the fact that, some days, I get up at four in the morning and don’t get home until nine at night, and he’s absolutely acknowledged that that’s real work,” he said.
His parents sent him to Eton
Hiddleston was a boarding student at the Dragon School in Oxford and Eton, attending at the same time as Prince William. Speaking withThe Telegraphof his education, Hiddleston his father, who grew up as as the son of a shipyard worker before eventually attending Newcastle University, found it very important to send his own son to the prestigious school.
“My dad made himself from the ground up,” he said of his father. “So, once you’ve seen that, someone who’s come from nothing trying their hardest to give their child the best education."
He also addressed the reaction some had to hearing he went to such a storied institution. “Then you get out the other side and everyone throws fruit at you,” he joked. “The labels that are attached to me are, I would hope, the least interesting things about me.”
His parents divorced when he was a teenager
Around the same time Hiddleston started at Eton when he was 13, his parents divorced. “I like to think it made me more compassionate in my understanding of human frailty,” Hiddleston toldThe Telegraphabout his parents’ split, with the publication noting that the pivotal life moment made him even more “drawn to the catharsis that acting offered.”
To theDaily Mail,Hiddleston reflected on the effect the divorce had on his future career. “‘I think I started acting because I found being away at school while my parents were divorcing really distressing … I was really quite upset, and probably very sad and vulnerable and angry. Acting presented a way of expelling those feelings in a safe place.”
His parents rarely step out for public appearances
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Hiddleston’s parents don’t often make public appearances, but they have supported his career over the years. Though his father keeps a low profile, his mother has stepped out with Hiddleston on a few occasions, including hisOthelloafterparty in 2007.
In 2016, Hiddleston’s mother was seen spending time with him and his then-girlfriend Taylor Swift for a handful of outings in England amidtheir whirlwind romance. Most recently, Hiddleston attended Wimbledon with his mother in July 2023.
source: people.com
