Menzies was born in Hammersmith, London, England, the son of Peter Menzies and Gillian (née Simpson).[citation needed] His mother was a teacher and his father a BBC radio producer.[2] He has one younger brother, Luke, who is a solicitor.[3][4] Menzies attended the Perry Court Rudolf Steiner School in Canterbury, Kent, where he was trained in the Steiner System, which includes movement, singing and instrumental music.[5] Then, he attended the Frensham Heights School, near Farnham in Surrey, at the same time as Hattie Morahan and Jim Sturgess.[2]
Menzies' first professional television role, beginning in 1998, was an eleven-episode stint on BBC's long-running medical drama Casualty.[9] Then he featured in director David Attwood's made-for-TV film Summer in the Suburbs and a series-three episode of ITV's crime drama Midsomer Murders.[10][11] In 2002, Menzies portrayed Vince in ITV's romantic comedy series I Saw You, appeared in three episodes of SAS drama Ultimate Force and featured in a series-one episode of WWII drama Foyle's War.[12][13][14][15] He also appeared in made-for-television film A Very Social Secretary, directed by Jon Jones, which launched UK Channel 4's spin-off station, More4.[16][17]
From 2005 to 2007, Menzies portrayed Marcus Junius Brutus, Julius Caesar's friend and later co-assassin, in the HBO/BBC historical drama series Rome (2005–07).[18] He next appeared as William Elliot in ITV's production of Jane Austen's classic Persuasion, and Derrick Sington in Channel 4's feature-length drama The Relief of Belsen, which chronicled the British liberation of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp at the end of WWII.[19][20] In 2008, Menzies starred in two stylistically different miniseries; the first was BBC's anthology mini-series Fairy Tales, in an episode entitled The Empress's New Clothes, where he portrayed Aidee.[21] The second was the series finale of BBC's Bonekickers, which followed a team of British archaeologists as they investigated mysteries and conspiracy theories surrounding historical artifacts.[22] The next year saw Menzies return to episodic television, with roles in ITV's legal drama Kingdom, alongside Stephen Fry, a special episode of BBC's comedy Pulling and several episodes of BBC One's spy drama Spooks.[23][24][25]
In 2013, Menzies first appeared as Edmure Tully, the heir to House Tully of Riverrun, in HBO's Game of Thrones, which was based upon George R. R. Martin's fantasy book series.[38] The role was recurring, with Menzies' final appearance occurring in the 2019 series finale.[39] That same year, Menzies starred in the series two finale of Channel 4's anthology series Black Mirror, and a two episode stint on BBC's long-running crime drama Silent Witness.[40][41] 2014 saw Menzies portray Maggie Gyllenhaal's bodyguard, Nathaniel Bloom, in the BBC's Emmy nominated mini-series The Honourable Woman, and Alexander in the series premier of BBC's dog training comedy Puppy Love.[42][43][44] The same year, Menzies first appeared in time travel drama series, Outlander, which is based upon author Diana Gabaldon's best-selling series of novels.[45] He portrayed the recurring dual roles of Frank Randall, a 20th-century historian, and Jonathan "Black Jack" Randall, his brutal 18th-century ancestor.[46][47] From 2015 to 2019, Menzies appeared in the recurring role of Dr. Harries, OB/GYN to lead character Sharon, in Amazon's original series Catastrophe.[48]
Menzies was announced, in June 2019, as a cast member for the Channel 4/Hulu original series This Way Up, a comedy set around the life of an English as a Second/Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) teacher, from actress and writer Aisling Bea.[59] In January 2022, he was set to lead limited drama series Manhunt created by Monica Beletsky, based on the book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James Swanson.[60]
2016 saw Menzies feature in three films. First was director Benedict Andrews' forbidden relationship drama Una, which was based upon the play Blackbird from Scottish playwright David Harrower, followed by filmmaker James Hughes' experimental film The Velvet Abstract, which saw Menzies provide narration.[82][83] Last was Underworld: Blood Wars, the fifth installment in the Underworld franchise, with Menzies starring as the main antagonist, Marius, opposite Kate Beckinsale's Selene.[84]
There is a remarkable performance, too, from Tobias Menzies as the slick supply-teacher historian, who believes academic success is merely a matter of tricks and spin. But Menzies also discovers a surprisingly attractive vulnerability in the character I missed the first time around.
One of Shakespeare's greatest innovations was to dramatise people's thought processes: the articulation of the mind's search for meaning and identity. This is where Menzies' performance is most thrilling. He shows how language strives to express the self and to pin down the truth. Who am I? What do I think and feel? Menzies' delivery of the "To be or not to be..." speech burns with intelligence. This is one of the finest and most exciting Hamlets I’ve seen. Observe his face: it seems to mature, grow softer, more observant and expressive, and his death becomes a fulfilment as well as a failure
Wallace Shawn's monologue play The Fever, which explored the main character's internal struggle with the morality of a privileged existence, saw Menzies perform to a micro audience at London's decadent May Fair Hotel in early 2015.[109] Director Robert Icke purposely staged the play, produced by Almeida Theatre, at the May Fair Hotel in order to assist the small audience to better internalize its meaning.[110] That same year, he would join an extensive cast for a sixteen-hour production of Homer's The Iliad, performed throughout the day at the British Museum and concluding at the Almeida Theatre, as well as being broadcast live.[111] Working again with director Robert Icke, 2016 would see Menzies star in a modernised interpretation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya prior to performing dramatic readings of selected sonnets by Shakespeare in Middle Temple Hall's choral programme The Dark Lady and the Tender Churl.[112] Two years later, Menzies would return to the Almeida in their digital theatre production Figures of Speech, which highlighted performances of well known historical speeches.[113] He appeared in series three of the project, which has featured artists such as Ian McKellen, Fiona Shaw, and Andrew Scott.[114]
Early 2019 saw Menzies appear in the Gate Theatre's production of Sarah Ruhl's Dear, Elizabeth. The play, which dramatized letters between American poets Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell, featured two different actors each night of the show's run.[115][116] Later that year, Menzies starred in Almeida Theatre's production of The Hunt, which was set in Denmark and adapted from 2012's thriller film Jagten (The Hunt). The production ran from mid June to early August 2019.[117][118] His performance garnered positive reviews, with Henry Hitchings of Evening Standard writing, "Tobias Menzies’s performance as Lucas is finely controlled — a quietly devastating portrait of a man whose lonely fight to preserve his dignity takes him to the brink of madness."
Most recently, Menzies was cast as Chris[119] in the National Theatre's adaptation of Alexander Zeldin's The Other Place.[120] The production ran from September to November of 2024, and saw Menzies acting alongside actors Emma D'Arcy and Alison Oliver. His performance as Chris, a modernized version of Creon (king of Thebes) in the tale of Antigone, was highly praised by critics. Sarah Crompton for WhatsOnStage.com wrote how he was "towering as Chris, his constantly twitching hands displaying his anxiousness even when he is at his most urbane, his rocking on his feet conveying a man on the edge, desperately fighting for control and his sanity. (Menzies) is an actor of incredible stillness too; he doesn’t react, he simply seems to feel",[121] whilst Nick Curtis for the Evening Standard wrote that his performance portrayed "a finely detailed picture of a man who wants to be the ‘fun uncle’ and the matey stepdad but is implacable when his authority is challenged".[122]
Radio
Menzies' first professional radio performance was 2010's drama A Nice Little Holiday, the story of British playwright John Osborne's 1961 besieged holiday in the South of France, which aired on BBC Radio 4 in September of that year.[123] The next year, he would read an abridgement of Matthew Hollis' biography of poet and literary critic Edward Thomas, best known for his poem Adelstrop, on BBC Radio 4's series Book of the Week.[124] In his third collaboration with BBC Radio 4, Menzies was the voice of John Charrington's Wedding (2012), the second episode of a five-part series titled Ghost Stories of E Nesbit.[125] 2013's three-part radio drama, commissioned by BBC Radio 4, saw Menzies portray British writer and National Trust supporter James Lees-Milne, opposite Victoria Hamilton as novelist Nancy Mitford. The series consisted of three interconnected plays, based upon his WWII era journals, cataloging the decline of the English country house and titled Sometimes into the Arms of God,The Unending Battle, and What England Owes.[126][127][128] That same year, he would star in BBC Radio 3's drama Serious Money, adapted for radio by Emma Harding from Caryl Churchill's play of the same name, and BBC Radio 4's political drama Every Duchess In England, based upon Parliament's response to England's financial crisis of 1931.[129][130]
In 2014, Menzies featured in a five-part series for BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week where he read Laurie Lee's As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, an account of his travels in 1930s Spain, in sections released over a five-day period.[131] He would go on the next year to star as Andy Warhol in Sarah Wooley's BBC Radio 4 drama Fifteen Minutes, opposite Adrian Rawlins, and a second five-part Book of the Week series where he, along with the author, would read British travel writer Robert Macfarlane's celebration of language, Landmarks.[132][133] 2016 would see Menzies in another series which combined literary readings and music in an episode of BBC Radio 3's Words and Music series entitled Trapped. The episode explored both physical and mental entrapment with readings, including authors such as George Orwell and Charlotte Brontë, by both Menzies and Kate Phillips.[134] He would also feature in BBC Radio 4's Comment Is Free, a political and social commentary focusing on a wife, portrayed by Rachael Stirling, who is forced to watch both the public and media eviscerate her husband's story.[135]
Once again reading for BBC radio 4's series Book of the Week, Menzies narrated author Philip Hoare's exploration of our fascination with water and the sea in 2017's five-part RISINGTIDEFALLINGSTAR.[136]
^Easton, F. (1997). "Educating the whole child, "head, heart, and hands": Learning from the Waldorf experience". Theory into Practice. 36 (2): 87–94. doi:10.1080/00405849709543751.
^Salinsky, Tom (2017). The improv handbook : the ultimate guide to improvising in comedy, theatre, and beyond. Frances-White, Deborah,, McShane, Michael (Second ed.). London: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 5.10. ISBN9781350026162. OCLC973481500.
^ ab"Tobias Menzies". Interview Magazine. 1 February 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2019.