Greg Hardy (born July 28, 1988) is an American football defensive end for the Carolina Panthers. He was drafted by the Panthers in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He played college football at Ole Miss.

Early years[link]

Hardy was a high school teammate of former Rebel teammate Michael Oher. Hardy was considered a three-star prospect by Rivals.com and ranked 30th among weakside defensive end prospects in 2006.^[1]

College career[link]

Hardy was considered one of the best prospects available for the 2009 NFL Draft^[2] but he elected to return to Ole Miss for a senior season.^[3] He underwent surgery on a broken bone in his right foot during the off-season but was expected to be ready for the 2009 season.^[4]

Hardy had 38.5 career TFLs and 26.5 sacks, including an SEC-best 10.0 in 2007.

Professional career[link]

Pre-draft[link]

According to Sports Illustrated, Hardy was a top prospect for the 2010 NFL Draft.^[6]

Carolina Panthers[link]

Hardy was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the sixth round (175th overall) of the 2010 NFL Draft. He was signed to a contract on June 17, 2010.^[7]

Greg Hardy managed to record a blocked punt for a safety as well as force a fumble and record 4 tackles in his rookie debut.

Hardy played in 15 games his rookie year but started none; he finished the year with 30 tackles, 3 sacks, two forced fumbles, and a safety.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ole Miss Rebels football bio

Tom Hardy
Hardy in July 2010
Born	Edward Thomas Hardy (1977-09-15) 15 September 1977 (age 34) Hammersmith, London, UK
Nationality	British
Years active	2001–present
Height	5'9" (1.78 m)
Spouse	Sarah Ward (1999-2004) (divorced)
Partner	Charlotte Riley (2011-present); (engaged)

Edward Thomas "Tom" Hardy (born 15 September 1977) is a British actor and screenwriter. He is known for his roles in Star Trek: Nemesis, RocknRolla, Bronson, Inception, Warrior, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, This Means War, and the television movie Stuart: A Life Backwards, for which he received a nomination for the BAFTA Best Actor. He also played Freddie Jackson in Martina Cole's The Take, a television movie based on her novel of the same name. He will portray the primary villain Bane in the upcoming Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises.

Early years[link]

Hardy, an only child, was born in Hammersmith, and brought up in East Sheen, London.^[1] His mother, Anne (née Barrett), is an artist and painter whose family was Irish Catholic. His father, Edward "Chips" Hardy, is an advertisement, comedy and novel writer.^[2][3] Hardy studied at two private schools, Reed's School and Tower House School, then at Richmond Drama School, and subsequently at the Drama Centre London. He began his debut in war dramas, winning the part of United States Army Private John Janovec in the award-winning HBO and BBC miniseries Band of Brothers. He made his feature film debut in Ridley Scott's 2001 war thriller Black Hawk Down.

Career[link]

In 1998, Hardy won "The Big Breakfast's Find Me a Supermodel" competition at age 21 (and with it a brief contract with Models One).

Tom joined Drama Centre London in September 1998 and was taken out early to work on Band of Brothers (2001).

In 2003, Hardy appeared in the film dot the i, sharing the bill with Gael García Bernal. He then travelled to North Africa for Simon: An English Legionnaire, a story of the French Foreign Legion. In the same year, he gained some heavy international exposure as the Reman Praetor Shinzon, a clone of USS Enterprise Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) in Star Trek Nemesis. He returned to England to feature in the 2003 thriller LD 50 Lethal Dose.

Hardy was awarded the 2003 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Outstanding Newcomer for his performances in Blood and In Arabia We'd All Be Kings performed at the Royal Court Theatre and Hampstead Theatre. He was also nominated for a 2004 Laurence Olivier Award for Most Promising Newcomer of 2003 in a Society of London Theatre Affiliate for his performance in the aforementioned production of In Arabia We'd All Be Kings.

Hardy appeared in the 2005 BBC miniseries The Virgin Queen as Robert Dudley, a childhood friend of Elizabeth I. The miniseries portrays them as having a platonic, though highly romantic, affair throughout her reign over England during the 16th century. Hardy featured in the Richard Fell adaptation of the 1960s sci-fi series A for Andromeda, on BBC Four.

In 2007, he appeared in the BBC Two drama based on a true story – Stuart: A Life Backwards. He played the lead role of Stuart Shorter, a homeless man who had been subjected to years of abuse and whose death was possibly suicide. In September 2008, he appeared in director Guy Ritchie's London gangster film, RocknRolla. He played the role of gay gangster Handsome Bob, one of the members of the criminal gang the Wild Bunch, led by One Two (Gerard Butler), on whom Bob has a crush. Hardy will reprise the role in Ritchie's sequel The Real RocknRolla.

In early 2009, Hardy starred in the film Bronson, about the real-life prisoner Charles Bronson, who has spent most of his adult life in solitary confinement. For the film, he put on three stone (19 kg/42 pounds) of muscle.^[4]

In June 2009, Hardy starred in the Martina Cole written 4-part TV drama The Take on Sky One as a drugs and alcohol fuelled gangster. The role gained him a Best Actor nomination at the 2009 Crime Thriller Awards.^[5]

In August 2009, he appeared in Wuthering Heights, playing the part of Heathcliff, the classic love character who falls in love with his childhood friend Cathy (played by Charlotte Riley), "the love that destroyed everything it touched". It was even suggested by tabloid paper The Sun that he began a relationship with Charlotte Riley shortly after finishing work on The Take, and that he left his partner of two years and mother of his infant son to be with Riley. Riley has disputed this rumour in interviews.^[6]

In early 2010, Hardy starred in The Long Red Road at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago.^[7] The play was written by Brett C. Leonard and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hardy won some good reviews for his portrayal of Sam, an alcoholic trying to drink away his past.^[8][9]

In 2010, he starred as Eames in Christopher Nolan's science fiction thriller Inception for which he won a BAFTA Rising Star award.

In June 2010, Hardy announced on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross that he will play the title role in a new version of Mad Max.^[10] Hardy replaced Michael Fassbender in the 2011 adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, also featuring Gary Oldman and Colin Firth,^[11] the second film by director Tomas Alfredson, released on 5 September 2011 at the 68th edition of the Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica in Venice. He will play a bootlegger in John Hillcoat's Lawless.^[12] He will play the chemically enhanced villain Bane in The Dark Knight Rises which is the final film in the Christopher Nolan saga and is set for release in 2012.^[13]

Hardy starred as one of the two the main protagonists in the film Warrior, with Nick Nolte portraying his father, a washed up, alcoholic, former wrestler that trains him to fight in a mixed martial arts tournament against his brother, portrayed by Joel Edgerton. It was released on 9 September 2011 by Lionsgate Films.

Hardy also starred in This Means War, a 2012 American film directed by McG. The film also has co-stars, Reese Witherspoon and Chris Pine. Hardy portrays one of the two main protagonists, Tuck Henson who is vying for affection from Lauren Scott whilst facing some competition from his best friend and fellow CIA agent, FDR Foster.

Hardy stated in January 2012 that he had begun watching gangster films for Warner Bros. in preparation for his role as Al Capone in director David Yates' Cicero trilogy, which is expected to begin filming in 2013.^[14]

In March 2012, Hardy signed a first-look deal at Warner Bros., a little more than a year after he came on board to portray the villain Bane in the studio's "The Dark Knight Rises". Hardy's deal was signed on the heels of Warner inking a two-year, first-look deal with Bradley Cooper for his 22 & Indiana Pictures production company.^[15]

In March 2012 in Ireland, on RTE program Craig Doyle Live, Gareth Thomas announced that Tom Hardy is in talks to play him in a film of his life.

Personal life[link]

Hardy married Sarah Ward in 1999; they divorced in 2004. He has a son, Louis Thomas Hardy (born 8 April 2008), with ex-girlfriend Rachael Speed.^[16] In July 2010, Hardy proposed to actress Charlotte Riley, after a year of dating.^[17]

Hardy battled alcoholism and a crack cocaine addiction in his early-to mid-twenties. He entered a rehab clinic and has been sober and clean since 2003.^[18]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Dempster, S (22 September 2007). "Tom Hardy tastes the hard life". The Times (UK). http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article2484313.ece. Retrieved 3 October 2007. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tom Hardy

• Tom Hardy at the Internet Movie Database
• Tom Hardy at AllRovi
• Tom Hardy at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Tom Hardy as Freddie Jackson
• Tom Hardy as Bane