Burn Gorman

Early life

Burn Hugh Gorman was born on 1 September 1974 in Los Angeles, California, the son of English parents. His father was a professor of linguistics at UCLA. He has three older sisters. He has reportedly claimed to be the nephew of Bartley Gorman, considered "King of the Gypsies". At the age of 7, he moved with his family back to England, where they settled in London. He later trained at the Manchester School of Theatre at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Gorman is also an accomplished beatboxer. He participated in the 2003 International Human Beatbox Convention, where he won the title of Radio 1Xtra's Human Beatbox Champion.

Career

One of Gorman's earliest television roles was in 1998 as Etheric Foundation cult leader Ben Andrews in Granada TV's Coronation Street. He played William Guppy in the 2005 BBC One adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House, before being cast as Owen Harper in the BBC science fiction series Torchwood. Gorman starred in the first two series of the show before his character was killed off in the series 2 finale, "Exit Wounds".

Other BBC television roles include Lark Rise to Candleford, Funland, and Bonekickers; he also appeared in Channel 4's political thriller Low Winter Sun.

Gorman played scriptwriter Ray Galton in the BBC Four television play The Curse of Steptoe. He has also appeared in television series such as Dalziel and Pascoe, Casualty, Merseybeat and The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.

Gorman played Jed on the soap opera EastEnders in March 2007. He starred as Hindley Earnshaw in the ITV adaptation of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. In 2011, he starred in Sky1's second Martina Cole adaptation, The Runaway and in 2014, portrayed Adam, the lead character's stalker and fellow immortal, in ABC's Forever. He played Karl Tanner in seasons 3 and 4 of HBO's Game of Thrones, Major Hewlett in the AMC miniseries Turn and Nicholas Farlow on the BBC miniseries Jamestown.

On film, Gorman has had roles in Layer Cake, The Best Man, Penelope, Fred Claus, Cemetery Junction, and The Dark Knight Rises. He also appeared as Dr. Hermann Gottlieb in the film Pacific Rim and its sequel Pacific Rim: Uprising.

On radio, Gorman played Elizabethan spy Robert Poley in Michael Butt's The Babington Plot (2008) and Unauthorized History: The Killing (2010) and Mike Walker's The Reckoning: The Death of Christopher Marlowe (2022).

Gorman's stage credits include Ladybird (Royal Court), Flush (Soho Theatre), and Gong Donkeys (Bush Theatre), prompting Michael Billington of The Guardian to write that "Gorman proves that he is one of the best young actors in Britain". He has performed in readings, workshops, and development initiatives with the National Theatre Studio, Young Vic, Royal Court, Oxford Stage Company, Paines Plough and Soho Theatre. Outside London, he has worked with Nottingham Playhouse, the Theatre Royal, Plymouth and the Royal Exchange and Contact Theatres, where he was nominated for a Manchester Evening News Best Newcomer Award.

From 2008 to 2009, Gorman played Bill Sikes in the West End revival of the musical Oliver! for which he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical in the 2010 Whatsonstage Theatre Awards.

Personal life

Gorman was married to schoolteacher Sarah Beard from 2004 to 2017. They have three children.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Radio

References

References

1. "Burn Gorman, Where's Your Head At?".
2. "[https://vimeo.com/150311389 Chicago TARDIS 2015: Burn Gorman] During a talk at the Doctor Who convention [[Chicago TARDIS]], which took place from 27 to 29 November 2015, Gorman was prompted to point out inaccuracies in his Wikipedia article. He allowed the moderator's reading of his name as "Burn Hugh Gorman", but clarified, "For a while [...] I would get some questions saying 'So, your name's Burn Hugh ''Winchester'' Gorman?' and I don't know where that started! It may be with Wikipedia, or something, but for some reason somebody had edited and put my name as 'Burn Hugh ''Winchester'' Gorman', and that is not either true or relevant in any way. So that is a lie." (timecode 9:00-9:35).
3. "Meet the characters and cast of Wuthering Heights". PBS.org.
4. Fulton, Rick. (7 July 2013). "Movie star Charlie Hunnam braced for biggest role to date in new blockbuster Pacific Rim".
5. "Notable Alumni". Manchester Metropolitan University.
6. Ling, Thomas. (18 April 2020). "John Barrowman thinks some key Torchwood deaths happened "too soon"".
7. Oswald, Anjelica. (16 June 2019). "21 'Game of Thrones' actors who have played DC characters".
8. "BBC Radio 4 - Drama, Michael Butt - The Babington Plot".
9. "BBC Radio 4 - Drama, Michael Butt - Unauthorized History: The Killing".
10. "BBC Radio 4 - Drama, Mike Walker - The Reckoning: The Death of Christopher Marlowe".
11. Michael Billington. (8 November 2004). "Gong Donkeys". [[The Guardian]].
12. (22 April 2004). "Flush by David Dipper". Soho Theatre Company.
13. "Burn Gorman {{!}} TV Guide".
14. "Game of Thrones' Burn Gorman".
15. Julian, Mark. (June 29, 2013). "Guillermo del Toro On ''Pacific Rim''". [[YouTube]].
16. Marc, Christopher. (January 9, 2017). "Rinko Kikuchi and Karl Urban Are In 'Pacific Rim Uprising'; Character Names Revealed?". Omega Underground.
17. (22 July 2019). "Millie Bobby Brown and Henry Cavill to Star as Sherlock and His Exceptional Younger Sister, "Enola Holmes," as Legendary Pictures Begins Production in London to Bring Nancy Springer's Bestselling Books to the Big Screen". [[Legendary Pictures]].
18. Grater, Tom. (March 16, 2021). "Maika Monroe, Karl Glusman & Burn Gorman Starring In Thriller 'Watcher'".
19. Vivarelli, Nick. (March 16, 2021). "Maika Monroe, Karl Glusman Join Chloe Okuno Thriller 'Watcher'".
20. D'Alessandro, Anthony. (August 19, 2020). "Cate Blanchett, Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton & More Round Out Cast For Guillermo del Toro Netflix 'Pinocchio' Movie".
21. Yoo, Eun-bi. (July 26, 2023). "비공식작전', 모로코 정우성→'미임파7' 배우…5인 5색 해외 조연". SPOTV News.
22. D'Alessandro, Anthony. (September 16, 2022). "'Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes' Rounds Out Cast With Fionnula Flanagan, 10 Others".
23. DiVincenzo, Alex. (July 21, 2023). "'Beetlejuice 2' – We Visited the East Corinth, Vermont Filming Location of Tim Burton's Sequel".
24. Sandwell, Ian. (18 August 2025). "Sam Claflin's "taut" and "gripping" British crime thriller confirms UK release date".
25. Grobar, Matt. (May 29, 2025). "Robert John Burke & Burn Gorman Board Alejandro G. Iñárritu's Tom Cruise Film For Warner Bros".
26. Kit, Borys. (October 10, 2025). "New 'Jumanji' Movie to Begin Shooting in November, Brittany O'Grady Joins Returning Cast (Exclusive)".
27. Wiseman, Andreas. (2025-09-30). "Gareth Evans & Amazon MGM’s Remake Of ’60s Japanese Crime Pic ‘A Colt Is My Passport’ Will Star Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, Tim Roth, Jack Reynor, Lucy Boynton & More".
28. Grobar, Matt. (23 October 2025). "Harry Lawtey, Jodie Turner-Smith, Viola Prettejohn & Burn Gorman Join Olivia Cooke In Chloe Okuno's Neon Horror Film 'Brides'".
29. Whitbrook, James. "Hell Yeah, Burn Gorman Is Joining The Expanse". Gizmodo.