Tom Hiddleston’s Religion

Tom Hiddleston

By Pancheeva Prasartkul

“When human beings come face to face with the unknown,
sometimes our first instinct is to destroy what we do not

understand because actually we are frightened by the ambiguity,
the uncertainty of it.”

- Tom Hiddleston, Interview with Rosa Gamazo, February 2017

Introduction

Thomas William Hiddleston is an English actor. He made his film debut in the drama Unrelated
(2007) but gained international fame portraying Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

For his personality, in the interview, The Telegraph describes him as the perfect gentleman
saying he's "Impeccably well-mannered, he holds doors open, insists on paying for drinks ... and
by giving much more time than he needs." Perhaps that's why he looks so perfect even in candid

fan selfies, because he genuinely doesn't mind taking the photo.

Hiddleston’s Personal Life

Thomas William Hiddleston was born on 9 February 1981 in the Westminster district of
London, to Diana Patricia (née Servaes) Hiddleston, an arts administrator and former stage
manager, and Dr. James Norman Hiddleston, a physical chemist and former managing director
of a biotechnology company that liaised with Oxford University. His father is from Greenock,
Scotland and his mother is from Suffolk. His younger sister, Emma, is also an actress, whilst his
older sister, Sarah, is a journalist in India. Through his mother, he is a great-grandson of Vice
Admiral Reginald Servaes and a great-great-grandson of food producer Sir Edmund Vestey. His
paternal grandfather, Alexander, served in the Royal Artillery and worked as a player in the
shipyards. He shares the same name as his great-great uncle, Tom Hiddleston, a shipyard plater
from Greenock and a member of Royal Artillery's 51st (Highland) Division, who died after the
Battle of the Somme and whose name is engraved in the Broomhill war memorial.

Hiddleston was raised in Wimbledon in his early years, and later moved to a village near
Oxford. He began boarding at Windlesham House School at age seven, moving to the Dragon
School in Oxford a year later. His parents divorced when he was twelve. Regarding his parents'
divorce, he said, "I like to think it made me more compassionate in my understanding of human
frailty."

At age thirteen, Hiddleston started at Eton College, again as a boarder. He continued on to
Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge, where he earned a double first in Classics.
During his second term at Cambridge, he was seen in a production of A Streetcar Named Desire
by talent agent Lorraine Hamilton of Hamilton Hodell. He proceeded to study acting at the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, from which he graduated in 2005.

Hiddleston dated English actress Susannah Fielding from 2008 to 2011 after they met while
filming an episode of Wallander which Hiddleston was a series regular on. In 2016, Hiddleston
dated American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for several months. He is currently in a
relationship with English actress and writer Zawe Ashton whom he starred with in the 2019
Broadway play Betrayal.

Hiddleston’s Religious

Tom Hiddleston was born and raised in London, England. He didn’t define himself as any
religion in his interview, but he said in one interview that his father was from "strong,

Presbyterian Scottish working-class stock." But he makes no indication that he was raised
Presbyterian.

He once commented on "our increasingly secular society" in one interview, but not in a
negative way. And in another he discussed the human role in the creation of religion and
mythology. He said,

“The thing about playing gods, whether you're playing Thor and Loki or Greco Roman
gods or Indian gods or characters in any mythology, the reason that gods were invented
was because they were basically larger versions of ourselves”

Therefore, fans usually assume that he is a non-religious or an atheist.

Tom Hiddleston’s Charity Works
He has donated items for auction and has supported several charities, including the Small
Steps Project, Starlight Children's Foundation, Cure EB, Comic Relief, Red Nose Day USA,
Thomas Coram Foundation for Children, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Amnesty International
and Chance to Shine.

He is a UK ambassador of the humanitarian and developmental assistance fund group
UNICEF. He travelled to Guinea in early 2013 to raise awareness about hunger and
malnutrition, and to South Sudan in early 2015 and late 2016 to report the results of the ongoing
civil war on the lives of vast numbers of children across the country.
“Everyone I’ve met has experienced traumatic events that no one – least of all a child – should
ever have to go through,” said Tom as he reflected on what he saw during the trip.
In February 2018, he was named one of the donors by Justice and Equality Fund, the UK
version of the Time's Up initiative.[121] He is also an ambassador of the Illuminating BAFTA
campaign, an action which aims to provide opportunities to those who otherwise would not have
been given a chance in the film, games and television industries.

Tom Hiddleston’s Interesting Facts
1. He came to wider public attention when he was cast as Loki in the Marvel Cinematic
Universe, appearing in Thor, The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok.

2. For his role as Loki in the Marvel movies, Hiddleston won the Empire Award for Best
Male Newcomer and was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award.

3. Hiddleston has appeared in Steven Spielberg’s War Horse, The Deep Blue Sea, Woody
Allen’s romantic comedy Midnight in Paris, the 2012 BBC series Henry IV and Henry V, and
the romantic vampire movie Only Lovers Left Alive.

4. In late 2013 and early 2014, Hiddleston starred as the title character in the Donmar
Warehouse production of Coriolanus, winning the Evening Standard Theater Award for Best
Actor.

5. In 2015, he starred in Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak, Ben Wheatley’s High Rise, and
played the troubled country music singer Hank Williams in the biopic I Saw The Light.

6. In 2016, he starred in and was an executive producer of the AMC / BBC limited series The
Night Manager, for which he received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie and Outstanding Limited Series, and won
his first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film.

7. Hiddleston was born in Westminster, London, the son of Diana Patricia Hiddleston, an arts
administrator and former stage manager, and James Norman Hiddleston, a physical chemist.

8. His father is from Greenock, Scotland, and his mother is from Suffolk.
9. His younger sister, Emma, is also an actress, while his older sister, Sarah, is a journalist in
India.

10. Through his mother, he’s a great-grandson of Vice Admiral Reginald Servaes and a great-
great-grandson of food producer Sir Edmund Vestey.

11. Hiddleston was raised in Wimbledon in his early years, and later moved to a village near
Oxford.

12. He went to Dragon School preparatory school in Oxford.

13. His parents divorced when he was 12. When discussing his parents’ divorce in an interview
with The Daily Telegraph, he stated: “I like to think it made me more compassionate in my
understanding of human frailty.”

14. At the age of 13, Hiddleston began boarding at Eton College.

15. He attended Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge, where he earned a double
first in Classics.

16. During his second term at Cambridge, Hiddleston was seen in a production of A Streetcar
Named Desire by talent agent Lorraine Hamilton of Hamilton Hodell.

17. Hiddleston proceeded to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, from which he
graduated in 2005.

18. He played rugby at Cambridge University, but gave it up for his love of acting.

19. He screen tested for the title role in Thor, maintaining a strict diet and gaining 20 pounds of
muscle. However, Kenneth Branagh decided that he was more suitable for the role of Loki.

20. He won Third Prize at the Ian Charleson Awards in 2007.



“We all have two lives. The second one starts when we realize that we only have one.”
- Tom Hiddleston