Tom Hardy’s Wife Charlotte Riley’s Career Involves Kate Middleton, Clowns, and ‘Peaky Blinders’

Tom Hardy met his wife, Charlotte Riley, in 2008 on the set of a British TV adaptation of Wuthering Heights. They starred alongside each other as famous lovers Heathcliff and Catherine, which sparked a romance that would lead them to secretly become husband and wife in 2014. While Hardy went on to become an A-list Hollywood actor, Riley’s career in the UK has involved Kate Middleton, clowns, and Peaky Blinders. 

Tom Hardy found love on a movie set twice

Hardy divorced his first wife, Sarah Adams, in 2004 then started a five-year relationship with director Rachael Speed when they met on the set of The Virgin Queen. Four years later, when Speed was pregnant with Hardy’s first child, he met Riley on the set of Wuthering Heights. 

As they worked together he started developing feelings, and they began going out for coffee dates. Rumor has it that Hardy cheated on Speed — while she was pregnant — with Riley before breaking things off for good. But still, he took things slowly with Riley because she had her doubts about him.

“It wasn’t love at first cup. In fact, I was a bit unnerved when he switched into Charles Bronson [for the biopic Bronson],” Riley said, per The Daily Mail.

Hardy and Riley married in 2014 in a beautiful, low-key Château de Roussan wedding in France, and now have two children together. Speed was actually a special guest at the wedding, and reportedly has a good co-parenting relationship with Hardy and Riley.

Charlotte Riley’s career involves Kate Middleton, Clowns, and ‘Peaky Blinders’

Riley is a British actress who studied linguistics at Durham University before landing a spot at the prestigious London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). She also went to clown school at the prestigious Ecole Philippe Gaulier. She described one of her clowns as “quite possibly the most angry Minnie Mouse of all time.”

Before starring alongside Hardy in Wuthering Heights, Riley won a playwriting award from The Sunday Times for the comedy she co-wrote titled Shaking Cecilia. She sang in a 1940s doo-wop group called The Flirtinis. And, she was known for her performance as Sarah Hurst in the British comedy Easy Virtue.

In 2017, Rile played the role of Kate Middleton in the controversial film King Charles III — an adaptation of a play of the same name that told a “future history” story of what Charles’ reign would look like after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Riley also starred alongside Hardy in the British crime drama The Take and the period piece Peaky Blinders.

Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley’s characters didn’t interact in ‘Peaky Blinders’

Peaky Blinders was a British period crime drama that Hardy joined in season 2 as Alfred “Alfie” Solomons, the leader of a Jewish gang. In seasons 2 and 4, Riley played the role of May Fitz Carleton, but the characters that the real-life husband and wife portrayed never interacted in a scene.

Riley’s other acting credits include Edge of Tomorrow, alongside Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. And London Has Fallen, where she played an MI6 agent named Jacqueline Marshall. 

As a wife and mom-of-two, Riley told You Magazine that she’s doing her best to balance her home life and career — with a little bit of help.

“What’s important for me is stability – that’s what I aim for in terms of my friends, my family and my children. The best you can hope for is to create a warm, loving, safe and consistent environment. We do it the same way everyone else does: a combination of juggling and help,” Riley said.

Peaky Blinders is available to stream on Netflix. Wuthering Heights is on Amazon Prime Video.