Born: 17th June 1982 (as Thomas Arthur Darvill)
Episodes Broadcast: 2010-2012

Performance was part of Tom Darvill's life practically from the moment of his birth in Birmingham, West Midlands. His father was a musician who played with acts like UB40 and the Fine Young Cannibals. With his encouragement, Darvill became a skilled singer, guitarist, pianist and percussionist. His mother was an actress and puppeteer, and Darvill would often help get things ready for her shows. It was perhaps inevitable that he would become involved with plays and musicals during his school days, and he also joined the Stage2 Youth Theatre Company. At age seventeen, Darvill won a job with ITV, hosting linking segments for their children's programming. He left after a year and, following a period of time working various odd jobs, he co-founded a theatre company called Fuego's Men.

Next, Darvill won a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, from which he graduated in 2006. A succession of plays followed, such as Swimming With Sharks with Christian Slater, where one of his castmates was his future Doctor Who co-star, Matt Smith. Darvill returned to television with small roles in The Verdict and He Kills Coppers, followed by a more prominent part in the 2008 adaptation of Little Dorrit; he had now adopted “Arthur Darvill” as his professional name. Music also remained part of Darvill's repertoire, as he composed songs and scores for several plays. Darvill's movie debut came in 2010, when he could be seen in both the biopic Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll with Andy Serkis and Russell Crowe's Robin Hood.

2010 saw Darvill earn his big break, with his debut as Rory Williams in Doctor Who

The same year saw Darvill earn his big break, with his debut as Rory Williams in Doctor Who. Initially appearing in Smith's first episode, The Eleventh Hour, it appeared that Rory would play second fiddle to the Eleventh Doctor in the affections of companion Amy Pond. But showrunner Steven Moffat had a different direction in mind: over the course of the season, Rory joined the TARDIS crew, was apparently killed, came back to life -- initially as an Auton replica -- and married Amy. The following year, he and Amy were revealed to be the parents of the time-travelling River Song before they chose to resume their regular lives. But Darvill's tenure on Doctor Who wasn't quite finished; the Doctor re-entered Rory's life for five further episodes in 2012, before The Angels Take Manhattan brought his adventures to a close. In the meantime, Darvill also recorded several original Doctor Who dramas for BBC Audio, starting with The Ring Of Steel in 2010.

Darvill concentrated on the stage for the next few years, including a lead role in the musical Once which took him to both Broadway and the West End. Nonetheless, he could be seen on television in The White Queen, and had a regular role in Broadchurch, which starred the Tenth/Fourteenth Doctor, David Tennant. Darvill jumped to Hollywood in 2016, when he took the role of Rip Hunter, Time Master in the super-hero ensemble Legends Of Tomorrow. His character was written out during the programme's third season, but he returned for its one-hundredth installment in 2021. Subsequent television credits included episodes of Sticky and World On Fire.

In 2020, Darvill recorded a webcast called Rory's Story, which took the form of a message from Rory Williams to his adopted son about his adventures with the Doctor. It was released during the lockdowns which punctuated the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, Darvill had maintained a long association with Big Finish Productions, with his first appearance in their Doctor Who family of audio plays coming in 2012's Paradise Frost, part of the Bernice Summerfield range. He finally began reprising Rory for Big Finish with the 2021 launch of a series called The Lone Centurion, set during the centuries when the Auton version of Rory guarded Amy as she was trapped in the Pandorica. Also appearing in The Lone Centurion was Darvill's wife, actress Inès de Clerq.