David Wheeler (born March 20, 1963), better known as David Thewlis, is an English actor and filmmaker. He is known as a character actor and has appeared in a wide variety of genres in both film and television. He has received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and nominations for two BAFTA Awards, Golden Globe Award, Primetime Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Thewlis made his film debut in Little Dorrit (1987) and acted in the Mike Leigh films Life is Sweet (1990) and Naked (1993), winning the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for the latter. He then appeared in films such as Black Beauty (1994), Restoration (1995), James and the Giant Peach (1996), Dragonheart (1996), and Seven Years in Tibet (1997). He became more widely known to film audiences for his roles as Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter franchise (2004–2011) and Ares / Sir Patrick Morgan in Wonder Woman (2017). Other film roles include Kingdom of Heaven (2005), The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008), War Horse (2011), The Theory of Everything (2014), Anomalisa (2015), I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020), and Enola Holmes 2 (2022). Thewlis' most notable television roles include V. M. Varga in the third season of FX's Fargo (2017), the voice of the Shame Wizard in the Netflix animated sitcoms Big Mouth (2017–present) and Human Resources (2022–present), Christopher Edwards in the HBO miniseries Landscapers (2021), and John Dee in the Netflix drama series The Sandman (2022). His performance in Fargo earned him nominations for an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and a Critics' Choice Award.

Filmography

• Dirty Business — Ash Smith
• 2026Signal One — Perry
• 2025Avatar: Fire and Ash — Peylak
• Sherlock & Daughter — Sherlock Holmes
• 2025The Thing with Feathers — Crow (voice)
• KAOS — Hades
• The Artful Dodger — Norbert Fagin
• 2022Enola Holmes 2 — Grail
• Human Resources — Memory Bank Manager (voice), Lionel St. Swithens (voice)
• 2022The Amazing Maurice — Boss Man / Rat King (voice)
• The Sandman — John Dee
• Landscapers — Christopher Edwards
• 2021Rare Beasts — Vic
• 2021Zack Snyder's Justice League — Ares
• Barkskins — Claude Trepagny
• 2020Eternal Beauty — Mike
• 2020Guest of Honour — Jim
• 2020I'm Thinking of Ending Things — Father
• The Feed — Lawrence Hatfield
• 2018The Mercy — Rodney Hallworth
• Big Mouth — Shame Wizard (voice), Lionel St. Swithens (voice), Actor (voice)
• 2017Justice League — Ares
• 2017Wonder Woman — Sir Patrick / Ares
• 2015An Inspector Calls — Inspector Goole - The Inspector
• 2015Anomalisa — Michael Stone (voice)
• 2015Legend — Leslie Payne
• 2015Macbeth — Duncan
• 2015Queen & Country — Sargeant Major Bradley
• 2015Regression — Professor Kenneth Raines
• Fargo — V.M. Vargas
• 2014Stonehearst Asylum — Mickey Finn
• 2014Sunday Roast — Dick Puck, Writer
• 2014The Theory of Everything — Dennis Sciama
• 2013RED 2 — The Frog
• 2013Separate We Come, Separate We Go — Norman
• 2013The Fifth Estate — Nick Davies
• 2013The Zero Theorem — Joby
• 2012Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen — (archive footage)
• 2011Anonymous — William Cecil
• 2011Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 — Remus Lupin
• 2011The Lady — Michael Aris
• 2011The Organ Grinder's Monkey — Pablo (voice)
• 2011War Horse — Lyons
• 2010Athena — Chuck
• 2010Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 — Remus Lupin
• 2010London Boulevard — Jordan
• 2010Mr. Nice — Jim McCann
• 2009Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince — Remus Lupin
• 2009Veronika Decides to Die — Dr. Blake
• 2008The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas — Father
• 2007Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix — Remus Lupin
• 2007The Inner Life of Martin Frost — Martin Frost
• 2006All the Invisible Children — Jonathan (segment "Jonathan")
• 2006Basic Instinct 2 — Roy Washburn
• 2006The Omen — Keith Jennings
• The Street — Joe Jennerson / Harry Jennerson
• 2005Kingdom of Heaven — Hospitaler
• 2005The New World — Wingfield
• 2004Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban — Remus Lupin
• 2003Cheeky — Harry Sankey, Director, Writer
• 2003Little Wolf's Book of Badness — Mr. Twister (voice)
• 2003Timeline — Robert Doniger
• 2002D.I.Y. Hard — Man
• 2002Dinotopia — Cyrus Crabb
• Dinotopia — Cyrus Crabb
• 2002Discovering Dinotopia — Cyrus
• 2002Hamilton Mattress — Hamilton Mattress (voice)
• 2001Goodbye Charlie Bright — Charlie's Dad
• 2000Endgame — Clov
• 2000Gangster No. 1 — Freddie Mays
• 2000The Miracle Maker — Judas Iscariot (voice)
• 2000Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? — Nesbit
• 1999Love Story — Dealer
• 1998Besieged — Jason Kinsky
• 1998Divorcing Jack — Dan Starkey
• 1998The Big Lebowski — Knox Harrington
• 1997American Perfekt — Santini
• 1997Seven Years in Tibet — Peter Aufschnaiter
• 1996DragonHeart — King Einon
• 1996James and the Giant Peach — Earthworm (voice)
• 1996The Island of Dr. Moreau — Douglas
• 1995Hello, Hello, Hello — Director, Writer
• 1995Restoration — John Pearce
• 1995Total Eclipse — Paul Verlaine
• 1994Black Beauty — Jerry Barker
• Dandelion Dead — Oswald Martin
• Frank Stubbs Promotes — Mike Bence
• 1993Naked — Johnny
• Naked — Johnny
• 1993The Trial — Franz
• 1992Afraid of the Dark — Locksmith / Tom Miller
• 1992Black and Blue — Crematorium Attendant
• 1992Damage — Detective
• 1992Swords at Teatime — Mike
• 1991Filipina Dreamgirls — Tim Shanks
• 1991Journey to Knock — Terry
• 1991Life Is Sweet — Nicola's Lover
• Prime Suspect — James Jackson
• Shrinks — Terry Slater
• 1991Skulduggery — Tony
• Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit — Doctor
• A Bit of a Do
• 1989Resurrected — Kevin Deakin
• Screen One — Tim Shanks
• 1988Deep Red Instant Love
• 1988Vroom — Ringe
• 1987Little Dorrit — George Braddle
• 1987Road — Joey
• 1987The Short & Curlies — Clive
• Valentine Park — Max
• ScreenPlay — Joey, Terry
• The Singing Detective — Soldier
• 1985Radio Pictures — JIM 'Grams'
• Screen Two — Franz
• Summer Season — Keith
• Only Fools and Horses — Stew

Appearances as themselves (9)

• 2021Val — Self (archive)
• 2018Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal — Self (archive footage)
• 2017Harry Potter: A History Of Magic — Himself
• 2016None of Them Are You: Crafting Anomalisa — Self
• 2011How to Get a Head in Sculpture — Self
• 2004The Magic Touch of Harry Potter — Self
• 2003Check the Gate: Putting Beckett on Film — Self - Clov (archive footage)
• 1997The Making of 'DragonHeart' — Self
• 1994Dreamtown: A Brief Anatomy of Blackpool — Self