This is Edward Thomas Hardy. He's a British actor.
You might recognize him from Inception, Star Trek: Nemesis, Bronson, or Wuthering Heights.
Or you might not. Because Tom Hardy is an amazing, chameleonic actor, and when he goes to do a role, he does it proper. He changes his appearance (sometimes drastically, as you can see), and his mannerisms, and his voice - the man is so, so talented. He's going to be incredibly famous, too. SO INCREDIBLY FAMOUS.
I've never really gotten this crazy over an actor before - the only one that's been close has been Jason Matthew Smith (Cupcake from Star Trek: 2009, but more importantly, Eric Olczyk from Playmakers - he's a football player who, after putting another player in the hospital, suffers from guilt and fear and in general emotes like crazy with his big, blue-green eyes). I mean, I was 13 when Lord of the Rings came out, and I never totally lost it over Orlando Bloom or Viggo Mortensen (or even Karl Urban or David Wenham). This level of fan-worship is still a bit foreign to me, and I always feel like a massive creeper. I've even considered writing fan mail. I mean, holy shit.
Something about this huge football player with woobie eyes.
Just... LOOK AT HIS EYES DAMNIT
Also? Tom Hardy takes hilarious photos of himself. Like awesome, grade-A Myspace photos, with incredibly amusing captions, and oh my God I cannot contain my love. I'm afraid to even be in the same city as him, because I don't want to turn into a crazed stalker and totally invade his privacy. It makes me feel uneasy, because even though I would love to know what he does in his free time, it's none of my business. But… myargh, I am just so in platonic love and admiration and fluff, and rainbows or puppies (yeah, just wait for the pictures of the puppies) etc. Er, just to clarify further, it's not a romantic interest- that feels weirdly inappropriate to me. It's just extreme appreciation.
ETA: Oh my God, read this about a kat that he found in Romania augh.
He's played a lot of darker roles and I just kind of love that he's willing to do those (okay, well, as an actor, in the beginning at least it's probably not like you turn any jobs away), and it's so incredibly awesome that he can pull off such a wide spectrum. His interviews are always hilarious and intelligent and he's going to be in a romcom (I want to see him in more love storiiieeeees) and Mad Max and Batman 3 and then THIS THIS THIS TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY asfd;lkajsd;lfkjasd just oh my god I will talk about it later
ANYWAYS
I will honestly try to keep the photos to a minimum. It's embarrassing how obsessed I am, but there's something strangely uplifting about admitting to yourself that you adore someone to the point of outrageousness. Like hero-worship, but almost self-aware. So here we go:
