Thomas Craig was born Craig Thompson on December 4, 1962. His stage name is taken from Tommy Craig, a former Sheffield Wednesday player.
As his surname was Thompson, he was called Tommy from a young age, "Tom as a nickname so I’ve never really been called Craig. Only family call me Craig. When I get called Craig, I know I’m in trouble."
Tom was a plumber for six years before beginning work as an actor in the 1980s. A good reader from a young age and obsessed with reading the sports pages, he was picked to read at assembly in his junior school regularly. He was more influenced by his dad letting him stay up late to watch Burt Lancaster, John Wayne, Cagney films: "I found a love of acting in cinema from the films my dad liked." Tom went to London for three years to study drama when he was 22, "so I was a plumber from 16 to 22, drama school from 22 to 25 and I’ve been a professional actor ever since".
His television credits include "Blue Murder", The Paradise Club, Inspector Morse, EastEnders, Cadfael, Prime Suspect, Soldier Soldier, Coronation Street, Where the Heart Is and the Shaftesbury Films series The Listener. About Coronation Street, Tom has said, "I totally had a shelf life on “Corrie” because my character wasn’t a pleasant person. So I lasted 2 and a 1/2 years and I did about 240 episodes."
Tom took on the mantle of Inspector Thomas Brackenreid in Murdoch Mysteries from Colm Meaney who played the character in the original Films. Then show-runner for Murdoch Mysteries was Cal Coons who was casting the show and was a big Ken Loach fan: Tom's show-reel had a scene from The Navigators that he’d done with Ken. Cal told him, “We thought if you’re good enough for Ken Loach, you’re good enough for us”.
He is married to Siobhan McKay and they have a daughter Tess Craig. They live in England and Toronto, Ontario. Thomas Craig admits, "If the jobs stopped tomorrow, I think I’d still come to the Balmy Beach for three months of the year and to play beach volleyball."
In 2018, Thomas Craig performed in the play Soldier On by Jonathan Lewis in London.
As of the end of Season 16, neither Thomas Craig nor CBC have officially confirmed Craig's permanent departure from "Murdoch Mysteries".
Trivia
- As of 2018, Thomas Craig's top three favorite MM episodes are: Rich Boy, Poor Boy, Bend It Like Brackenreid, and Raised On Robbery (plus a fourth, Loch Ness Murdoch).
- The two songs Thomas Craig remembers from being small are "Yesterday" by the Beatles and "Downtown" by Pet Clark.
- As of 2020 and the 200th episode, Thomas Craig has been in 188 episodes of Murdoch Mysteries; His personal record is 237 episodes on Coronation Street.
- The Sheffield Wednesday story of Coronation Street’s Tommy Craig
External Links
- Interview: Thomas Craig talks about Secrets and Lies.
- Thomas Craig about Balmy Beach Club and his career.
Gallery
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| Murdoch Mysteries Stars and Characters |
|---|
| Yannick Bisson as William Murdoch • Hélène Joy as Julia Ogden • Thomas Craig as Thomas Brackenreid • Jonny Harris as George Crabtree |