Intro
British actor
A.K.A.
Thomas Payne
Is
Actor Stage actor Film actor
From
United Kingdom
Type
Film, TV, Stage & Radio
Gender
male
Birth
21 December 1982, Chelmsford
Age:
37 years
Thomas Payne (born 21 December 1982) is an English actor. He is known for appearing on AMC’s The Walking Dead as Paul “Jesus” Rovia.
Table of Contents
Early lifeCareerPersonal lifeFilmography
Early life
Payne was born in Chelmsford, Essex, and grew up in Bath, Somerset, where he attended King Edward’s School and was a prolific contributor to the school’s drama department. He attended the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama, graduating in June 2005. He then appeared in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.
Career
In January 2007, he first appeared in Waterloo Road for the BBC, playing sixth former Brett Aspinall. Despite being 24 at the time, Payne portrayed a 17-year-old character. He remained in the series until the end of the following season in March 2008. It was revealed afterwards that he would not be returning for the new season, beginning in January 2009.
In 2009, Payne played George Best in Best: His Mother’s Son, a BBC 2 film about the legendary footballer. In the same year he appeared in Marple: They Do It With Mirrors and Wuthering Heights for ITV.
Payne was named as one of Screen International’s Stars of Tomorrow 2007.
On 8 March 2010, it was announced that Tom had joined the cast of Luck a new pilot for HBO directed by Michael Mann, written by David Milch, starring Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte. He plays the role of a Cajun jockey.
In 2012, he was cast in the title role of The Physician (based on the book of the same name) alongside Stellan Skarsgard and Ben Kingsley.
Payne was cast with a recurring role in Season 6 of The Walking Dead, as Paul “Jesus” Rovia, and promoted to series regular for season 7.
in 2019, Payne cast as serial killer’s son in Fox TV series Prodigal Son.
Personal life
Payne has been dating singer Jennifer Åkerman since late 2013. He later revealed on an episode of Talking Dead that they are engaged.
His younger brother Will Payne is also an actor.
Filmography
Year
Title
Role
Notes
2008
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Phil Goldman
2009
Into the Rose-Garden
Sam
Short film
2011
The Task
Stanton
Generation Perdue
Toby Perdue
Short film
2012
The Inheritance
Matthew
My Funny Valentine
Zander
Still Young
Edward
Short film
2013
The Physician
Rob Cole
2015
Winter
Tom
MindGamers
Jaxon
2017
It’s No Game
East
Short film
2019
IO
Elon
Voice role
Year
Title
Role
Notes
2005
Casualty
Toby Tyler
Episode: “Love and Duty”
2007
Skins
Spencer
Episode: “Effy”
Miss Marie Lloyd
Bernard
Television film
2007–2008
Waterloo Road
Brett Aspinall
32 episodes
2008
He Kills Coppers
Jonny Taylor
Television film
2009
Wuthering Heights
Linton
2 episodes
Miss Marple
Edgar Lawson
Episode: “They Do It with Mirrors”
Best: His Mother’s Son
George Best
Television film
Beautiful People
Mr. Carr
Episode: “How I Got My Plumes”
2010
The People vs. George Lucas
Himself
Documentary
2011–2012
Luck
Leon Micheaux
9 episodes
2014
New Worlds
Monmouth
4 episodes
2016–2019
The Walking Dead
Paul “Jesus” Rovia
25 episodes
2016–2018
Talking Dead
Himself
7 episodes
2017
The Nightly Show
Episode: “With David Walliams – Night Four”
2018
Fear the Walking Dead
Paul “Jesus” Rovia
Episode: “What’s Your Story?”
2019
Prodigal Son
Malcolm Bright