We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about how everyone from Claudia Winkelman to Benedict Cumberbatch has surprisingly well-known parents.
But you might not have known that Eleanor Tomlinson, who’s well-known for playing Jas in Angus, Thongs And Perfect Snogging, Demelza in Poldark and now Sylvie in Netflix’s adaptation of David Nicholls’ One Day, has a surprisingly famous dad too.
Her father, Malcolm Tomlinson, has starred as Robert Tyrwhitt in Elizabeth I, Bruce Baines in Emmerdale and an MP in Peaky Blinders. Interestingly, he’s also a horse racing commentator for Racing TV and Sky Sports Racing, ITV Racing and BBC Radio 5Live.
Meanwhile, her mother, Judith Hibbert, appeared in childrens’ show Rainbow and played Chantelle in The New Statesman.
Eleanor’s father helped her to become an actor
Malcolm has previously recalled how he brought a young Eleanor to the set of The Bill because he “couldn’t get someone to look after her”.
“I said ‘I hope you don’t mind I have to bring my daughter with me’,” he revealed.
“Sue Tully, who played Michelle Fowler in EastEnders, was the director and she said it was fine so Eleanor sat on her knee all day.”
That seems to have sparked something in the future actor ― “when we were on the way home, Eleanor said ‘Daddy, I think I would like to do some acting,’” he said.
Later, she’d ask her father’s agent to represent her when they stayed with the family for a weekend. “In the end my agent said ‘shut up, get some photographs done and I will see if anything turns up,’” Malcolm revealed.
“Within five or six weeks she had got a little job for Yorkshire TV in a one-off drama called Falling – with Michael Kitchen – and that was her first professional job.”
Later, she landed The Illusionist, after which point her agent’s phone was “red hot,” Malcolm added.
She was then snapped up by a US agent before appearing in Angus, Thongs, And Perfect Snogging and Poldark.
You can watch One Day on Netflix now.