Sam Riley

Acting

Sam Riley

Born

1980-01-08 (46)

Place of birth

Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

35 titles

He is best known for playing the lead role of Ian Curtis in the movie Control, a biopic about the lead singer of the 1970s post-punk band Joy Division. His performance in the role won him the British Independent Film Award for "Most Promising Newcomer". He also won a Kermode for Best Actor 2007 for the film. Prior to his portrayal of Ian Curtis, Riley played The Fall frontman Mark E. Smith in the Michael Winterbottom film 24 Hour Party People, which details the Factory Records era. His scenes, however, were omitted from the final cut. In September 2007, Riley was cast in Gerald McMorrow's British science fiction film Franklyn. He will play a lead role in 13, an English-language remake of t…

Known for

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit poster
8.0

In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

1999

Leute heute poster
5.2

No synopsis available yet.

Leute heute

1997

Maleficent poster
7.1

A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. She rises to be the land's fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal – an act that begins to turn her heart into stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces an epic battle with the invading King's successor and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realizes that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom – and to Maleficent's true happiness as well.

Maleficent

2014

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil poster
7.3

Maleficent and her goddaughter Aurora begin to question the complex family ties that bind them as they are pulled in different directions by impending nuptials, unexpected allies, and dark new forces at play.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

2019

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies poster
6.2

A zombie outbreak has fallen upon the land in this reimagining of Jane Austen's classic tale of the tangled relationships between lovers from different social classes in 19th century England. Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is a master of martial arts and weaponry and the handsome Mr. Darcy is a fierce zombie killer, yet the epitome of upper class prejudice. As the zombie outbreak intensifies, they must swallow their pride and join forces on the blood-soaked battlefield in order to conquer the undead once and for all.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

2016

The Vault poster
6.8

Madrid, Spain, 2010. While the whole city follows the national team's successful participation in the World Cup, a group of daring thieves look for a way into one of the most secure and guarded places on the planet.

The Vault

2021

Film credits

2020s · 11 titles

The Vault poster
6.8

Madrid, Spain, 2010. While the whole city follows the national team's successful participation in the World Cup, a group of daring thieves look for a way into one of the most secure and guarded places on the planet.

The Vault

2021

Widow Clicquot poster
6.6

After her husband's death, Madame Clicquot flouts convention by assuming the reins of their wine business, defying her critics and ultimately revolutionizing the champagne industry, establishing her as one of the world's first great businesswomen.

Widow Clicquot

2024

Firebrand poster
6.3

Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII, is named regent while the tyrant battles abroad. When the king returns, increasingly ill and paranoid, Katherine finds herself fighting for her own survival.

Firebrand

2024

Rebecca poster
6.3

After a whirlwind romance with a wealthy widower, a naïve bride moves to his family estate but can't escape the haunting shadow of his late wife.

Rebecca

2020

Islands poster
6.2

In this twisty thriller, a tennis coach at a tropical resort finds himself at the center of a missing persons mystery. Tom teaches tennis during the day and parties at night. When an enigmatic tourist arrives, Tom is unable to shake the feeling he has met her before. Tension and attraction grow, until her husband disappears, and the police suspect Tom.

Islands

2025

Radioactive poster
6.6

The story of Nobel Prize winner Maria Skłodowska-Curie and her extraordinary scientific discoveries—through the prism of her marriage to husband Pierre—and the seismic and transformative effects their discovery of radium had on the 20th century.

Radioactive

2020

She Is Love poster
5.5

When Patricia arrives at a country hotel in Cornwall, she encounters her ex husband Idris, who manages the place with his girlfriend Louise. Things are immediately awkward and the former couple reconnect over a long, messy night where they revisit the past while remaining open to new beginnings.

She Is Love

2023

Bulk poster
5.0

When an over zealous scientist pushes his experiments with string theory too far, his brane explodes. That's "brane", not "brain", meaning someone has to sort out the mess he has created. Corey Harlan is sent in – kicking and screaming – to find the heart of the brane and its creator.

Bulk

2026

John Cranko poster
8.2

The gifted, charismatic artist John Cranko moves to the Swabian province from London, where he is attacked for his homosexuality, and after many crises becomes the great sensation as the new pop star of the arts: the Stuttgart Ballet Miracle.

John Cranko

2024

Alfons Jitterbit – Class Trip Chaos! poster
5.9

After oversleeping yet again, Alfons manages to catch the bus to his class trip to the Baltic Sea at the last minute. In his luggage: lots of adventure, funny pranks and - wait a minute - his mother's clothes?

Alfons Jitterbit – Class Trip Chaos!

2022

Cezanne on Art poster
NR

Inspired by conversations between Cezanne and his writer friend Joachim Gasquet, the film blends art, philosophy and landscape to approach the figure of the artist through the senses.

Cezanne on Art

2026

2010s · 15 titles

Maleficent poster
7.1

A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. She rises to be the land's fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal – an act that begins to turn her heart into stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces an epic battle with the invading King's successor and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realizes that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom – and to Maleficent's true happiness as well.

Maleficent

2014

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil poster
7.3

Maleficent and her goddaughter Aurora begin to question the complex family ties that bind them as they are pulled in different directions by impending nuptials, unexpected allies, and dark new forces at play.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

2019

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies poster
6.2

A zombie outbreak has fallen upon the land in this reimagining of Jane Austen's classic tale of the tangled relationships between lovers from different social classes in 19th century England. Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is a master of martial arts and weaponry and the handsome Mr. Darcy is a fierce zombie killer, yet the epitome of upper class prejudice. As the zombie outbreak intensifies, they must swallow their pride and join forces on the blood-soaked battlefield in order to conquer the undead once and for all.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

2016

Suite Française poster
7.2

France, 1940. In the first days of occupation, beautiful Lucile Angellier is trapped in a stifled existence with her controlling mother-in-law as they both await news of her husband: a prisoner of war. Parisian refugees start to pour into their small town, soon followed by a regiment of German soldiers who take up residence in the villagers' own homes. Lucile initially tries to ignore Bruno von Falk, the handsome and refined German officer staying with them. But soon, a powerful love draws them together and leads them into the tragedy of war.

Suite Française

2015

Free Fire poster
6.2

Set in Boston in 1978, a meeting in a deserted warehouse between two gangs turns into a shoot-out and a game of survival.

Free Fire

2017

13 poster
5.8

A naive young man assumes a dead man's identity and finds himself embroiled in an underground world of power, violence, and chance where men gamble behind closed doors on the lives of other men.

13

2010

Byzantium poster
6.3

Residents of a coastal town learn, with deadly consequences, the secret shared by the two mysterious women who have sought refuge at a local boarding house, the Byzantium.

Byzantium

2013

On the Road poster
5.6

Sal Paradise is a young writer whose life is shaken and ultimately redefined by the arrival of Dean Moriarty, a free-spirited, fearless, fast talking Westerner and his girl, Marylou. Traveling cross-country, Sal and Dean venture out on a personal quest for freedom from the conformity and conservatism engulfing them in search of the unknown, themselves, and the pursuit of “it” -- the pure essence of experience.

On the Road

2012

The Dark Valley poster
7.0

The Alps, late 19th century. Greider, a mysterious lone rider who claims to be a photographer, arrives at an isolated lumber village, despotically ruled by a family clan, asking for winter accommodation.

The Dark Valley

2014

Sometimes Always Never poster
6.4

Alan is a stylish tailor with moves as sharp as his suits. He has spent years searching tirelessly for his missing son Michael who stormed out over a game of Scrabble. With a body to identify and his family torn apart, Alan must repair the relationship with his youngest son and solve the mystery of an online player who he thinks could be Michael, so he can finally move on and reunite his family.

Sometimes Always Never

2019

Brighton Rock poster
5.7

Charts the headlong fall of Pinkie, a razor-wielding disadvantaged teenager with a religious death wish.

Brighton Rock

2010

Happy New Year, Colin Burstead poster
6.4

Colin has rented a stately country home for his extended family’s New Year celebrations. He’s the centre of attention until his estranged brother David unexpectedly arrives, throwing the family dynamic far off orbit.

Happy New Year, Colin Burstead

2018

The Naked King - 18 Fragments on Revolution poster
NR

In 1979, a revolution in Iran. In 1980, a revolution in Poland. The fall of the Shah, the “King of Kings,” in Iran. Mass strikes and the foundation of Solidarność (Solidarity) in Poland. What was in the minds of the young women and men who fomented revolution in their own country? What did they think when their revolution was quelled, or – as in Iran – an authoritarian regime was instituted under the name of an “Islamic Republic”?

The Naked King - 18 Fragments on Revolution

2019

Woman in Love poster
5.9

An actor's career takes a "Tootsie"-like turn when he lets himself be cast as a woman in a movie.

Woman in Love

2011

Robby and Toby's Fantastic Voyager poster
4.5

One day, robot Robby enters into a life of the most creative little boy, Toby. Robby had been separated from his robot parents when his spaceship crashed. Toby decides to offer his help and the two of them become friends.

Robby and Toby's Fantastic Voyager

2016

2000s · 4 titles

Franklyn poster
6.0

Set between the parallel worlds of contemporary London and the futuristic faith dominated metropolis of Meanwhile City, Franklyn weaves a tale of four souls, whose lives are intertwined by fate, romance and tragedy. As these worlds collide, a single bullet determines the destiny of these four characters.

Franklyn

2008

Control poster
7.5

The story of Joy Division’s lead singer Ian Curtis, from his schoolboy days in 1973 to his suicide on the eve of the band's first American tour in 1980.

Control

2007

No artwork available
10.0

DC Lenny Milton (Winstone) is not as ambitious as his best friend and popular boss DCI Michael Love (Dunbar), but the pair are drinking partners and their wives and children are close. However, this goes very wrong over the space of 7 days, when Milton is approached by the police complaints division asking him to go undercover and investigate allegations of corruption against his friend. Milton finds this difficult at first and tries to dismiss the evidence building up. But as his suspicions begin to take shape his position appears to be in danger.

Tough Love

2000

Shadow Play: The Making of Anton Corbijn poster
7.0

Most rock fans may not know the name Anton Corbijn, but they've certainly seen his work. Corbijn shot the iconic cover artwork for U2's The Joshua Tree and Depeche Mode's 101, and gave both groups a new and more dramatic visual persona in the process. Since them, Corbijn's work, bearing his trademark dark shadows and deep, textural details, has graced the covers of recordings by R.E.M., Bruce Springsteen, Morrissey, Nick Cave, John Lee Hooker and even Bon Jovi. Corbijn has also directed a number of music videos for the likes of Nirvana, Johnny Cash and Metallica, and made his debut as a feature film director in 2007 with Control, a screen biography of Ian Curtis of Joy Division (who Corbijn photographed several times in the group's heyday). In Shadow Play: The Making of Anton Corbijn, filmmaker Josh Whiteman offers an intimate look at the life and career of this celebrated visual artist, featuring interviews with Bono, Chris Martin, Michael Stipe, Dave Gahan and Bernard Sumner.

Shadow Play: The Making of Anton Corbijn

2009

Series credits