Paul Anderson (born 12 February 1978) is an English film and television actor who came to prominence for portraying Arthur Shelby Jr. in Peaky Blinders, Mr Anderson in the 2015 film The Revenant, and Sebastian Moran in '.
Anderson decided to pursue acting in the mid 2000s, after working for many years as a ticket scalper and aspiring musician, and enrolled at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. He began his acting career by appearing in plays written by his friend Gregory Burke, and made his screen debut with Burke's critically acclaimed 2014 film <nowiki/>'71. He had his first leading role in the 2009 British movie, The Firm.
Having appeared as the English military sharpshooter Sebastian Moran in the 2011 film Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows, Anderson's break followed in 2013, where he was cast as a main character in the BBC Two show Peaky Blinders as Arthur Shelby, a gangster in post First World War Birmingham. Since then, Anderson has appeared in many major films, including Ron Howard's In the Heart of the Sea and The Revenant, as well as Brimstone, which was released in 2016.
On 1 February 2024, Anderson made an appearance in a promo trailer for the upcoming undisputed heavyweight boxing match between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.
Anderson is from Kennington, South London.
In January 2024, Anderson pled guilty to four counts of drug possession, including crack cocaine and amphetamine possession after being reported to police by a pub manager who testified he had smelled crack cocaine fumes immediately after witnessing Anderson exit a disabled toilet stall. After being apprehended with another man and a 17-month-old baby, a police search uncovered crack cocaine and amphetamines, as well as the prescription drugs diazepam and pregabalin. Following his guilty plea to all four counts of possession, Anderson was fined ã1,345 (approx. $1,700 USD.)