Tom McKay (born 27 December 1979) is a British actor. He trained at LAMDA and spent the early part of his career working predominately in theatre, performing for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and at the National Theatre, Almeida, Royal Court, Donmar Warehouse, the Globe, in the West End and at the Public Theater in New York.
He went on to work more frequently in television, including lead roles in History Channel's Emmy-winning series Hatfields and McCoys, the BBC's acclaimed costume drama The White Queen, and more recently his portrayal of Mark Preen in the Channel 4 docudrama Dirty Business.
He is known for his role as Henry of Skalitz in Warhorse StudiosâÂÂs medieval RPG, and , for which heâÂÂs received nominations, including a Golden Joystick Awards Nomination for Best Performer and is currently nominated for a BAFTA Game Award for Best Lead Performance.
Thomas McKay was born in Solihull, Warwickshire on the 27th December 1979. He graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 2001 and got his first job the day he graduated at the National Theatre playing China Mary in Mother Clap's Molly House.
Following his training at LAMDA, McKay has been in numerous theatre performances, including many Shakespeare productions. Notably he played the role of Brutus in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, which was performed at the Shakespeare's Globe in 2014, directed by Dominic Dromgoole. His first job was at the National Theatre in Mark Ravenhill's Mother Clap's Molly House, directed by Sir Nicholas Hytner.
Other roles include the Duke of Gloucester and the Lord Scrope of Masham in Henry V at the National Theatre, also directed by Hytner, and Lennox in Macbeth at the Almeida Theatre directed by John Caird. In 2010 he played various roles in in the US, directed by the current Artistic Director of the National Theatre, Indhu Rubasingham, and Nicolas Kent. At the Donmar Warehouse in 2006 he performed as Jim Reston in Frost/Nixon directed by Michael Grandage. Most recently he played Arnholm in Ibsen's The Lady From the Sea at the Donmar Warehouse directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah.
In 2005, McKay played the role of Piers as part of an ensemble cast in the film Chromophobia, starring Ralph Fiennes and directed by Fiennes' sister, Martha. In the same year he appeared in Imagine Me & You, and in the docudrama I Shouldn't Be Alive for one episode where he played Jim, a young parent trapped in a blizzard with a five month old child.
Since 2006 he has appeared in many long running British TV shows, including the likes of Casualty, Silent Witness, Doctors, Waterloo Road, Spooks, New Tricks, and Endeavour. In 2007 he appeared in the British feature film The Feral Generation directed by Andrew Jones. In 2009 he featured in an episode of TV show Primeval, and in the third installation of the Wrong Turn Franchise, .
In 2012 he played Jim McCoy in Hatfields & MCoys, an American TV mini series about the Hatfield-McCoy feud. The show won five Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2013 McKay adopted the role of Jasper Tudor in the highly regarded historical drama series The White Queen. The show was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and a People's Choice Award.
In 2016, McKay got the role to play Henry of Skalitz in the kickstarter funded video game , set in 15th Century Bohemia. The voice and motion capture role took two years to complete before the game's release in 2018.
In 2020 he appeared in the TV show Devils, and reprised the role of Chris Bailey in 2022 for the second season. In 2022 he appeared as Max K in the British thriller series The Undeclared War, and will return in the second season.
Also in 2022 McKay played the role of DJ in ITV's The Suspect starring Aidan Turner, based on the book of the same name by Michael Robotham. In 2024 he featured in the Brazilian biographical drama miniseries based on the life of racing driver Ayrton Senna. He played the role of Alex Hawkridge, Senna's team boss at Toleman.
In 2025, the sequel was released, which saw McKay reprise his role as Henry of Skalitz. He recorded 508 hours of dialogue for the role across 127 sessions. He received a Golden Joystick Awards Nomination for Best Performer and is currently nominated for a BAFTA Game Award for Best Lead Performance.
In his most recent role, McKay plays Mark Preen in Channel 4's Dirty Business. The series covers a decade-long investigation on sewage-contaminated water in Oxfordshire. In 1999 the Preen family lost their eight year old daughter due to E-coli poisoning. Following the release of the show campaign group Surfers Against Sewage have launched a new petition to put pressure on the government to put public health above profit. The Guardian praised the show, stating "If this doesn't incite righteous anger over our filthy water then nothing will."