Black Hawk Down provided a young Tom Hardy with his very first film role. Ridley Scott had suffered several flops in a row during the 1990s such as G.I. Jane and White Squall, but he made a hell of a comeback in the 2000s. This began with Gladiator, which became a surprise hit and made Russell Crowe a movie star. Scott followed with a winning streak of hits, including the delightfully demented sequel Hannibal and Kingdom Of Heaven; while the latter's theatrical cut received mixed reviews, it's arguably one of his best movies in its director's cut form.
Amid this run came Scott's 2001 war drama Black Hawk Down, which recounted the real-life Battle of Mogadishu in 1993. The film received praise for its visceral battle sequences and featured a huge ensemble cast that included Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Jason Isaacs, William Fichtner and the late Sam Shepard. The movie is also notable for the list of actors who appeared in smaller roles who have since become stars in their own right, such as Orlando Bloom, Hugh Dancy, Ty Burrell and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game Of Thrones).
Among that list is Tom Hardy with Black Hawk Down acting as his film debut. Given the subject matter the movie is appropriately light on humor once the battle begins, though the interactions between Hardy's Ranger Twombly and Ewen Bremner's (Wonder Woman) Nelson provide a small bit of levity. The two become separated from their unit and have to make their way through the city alone, but Twombly accidentally deafens Nelson during a firefight when firing his weapon too close to Nelson's ears.
Twombly then has to escort the deafened Nelson, which Ridley Scott plays for dark humor. Given the intensity of Black Hawk Down Tom Hardy isn't given much of a chance to shine, though even with his first movie role he delivers a solid performance. Following the movie he quickly nabbed the role of Shinzon in Star Trek: Nemesis, but that movie's failure saw him return to supporting parts in the years that followed. Even in some of these lesser-seen productions he tended to steal the show, and it was his lead turn in 2009's Bronson that launched him into stardom.
Roles in Inception, Warrior and The Dark Knight Rises soon followed and he's rarely been offscreen since. He returned to the war movie genre following Black Hawk Down with his role as a pilot in Dunkirk, and one of his most recent parts was playing real-life mobster Al Capone in Josh Trank's drama Capone.