Anyone who has watched Peaky Blinders knows that the series boasts a talented cast with characters that fans have come to know and love. It's hard to imagine Cillian Murphy without his flat cap and perfectly groomed suit. Murphy has been portraying Thomas Shelby, leader of the Birmingham crime gang, since the beginning. But it may be surprising to learn that Murphy has also been a superhero villain in the past!
Many Peaky Blinders cast members were popular actors and actresses long before they donned their 1920s era clothing. Others have taken on even bigger roles outside of Peaky Blinders since the series began. Keep an eye out the next time you watch these movies and TV shows featuring the cast.
Anya Taylor-Joy (Gina Gray) - The Queen's Gambit
In season 5 Anya Taylor-Joy joined the cast of Peaky Blinders as Gina Gray, Michael's pregnant and conniving wife. Recently Taylor-Joy has made an even bigger name for herself by starring as Beth Harmon in the Netflix miniseries, The Queen's Gambit.
For this role, she won both a Golden Globe and a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance. Taylor-Joy has also been listed in Forbes 30 Under 30 and Time's 100 most influential people in the world.
Sam Claflin (Oswald Mosley) - The Hunger Games Series
Season 5 of Peaky Blinders brought in Sam Claflin to play the challenging role of Oswald Mosley, the newest villain and leader of the British Union of Fascists. Claflin really shows his acting range in this role considering one of his most famous previous roles was the handsome and charming Finnick Odair in The Hunger Games series.
Claflin also starred in the 2016 romantic film Me Before You and the 2017 British war film Journey's End. His role as Mosley in Peaky Blinders showed that he can be just as convincing as a villain as he can as a protagonist.
Adrien Brody (Luca Changretta) - The Pianist
Many fans chose season 4 as their favorite, thanks in large part to the introduction of a new and exciting villain. Adrien Brody plays Luca Changretta, an Italian American mobster who launches a vendetta against the Peaky Blinders after learning that they killed his father.
Brody was a welcome addition to the Peaky Blinders cast. A seasoned actor, he most notably won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Wladyslaw Szpilman in the film The Pianist, which was based on the 1946 Holocaust memoir book by the same name.
Tom Hardy (Alfie Solomons) - Mad Max: Fury Road
Like Cillian Murphy, fans could probably recognize Tom Hardy for many different roles. He has been acting in movies since his 2001 role in Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down and is well known for his distinctive voice and rugged good looks.
In 2015 he starred in Mad Max: Fury Road, playing the film's titular character in his struggles through a post-apocalyptic desert wasteland. Although Hardy plays a smaller part in Peaky Blinders, Alfie Solomons quickly became a fan favorite in the series.
Annabelle Wallis (Grace Shelby) - Annabelle
Grace Shelby is a character who was unfortunately killed off halfway through the series, although fans still get to catch a glimpse of Annabelle Wallis through Thomas Shelby's haunting hallucinations of Grace.
Wallis is no stranger to spookiness, having taken on the role of Mia Form in the horror film Annabelle. Wallis also portrayed Jenny Halsey in the 2017 reboot of The Mummy and Jane Seymour in Showtime's period series The Tudors.
Joe Cole (John Shelby) - Black Mirror
Fans were sad to see Joe Cole exit the cast of Peaky Blinders after the death of his character John Shelby in season 4. As the third eldest Shelby, John's character was a nice balance between Arthur's rash and erratic behavior and Thomas' cool unfeeling attitude.
Fans of the British dystopian series Black Mirror probably also spotted Cole in his role as Frank in the episode "Hang the DJ," which explores technology's impact on dating. The episode was a breath of fresh air in an insightful yet often bleak series and received a score of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Finn Cole (Michael Gray) - Dreamland
In season 2 of Peaky Blinders, Thomas Shelby finds Polly's long-lost son who was taken from her as a baby, and Michael Gray becomes a Peaky Blinder. Since then, Finn Cole has had an extremely important role in the series and fans can imagine that he will likely return to cause more trouble in season 6.
Finn Cole is also the younger brother of Joe Cole, who played John in the first four seasons of the series. Besides his role as Michael Gray, Cole also played Eugene in Dreamland, a thrilling film set in 1930s Texas, and is currently starring as Joshua "J" Cody in TNT's Animal Kingdom.
Paul Anderson (Arthur Shelby) - The Revenant
Paul Anderson has been a part of Peaky Blinders since the beginning, and no doubt will continue his role as Arthur Shelby into season 6. Although Anderson came into prominence for his role in the British crime drama, he has since made appearances in some pretty big films, including his role as Anderson in the 2015 award-winning film The Revenant.
Helen McCrory (Polly Gray) - The Harry Potter Series
For many years Helen McCrory made her presence known on stage, receiving acclaim such as a nomination for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for her performance as Rosalind in As You Like It. But fans have also likely spotted McCrory as Narcissa Malfoy in three of the famous Harry Potter films.
Interestingly, McCrory was originally cast to play Bellatrix Lestrange but had to pull out of the role when she became pregnant. McCrory recently passed away from cancer, but her iconic role as Polly Gray will also always be remembered.
Cillian Murphy (Thomas Shelby) - The Dark Knight Trilogy
Although Cillian Murphy's illustrious acting career started long before Peaky Blinders, he has no doubt become most famous for his starring role as Thomas Shelby.
Believe it or not, Murphy actually had a stint playing villainous characters in films such as Red Eye and The Dark Knight Trilogy. His piercing blue eyes and sinister acting made him the perfect creepy Scarecrow. A native of Douglas, Ireland, Murphy has also starred in incredible Irish films like Breakfast on Pluto and The Wind that Shakes The Barley.