Strike: The Ink Black Heart is on its way but what is there to know about its leading man Tom Burke?. Another novel in JK Rowling’s best-selling crime book series Strike is being brought to life for the small screen two years after the fifth outing Troubled Blood made its debut.
And with Strike returning for series six, fans are curious to know all there is about the actor behind its titular character Cormoran Strike. Born in June 1981 in London, actor Tom Burke grew up in Kent to actor parents Anna Calder-Marshall and David Burke.
While Calder-Marshall has appeared in Bodies, Harlots, Last Christmas, Grantchester and This Is England, Tom’s dad was behind Dr Watson in Jeremy Brett’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The 43-year-old also acted opposite his mum in Strike season five when she played the character Janice Beattie.
He told The Guardian: “She’s fantastic in it. The first scene we had was also with Carol MacReady, who’s a wonderful actor. “Her and my mum go way back and it was a joy to be in a scene with both of them.”. Burke was born with a cleft lip and so had to have reconstructive surgery when he was a child and was left with a scar on his lip.
While he has gone on to have a successful acting career, it has cast some doubt in his mind when it came to not getting certain roles. He previously told The Independent that he was close to getting a part in an “iconic period drama” but wasn’t awarded the role in the end.
