Tom Burke plays the eponymous Cormoran Strike in BBC series Strike, and once opened up about the impact having a cleft lip has had on his life and approach to the world.
He was born with a cleft lip, leading social media users in the subreddit r/cleftlip to celebrate him as a leading actor. There aren’t many leading actors with cleft lips or palates. Joaquin Phoenix is the standout example.
The BBC announced Strike’s return earlier this year. At the time, it confirmed that Tom would be back on our small screens alongside Holliday Grainger.
The series is an adaptation of a novel by JK Rowling, writing under the male pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
Tom Burke was born with a cleft lip
Born June 30, 1981 with a cleft lip, Tom Burke cut his acting chops, on screen anyway, as Roland in the 1999 film Dragonheart: A New Beginning.
It was the sequel to 1996’s Dragonheart and, alas, went straight to video.
He hails from London but grew up in Kent; his parents, David Burke and Anna Calder-Marshall, are both actors, as are his godparents, Alan Rickman and Bridget Turner.
Tom had reconstructive surgery as a child. During an interview with the Cleft Lip and Palate Association for Cleft Awareness Week in 2013, Tom told Left Clip magazine that having a cleft lip has “only been positive”.
The magazine article itself is no longer available to read online, but The Cleft Collective posted about it on Facebook in 2016.
The Guardian describes the surgery as leaving him with a “jaunty crimp on the upper right side of his mouth”.
Big Issue says it “elevates ordinary handsomeness to something more distinctive”.
Tom Burke is an Operation Smile ambassador
Operation Smile UK listed Tom Burke among its Smile Ambassadors in its Trustees’ Annual Report 2020. Ditto for 2019.
It’s a charity that raises funds to give free and safe surgeries to children and young adults with cleft lips and palates around the world. If left untreated, cleft lips and cleft palates can cause a number of health problems.
Two years earlier – in 2018 – he collaborated on designing a T-shirt for the charity, inspired by Charlie Chaplin.
Outfitter Earl Of Bedlam explained at the time that Tom drew Chaplin’s boots for the tee. It also has a sweet photo of Tom sketching the boots before they finalised the artwork.
£10 from every sale of the garment went to Operation Smile.
The first episode of Strike: The Ink Black Heart will air on Monday (December 16) at 9pm on BBC One. The second episode will follow a day later, at the same time (Tuesday, December 17).
So, wha do you think of Strike’s latest instalment? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know.
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Having a cleft lip has “only been positive”
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