Tom Bulpett Interview

Tom Bulpett is a neurodivergent actor who can be seen in Dept Q on Netflix alongside Matthew Goode and Kelly McDonald. The recent hit has drawn audiences from across the globe.

Tom’s previous credits include narration for the BBC, Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds Immersive Experience and several Project GameBox titles. His previous credits for stage and screen include The Play That Goes Wrong (West End), Father Brown (BBC), Quiz (ITV) and The Mummy (Universal Pictures). 

Photo by Yellowbelly Photography 

Tom is a massive nerd who adores video games, animation and spends most of his free time painting Warhammer minis. He is always excited to bring his nerdy passion to every project he works on and loves developing new character voices whenever he gets the chance.

We were lucky enough to sit down with Tom to discuss his career and his process.

Thank you for your time. Can you please begin by telling us a little bit about why you wanted to be an actor and how you pursued it?
As I child I was very withdrawn and I struggled to communicate, in fact I was later diagnosed with autism. However I would drift off into these fantasy worlds in my head, to me they were extremely real, I could see, touch and feel everything there. While I was in these worlds my parents noticed I had an easier time communicating with others so encouraged me to start acting. So from age five I started and feel in love with it instantly.

I started at Stagecoach and quickly moved onto my local youth theatre in Chichester which gave me so many wonderful opportunities at such a young age, in fact at 13 I thanks to the youth theatre I got to perform with Patrick Stewart in Macbeth at Chichester Festival Theatre. After uni I studied at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama where I graduated in 2018 and have been working professionally ever since.

How do you reflect on what you achieved so far?
I have been so lucky with the opportunities I have been given throughout my career. It takes a thousand accidents to make any show/project and it often pure chance that allows you to be a part of one of those accidents. I am really proud of all my work and happy to say that I have honestly learnt something from every project I have been a part of and I hope to keep learning for many years to come.

What was the first piece of theatre that you saw which had a big impact on you?
I remember getting a free ticket to see the first production of Enron by Lucy Prebble at Chichester Festival Theatre when I was a teenager. The previews weren’t selling very well and they just wanted to fill seats so I went it with very low expectation and to this day I think it may be the greatest thing I have ever seen. Watching it I released that the magic of theatre allows you to take what is a very dry and boring story about financially fraud and turn it into this mad, Greek myth epic. I am so glad it went on to do so well and to this day Lucy Prebble is still my favourite writer.

Photo by Yellowbelly Photography

As a neurodivergent actor, how has that effected you and how do you feel the industry deals with this?
I am very proud to be an autistic artist and happy to say that my experiences with autism is layered within a lot of my work. I am lucky that I have this extra tool that I get to use to shape my characters and further enhance my work. My experiences in the industry are the same as most industries I think, some places are better than others at managing neurodifferences but overall I have been lucky to work with those who understand my process and are able to give me what I need to do my job. 

How does your own lived experience help you shape the characters that you play?
For me, my autism and my acting come from very physical places in me and cannot be separated and I am honestly so grateful for that. It has allowed me to reach depths within character I otherwise would not be able to do and I am very happy that I get to use this very personal part of myself in my work every day. 
 
You’ve enjoyed work both on stage and screen, do you have to approach either in a different way?
My approach to both is very similar, I come from the Laban process of acting which is extremely physical, I use it for everything. However, I suppose the difference between stage and screen is how high you turn the dial on the physicality. If you are in a big buffon clown show you turn that dial to 11, if you are on screen you turn it down to 2-3. It is still the same work just adjusting the scale of it. Stage is a wide shot, screen is a close up.

You’ve recently been seen in the Netflix show Dept Q, what can you tell me about the show and your role as William?
Dept. Q follows a cold case department in Edinburgh as they try to solve the mysterious disappearance of a prominent lawyer, Merritt Lingard, who vanished from a ferry four years ago. I play Merritt’s younger brother William who has been acutely effected by her disappearance.

William is a fascinating character, he suffers from aphasia which was caused by a traumatic brain injury when he was younger meaning that he cannot speak. Many people therefore consider him ‘dumb’, but nothing could be further from the truth, he is extremely aware of those around him and his own situation (which can be awfully painful at times). He is desperate to find his missing sister and will often put himself in harm’s way to try and discover what happened to her.

What was the process of working on the show like for you?
Incredible! I have never been part of a TV show that is so collaborative. The director/writer Scott Frank was generous and trusting and would listen to all our suggestions about our characters and the arc of the show. Everyone on set knew we had something special with this show and we all lifted each other up to help create something which we hope runs for many years.

Do you do much research when you’re building a character in your head?
I do tonnes of research, especially for a character like this one. I was very keen to portray it accurately because I have seen it done badly so many times. So as well as doing a lot of research into the effects of brain injuries, I was also lucky enough to meet and work with people who had suffered similar injuries to William. From this experience I even developed a unique form of sign language which we used at several points throughout the series. 

It was such an honour to use these stories to develop William and I really think it helped bring a richness to the character I otherwise would not have found.

Tom in Dept Q.

How do you wind down away from the job?
I am extremely nerdy, I love painting little figures and playing board games with friends (the more complicated, the better.) I also love a cinema trip, usually to Everyman if I can afford it that week.

What projects are you working on at the minute?
I am currently working on my own film with my production company Project GameBox. The film is a love letter to one of my nerdy hobbies, tabletop war games and the communities that these games foster. I am writing and directing the film, which is going very well so far and we hope to shoot it later this year with a fantastic cast and creative team which I cannot wait for people to see.

How can anyone keep up with the work you’re doing?
If you’d like to see what I’m up to feel free to follow my on Insta @tombulpett or my production company @projectgamebox on TikTok, Insta and YouTube.

Tom Bulpett, represented by BBA Management, is a neurodivergent actor who can be seen in Dept Q on Netflix alongside Matthew Goode and Kelly McDonald. Previous credits include narration for the BBC, Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds Immersive Experience and several Project GameBox titles. His previous credits for stage and screen include The Play That Goes Wrong (West End), Father Brown (BBC), Quiz (ITV) and The Mummy (Universal Pictures).