Tom English(X)
- Actor
- Director
- Movement Coach
Tom Afiyan-English is a movement specialist and artistic director known for a portfolio of work across projects such as Pan (2015), The Third Day: Autumn (2020), Cats (2019), Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) and for working extensively with directors Felix Barrett and Wim Vandekeybus. He is the founder of movement specialism collective Ferus Animi // Terra Nova.
Afiyan-English debuted as a performer with UK immersive theatre giants Punchdrunk and The National Theatre London in the multi-award winning production 'The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable', followed by a run playing Macbeth in Punchdrunk's multi-award winning 'Sleep No More' in Shanghai, both directed by Felix Barrett and Maxine Doyle, and later with acclaimed Flemish director Wim Vandekeybus and his company Ultima Vez for the creation and world tour of 'Speak Low, if you Speak Love' (2015), productions of 'Spiritual Unity' (2016) and a special revival of the award-winning In Spite of Wishing and Wanting (2002), in addition to working as a voice actor on Vandekeybus' feature film Galloping Mind (2015), with La Provence describing Afiyan-English as "The ideal embodiment of a dancer for the company Ultima Vez". He worked extensively with virtual/augmented reality pioneers A/E (Aoi Nakamura & Estéban Fourmi) on projects including 'Whist' (2017), Kai (2015), 'The Waldorf Project' (2015) and at the Chaillot Theatre National de la Dance in Paris (2020). He also performed in productions with English National Ballet, Shakespeare's Globe, The National Theatre London and Luca Silvestrini's Protein. In 2015 Afiyan-English was cast in Joe Wright's feature film Pan (2015), a live action adaptation of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, working closely with Hugh Jackman, Jack Charles, Rooney Mara and movement director Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and later worked as a movement coach with the cast of Tom Hooper's feature adaptation of Cats (2019). He played a substantial role in the devising and performance of the BAFTA nominated The Third Day: Autumn (2020), featuring alongside Jude Law and Katherine Waterston in a 12 hour live-to-air theatrical performance produced by Sky, HBO and Punchdrunk, directed by Marc Munden and Felix Barrett and written by Dennis Kelly. When reflecting upon working with Afiyan-English and colleagues, Law stated, "They were phenomenal... So impressive in their control of how they physically manoeuvred me. Often, when you're not in control and someone else is doing the physical stuff you can get injured. They were so safe, so trustworthy." Afiyan-English worked as a movement specialist on James Wan's Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) under the movement direction of Alex Reynolds, before continuing his ongoing collaboration with Punchdrunk as an Associate Director on their collaboration with the world-leading augmented-reality gaming company and Pokémon Go (2016) creators Niantic. Afiyan-English acted as a casting consultant on Paul Thomas Anderson and Thom Yorke's Anima (2019) and on Netflix's Stranger Things (2016): The First Shadow, directed by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, with writing by Kate Trefry, Jack Thorne, Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer.
In 2015 Afiyan-English founded Ferus Animi // Terra Nova, a specialist collective working in movement direction and movement specialism extensively across film, theatre and television, with members of the collective working on feature projects such as Scott Derrickson's Doctor Strange (2016), Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman (2017), Paul Thomas Anderson and Thom Yorke's Anima (2019), Sam Raimi's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Nia DaCosta's The Marvels (2023), Marc Webb's Snow White (2025), Jon M. Chu's Wicked (2024) and Shawn Levy's Deadpool & Wolverine (2024).
Afiyan-English is a regular teacher at performing arts institutions including Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels and in 2019 lead the 3rd edition of the prestigious Monographic Workshop at Festival Deltebre Dansa, following on from Wim Vandekeybus (1st Edition) and Akram Khan MBE (2nd Edition).
Afiyan-English debuted as a performer with UK immersive theatre giants Punchdrunk and The National Theatre London in the multi-award winning production 'The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable', followed by a run playing Macbeth in Punchdrunk's multi-award winning 'Sleep No More' in Shanghai, both directed by Felix Barrett and Maxine Doyle, and later with acclaimed Flemish director Wim Vandekeybus and his company Ultima Vez for the creation and world tour of 'Speak Low, if you Speak Love' (2015), productions of 'Spiritual Unity' (2016) and a special revival of the award-winning In Spite of Wishing and Wanting (2002), in addition to working as a voice actor on Vandekeybus' feature film Galloping Mind (2015), with La Provence describing Afiyan-English as "The ideal embodiment of a dancer for the company Ultima Vez". He worked extensively with virtual/augmented reality pioneers A/E (Aoi Nakamura & Estéban Fourmi) on projects including 'Whist' (2017), Kai (2015), 'The Waldorf Project' (2015) and at the Chaillot Theatre National de la Dance in Paris (2020). He also performed in productions with English National Ballet, Shakespeare's Globe, The National Theatre London and Luca Silvestrini's Protein. In 2015 Afiyan-English was cast in Joe Wright's feature film Pan (2015), a live action adaptation of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, working closely with Hugh Jackman, Jack Charles, Rooney Mara and movement director Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and later worked as a movement coach with the cast of Tom Hooper's feature adaptation of Cats (2019). He played a substantial role in the devising and performance of the BAFTA nominated The Third Day: Autumn (2020), featuring alongside Jude Law and Katherine Waterston in a 12 hour live-to-air theatrical performance produced by Sky, HBO and Punchdrunk, directed by Marc Munden and Felix Barrett and written by Dennis Kelly. When reflecting upon working with Afiyan-English and colleagues, Law stated, "They were phenomenal... So impressive in their control of how they physically manoeuvred me. Often, when you're not in control and someone else is doing the physical stuff you can get injured. They were so safe, so trustworthy." Afiyan-English worked as a movement specialist on James Wan's Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) under the movement direction of Alex Reynolds, before continuing his ongoing collaboration with Punchdrunk as an Associate Director on their collaboration with the world-leading augmented-reality gaming company and Pokémon Go (2016) creators Niantic. Afiyan-English acted as a casting consultant on Paul Thomas Anderson and Thom Yorke's Anima (2019) and on Netflix's Stranger Things (2016): The First Shadow, directed by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, with writing by Kate Trefry, Jack Thorne, Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer.
In 2015 Afiyan-English founded Ferus Animi // Terra Nova, a specialist collective working in movement direction and movement specialism extensively across film, theatre and television, with members of the collective working on feature projects such as Scott Derrickson's Doctor Strange (2016), Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman (2017), Paul Thomas Anderson and Thom Yorke's Anima (2019), Sam Raimi's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Nia DaCosta's The Marvels (2023), Marc Webb's Snow White (2025), Jon M. Chu's Wicked (2024) and Shawn Levy's Deadpool & Wolverine (2024).
Afiyan-English is a regular teacher at performing arts institutions including Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels and in 2019 lead the 3rd edition of the prestigious Monographic Workshop at Festival Deltebre Dansa, following on from Wim Vandekeybus (1st Edition) and Akram Khan MBE (2nd Edition).
