Tom Hiddleston celebrates 42nd birthday today: 5 lesser-known facts about ‘Loki’ actor

In an interview on the Graham Norton Show in 2020, Hiddleston revealed that while attending Eton College and learning about performing, his last name encouraged classmates to give him an unflattering nickname ‘Piddle’. He said on the show that “the boys made up the rhyme, 'Hiddle Piddle did a widdle in the middle of the night’,” and among those was a fellow actor and classmate Eddie Redmayne.

While the character of Loki was a huge break for Hiddleston, the actor wanted to play the God of Thunder, Thor. He even did a screen test with a long, flowing wig and a buffed-up physique but the makers of the film felt that the character of Loki would fit his mischievous sense of humour better.

During the shoot of the show ‘Loki’, Hiddleston prepared a presentation that went over the character’s onscreen history, and his traits, and even screened clips from the films he thought would be helpful. In an interview with The Verge, Hiddleston said that he felt like some amateur academic giving a thesis on Loki.

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Hiddleston has represented UNICEF UK as an ambassador for several years, raising awareness of the humanitarian crisis in Guinea and South Sudan. He even travelled to Guinea in 2013 and South Sudan in 2016 and 2017 to work on the ground with children.

Like some famous actors, Hiddleston can slip into different personas with accuracy as seen in several viral videos of him. Among the best of his impressions are Owen Wilson, Chris Evans, Alan Rickman, the horse from the 2011 film War Horse, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and a Velociraptor.