Strike's Tom Burke's secret gesture from godfather Alan Rickman that changed his life

Strike star Tom Burke is quickly becoming one of Hollywood's hottest actors.

Whilst it appears Tom was destined for stardom, having two actors for parents — David Burke and Anna Calder-Marshall — his background is more humble, with his grandmother being from a working-class area of Liverpool.

He did, however, have Harry Potter star Alan Rickman as a godfather, and back in 2019, he revealed the incredibly special gesture the Severus Snape actor made that shaped his own career. According to The Independent, Alan helped pay for Tom's drama school fees at RADA.

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During the conversation, Tom opened up about the class problem in the film world. "Certainly in my generation, there aren't enough actors from a working-class background. And that’s because of all sorts of things."

He added: "There is a kind of energy that a lot of people from working-class backgrounds have that the Oxbridge lot don’t, and it’s a really vital energy. It’s exactly the sort of energy that would give a lot of that culture a really great boost. It can come with a lot of confidence—a very savvy, streetwise confidence."

Alan and Tom's close relationship

There's no denying Tom and Alan's special bond. The pair worked together on several occasions, first in 2008 at the Donmar Warehouse in a production of Strindberg's Creditors.

"I would call him all the time about stuff. And the times I didn't, I should have. He had the knack of asking the right questions," Tom told The English Cut.

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Tom also said Alan taught him "so much" and was always happy to give advice. "He would say to everyone, 'Remember, it's not a race, remember it's not a race.'"

Reflecting on his godfather's sad passing, he told The Telegraph earlier this month that even now, "There’s an Alan bit of my brain that’s always there."

He went on to explain a story about filming The Crown, when he played priest Derek Jennings opposite Alan's Harry Potter co-star Helena Bonham Carter's Princess Margaret.

"There’s a bit where Helena first sees me down the corridor. The director said, 'I'd like to see you improvise a bit.' Then I heard Alan's voice in my head, saying, 'Dancing should be the first thing they do.' And they did dance down that corridor. I thought it really set the mood of that relationship."