British-born Tom Ackerley was an assistant director who began his career in 2011, working as a floor runner on the period drama "The Hour" (BBC Two 2011-12) for four episodes. He spent the next few years working as a runner on a variety of feature films, including the John Le Carre adaptation "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" (2011), Steven Spielberg's "War Horse" (2011), and the crime thriller "Gambit" (2012). Ackerley graduated to third assistant director on "Last Days on Mars" (2013) and first assistant director on "Final Prayer" (2013).
In 2014 Ackerley worked as third assistant director on two episodes of the television series "Da Vinci's Demons" (Starz, 2013-15). That same year he was the third assistant director on the feature film "Pride" (2014), followed by credits as third assistant director on "MI-5" (2015) and the Michael Fassbender/Marion Cotillard production of "Macbeth" (2015). In 2016 Ackerley worked as second assistant director on Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy "The Brothers Grimsby" and became a known quantity in Hollywood gossip columns as he married rising young star Margot Robbie.