Peter Moffett, now better known by his stage name Peter Davison, was born on 13 April 1951 in the Streatham area of London. In 1961, he and his family - parents Sheila and Claude (an electrical engineer who hailed from British Guiana) and his sisters Barbara, Pamela and Shirley moved to Knaphill, Woking in Surrey, where Davison was educated at the Winston Chirchill School. It was here that he first became interested in acting, taking parts in a number of school plays, and this eventually led to him joining an amateur dramatic society, the Byfleet Players. On leaving school at the age of sixteen, having achieved only modest academic success with three O Levels of undistinguished grades, he took a variety of short-lived jobs ranging from hospital porter to Hoffman press operator.
1994年开始，威尔金森进入了他演艺事业上的多产期，并渐渐开始引起人们的关注。他先是在夏洛特-布兰德斯托姆(Charlotte Brandstrom)执导的喜剧片《爱情交易》(“A Business Affair”)中，为大明星克里斯托弗-沃尔肯(Christopher Walken)、卡罗尔-布盖(Carole Bouquet)和乔纳森-普赖斯(Jonathan Pryce)等配戏。接着，他参加了英国女导演安东尼亚-伯德(Antonia Bird)执导的《神父》(“The Priest”)的拍摄，饰演与女管家有私情的神父马修-托马斯(Matthew Thomas)。这是一部题材与处理手法极具争议性的宗教影片，探讨了基督教义中仁慈博爱和同性恋的敏感社会问题，被列为十大同志影片。威尔金森的精彩演出，引起了台湾名导演李安的注意。 1995年，李安将简-奥斯汀(Jane Austen)的世界名著改编成同名爱情喜剧片《理智与情感》(“Sense And Sensibility”)，汤姆-威尔金森被选中在片中饰演达什伍德先生(Mr. Dashwood)。影片讲述的是18世纪男男女女的爱情故事，上映后引起了国际影坛的轰动。先后获得第49届英国电影学院最佳影片奖、第53届金球奖最佳影片奖(剧情类)、第68届奥斯卡最佳改编剧本奖和第46届柏林电影节最佳影片金熊奖等。虽然这一系列的奖项中并没有汤姆-威尔金森，但是汤姆-威尔金森这个名字开始被人们所熟悉。1996年，他在史蒂文-霍普金斯(Steven Hopkins)执导的动作冒险片《幽灵与黑暗》(“The Ghost and the Darkness”)中饰演博蒙特(Beaumont)，影片表达了在自然日益受到破坏的年代，自然之神与人类的抗衡，配角博蒙特受到了人们的喜爱。
