Josh O'Connor
Josh O'Connor | |
---|---|
Born | Southampton, England | 20 May 1990
Education | Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (BA) |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 2012–present |
Relatives | John Bunting (grandfather) Madeleine Bunting (aunt) |
Joshua O'Connor (born 20 May 1990)
In 2021, O'Connor won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his role as Charles, Prince of Wales, in the Netflix drama series The Crown (2019–2020). He has since starred in the period drama Emma (2020), the comedy-drama La Chimera (2023) and the romantic sports film Challengers (2024).
Early life and education
O'Connor was born to John, a teacher, and Emily, a midwife.[2] He grew up in Newbury until he was five, when his family moved to Cheltenham, Gloucestershire where he was brought up.[3] The middle son in a family of three boys, his older brother is an artist and his younger brother Seb is an ecological economist and a PhD researcher.[2]
O'Connor comes from an artistic family. His grandfather was British sculptor
He wanted to be a professional artist when he was younger, but he did not think he was good enough, so he switched to rugby and then discovered acting. His first major role was at age seven as the scarecrow in a school production of
The production of Bugsy Malone at St Edward's also featured his classmate Tahliah Barnett, who later became an award-winning singer under the stage name FKA Twigs.[8] O'Connor has cited his school's drama programme as having helped him live with his dyslexia for many years, especially when preparing for his GCSEs.[9] He then trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, from which he graduated in 2011, and then moved to London.[10][2] During his third year of theatre school, he signed with an agent.[3]
Career
2012–2018: Early work and breakthrough
In 2012, O'Connor first appeared on television as Charlie Stephenson in Lewis and on film as a zombie in The Eschatrilogy: Book of the Dead. In 2013, he appeared in Doctor Who as Piotr, in The Magnificent Eleven as Andy, in Law & Order: UK as Rob Fellows, in The Wiper Times as Dodd and in London Irish as James.
On stage in 2013, he was cast as Ben Fowles in his first professional play, Farragut North by Beau Willimon at the Southwark Playhouse.[11][3] The Independent remarked: "O’Connor delivers a comic gem of a performance."[12] This led to a role as young returning soldier Hugh in Peter Gill's 2014 play Versailles at the Donmar Warehouse in Covent Garden, London.[13]
In the same year, he played Max in Hide and Seek, James in Peaky Blinders and PC Bobby Grace in Ripper Street. After a year and a half of auditioning, he landed the role of a Bullingdon toff named Ed in The Riot Club (2014), Lone Scherfig's adaptation of Laura Wade's play Posh, appearing alongside up-and-coming British actors Sam Claflin, Douglas Booth, Max Irons, Freddie Fox, Ben Schnetzer and Olly Alexander.[3]
In 2015, he played Leo Beresford in Father Brown, a ballroom palace guard in Cinderella and Charlie in the short film Holding on for a Good Time. He starred opposite his then-girlfriend Hannah Murray in Bridgend, Jeppe Rønde's dark, fictional portrayal of a real town in Wales with an alarmingly high teen suicide rate.[4] O'Connor played Rich in the biographical drama film The Program about the cyclist Lance Armstrong, directed by Stephen Frears.
He also played in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Thomas Dekker's The Shoemaker's Holiday as Rowland Lacy and Tom Morton-Smith's Oppenheimer as Luis Alvarez at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.[3][14][15] The following year, he took over the role of Donaghy in Florence Foster Jenkins, starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant, and starred as Donald in the short film Best Man. From 2016 to 2019, he played the role of Lawrence "Larry" Durrell in the ITV comedy-drama The Durrells.
In 2017, he starred as the young sheep farmer Johnny Saxby in the British drama film
In 2018, O'Connor starred as Peter in the segment The Colour of His Hair in Boys on film 18: Heroes, and starred alongside Laia Costa in Harry Wootliff's critically acclaimed directorial debut Only You,[19] which premiered in competition at the London Film Festival. For his performance, he received his second British Independent Film Award for Best Actor.[20] In 2019, he portrayed Marius Pontmercy in the British television adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. He also starred as Jamie in Hope Gap, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, earning the Best Actor award at the Barcelona-Sant Jordi International Film Festival. It had a limited release in theaters, before dropping digitally in May 2020.[3]
2019–present: Critical acclaim and The Crown
In the same year, O'Connor began portraying Charles, Prince of Wales, in Season 3 of the award-winning Netflix programme The Crown (2019), starring alongside Olivia Colman, Tobias Menzies and Helena Bonham Carter. In 2020, he was nominated for a British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role while the cast won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.[21] He revealed that the role did not initially interest him and that he had to be persuaded to audition. Creator Peter Morgan asked him to read a scene in which Charles compares himself to a character in Saul Bellow's 1944 novel Dangling Man, in which the character waits to be drafted into war because the war will give his life meaning. It was the "aimlessness and purposelessness of Charles's life as heir to the throne" that ultimately sparked O'Connor's interest in the character.[2][9]
He reprised the role for
O'Connor also played Mr. Elton in the period comedy-drama film
In 2024, it was announced that O'Connor had joined the cast of
Artistry
Francis Lee, director of God's Own Country, has described O'Connor as "one of those rare actors that is a real shape-shifter."[31] His performance in the movie "confirmed his place on casting agents' scouting radar as one of those subtle, humble chameleons who can disappear into parts and are dubbed 'actor's actors'."[2]
O'Connor experimented with method acting for his role in God's Own Country. He described his experience for Interview magazine:[4]
I had my own book of senses—paintings and drawings that I'd done and ideas I had. From there, I worked physically with Francis about how this guy would look. By the end of the film I was so skinny; I was gaunt. It was horrific. I was in character the whole way through. It was really lonely and hard. I don't think I'd do it again. You isolate yourself from all your friends.
The Crown creator Peter Morgan has compared O'Connor to former Barcelona midfielder Andrés Iniesta, a footballer with massive but unobtrusive skill.[2] "I was drawn to his sensitivity and the fact that he was complex but likable," Morgan said on casting O'Connor as Prince Charles.[31] Olivia Colman praised him for the tenderness he displayed on-screen, as well as his ability to inhabit the role: "Fragility, sparkle, strength, doubt: It’s all there in a second. Every scene we had together became my favorite scene."[22]
Other ventures
O'Connor created the Waterlogged initiative to raise funds for
In March 2021, he starred in Loewe's campaign shot in the Baja California desert for the Eye/Loewe/Nature collection made with sustainable thinking and recycling ethos. It pledged 15 euros of every sale to Fundación Global Nature, a charity for the protection of wildlife species in danger of extinction.[36]
Personal life
O'Connor lived in a Victorian house in Shoreditch and briefly relocated to New York[22] for “a spell” with his former partner before moving back to Gloucestershire in 2023,[37] where he bought a house in Woodchester, a village outside Stroud.[38] In his spare time, O'Connor enjoys reading, drawing, camping, swimming, and gardening.[3] He is a supporter of Southampton F.C.[39]
Political views
O'Connor is a supporter of the Labour Party, campaigned for Jeremy Corbyn in the 2019 general election, and has described himself as a "liberal left-winger". He said of his views on the monarchy: "I'm a republican, although not in any kind of fist-waving, campaigning way. I was always mostly uninterested in them."[2][40][41][42] In an interview with The New York Times he said, "I think the Queen is an extraordinary woman. Time after time, lots of men have failed, and this one woman in power has been consistent and remained dutiful and generally apolitical. In that sense, I have huge respect for her — and for Charles [who] is another level of someone who's literally been waiting his entire life for this moment that still hasn't come."[31]
Filmography
† | Denotes productions that have not yet been released |
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2011 | Michael Myers in Love | None | Composer; short film |
2012 | The Eschatrilogy: Book of the Dead | Zombie | |
2013 | The Magnificent Eleven | Andy | |
2014 | Hide and Seek | Max | |
The Riot Club | Ed | ||
2015 | Bridgend | Jamie | |
Cinderella | Ballroom Palace Guard | ||
Holding on for a Good Time | Charlie | Short film | |
The Program | Rich | ||
2016 | Florence Foster Jenkins | Donaghy | |
Best Man | Donald | Short film | |
2017 | God's Own Country | Johnny Saxby | |
The Colour of His Hair | Peter | Documentary short film | |
2018 | Only You | Jake | |
2019 | Hope Gap | Jamie | |
2020 | Emma | Mr. Elton | |
2021 | Mothering Sunday | Paul Sheringham | |
2022 | Aisha | Conor Healy | |
2023 | La chimera | Arthur | |
Lee | Antony Penrose | ||
Bonus Track | Jonno | Also story writer | |
2024 | Challengers | Patrick Zweig | |
2025 | Wake Up Dead Man † | TBA | Filming |
TBA | The History of Sound † | David | Post-production |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2012 | Lewis | Charlie Stephenson | Episode: "Generation of Vipers" |
2013 | Doctor Who | Piotr | Episode: "Cold War" |
Law & Order: UK | Rob Fellows | Episode: " Dependent "
| |
The Wipers Times | Dodd | Television film | |
London Irish | James | Episode: "1.2" | |
2014 | Peaky Blinders | James | 3 episodes |
Ripper Street | PC Bobby Grace | 8 episodes | |
2015 | Father Brown | Leo Beresford | Episode: "The Curse of Amenhotep" |
2016–2019 | The Durrells | Lawrence Durrell | 26 episodes |
2019 | Les Misérables | Marius Pontmercy | 3 episodes |
2019–2020 | The Crown | Charles, Prince of Wales | Main role ( 4 );13 episodes |
2021 | Romeo and Juliet | Romeo Montague
|
Television play |
Theatre
Year | Title | Role | Director | Playwright | Theatre |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2013 | Farragut North | Ben Fowles | Guy Unsworth | Beau Willimon | Southwark Playhouse |
2014 | Versailles | Hugh Skidmore | Peter Gill | Peter Gill | Donmar Warehouse |
2015 | The Shoemaker's Holiday | Rowland Lacy | Philip Breen | Thomas Dekker | Swan Theatre |
Oppenheimer | Luis Alvarez | Angus Jackson | Tom Morton-Smith | Swan Theatre, Vaudeville Theatre | |
2021 | Romeo and Juliet | Romeo Montague
|
Simon Godwin | William Shakespeare | Filmed at the Royal National Theatre |
Awards and nominations
References
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- ^ a b c Brown, Emma. "Josh O'Connor". Interview Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 September 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
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External links
- Josh O'Connor at IMDb
- Josh O'Connor on Instagram
- Josh O'Connor at Rotten Tomatoes