Josh O'Connor

Josh O'Connor (born in 1989/1990) is a British actor.

He then trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, from which he graduated in 2011, and then moved to London.

During his third year of theatre school, he signed with an agent.

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.

After training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, he had supporting roles in television series such as Doctor Who in 2013 and Peaky Blinders in 2014.

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.

The Independent remarked: "O’Connor delivers a comic gem of a performance."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

He had his breakthrough playing the lead role of a sheep farmer in Francis Lee's romantic drama God's Own Country (2017), for which he won a British Independent Film Award.

In 2017, he starred as the young sheep farmer Johnny Saxby in the British drama film God's Own Country directed by Francis Lee.

In preparation for his role, he worked with a Yorkshire farmer, laboring in the fields in between takes to learn the proper techniques and get the right physicality, and eventually birthed over 150 lambs.

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim.

For his performance, he received multiple recognition including the British Independent Film Award for Best Actor and the Empire Award for Best Male Newcomer, and was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award.

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, which premiered in competition at the London Film Festival.

For his performance, he received his second British Independent Film Award for Best Actor.

For portraying a young Charles III in the Netflix drama series The Crown (2019–2020), O'Connor won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

In 2019, he portrayed Marius Pontmercy in the British television adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.

He has since starred in the period dramas Emma (2020) and La chimera (2023).

O'Connor was born to John, a teacher, and Emily, a midwife.

He grew up in Newbury until he was five, when his family moved to Cheltenham, Gloucestershire where he was brought up.

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.

O'Connor comes from an artistic family.

His grandfather was British sculptor John Bunting, his grandmother is a ceramicist, and his maternal aunt is British writer and commentator Madeleine Bunting.

His ancestry is Irish, English, Scottish and, through his matrilineal great-grandmother, Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jewish.

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 Wizard of Oz, followed by a minor role in Bugsy Malone.

O'Connor went to a private co-ed school, St Edward's School, Cheltenham, during the week and spent a lot of time on weekends at the Axiom, a local arts centre.

He grew up in a Labour-supporting household, but traces his political awakening to the arts centre's closure when he was eleven, feeling the deep sense of loss in the community.

He is proud to have grown up outside of London, in a town with a strong tradition of regional theatre.

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.

O'Connor has cited his school's drama program as having helped him live with his dyslexia for many years, especially when preparing for his GCSEs.