Jack O'Connell (actor)

O'Connell was born on 1 August 1990 into a working-class family in Alvaston, Derbyshire.^[1][2] His father, Johnny Patrick O'Connell, was an Irish citizen from Ballyheigue who worked on the British railways for Bombardier until his death from pancreatic cancer in 2009.^[3][4][5] His mother, Alison (née Gutteridge), who is English, was employed by the airline British Midland before taking on management of her son's career.^[6][7] His younger sister, Megan, is an actress.^[8] As the grandson of Ken Gutteridge, a player and later manager at Burton Albion FC, O'Connell aspired to become a professional footballer.^[5] He played as a striker for Alvaston Rangers and was later scouted by Derby County FC, where he had trials.^[4][7] After a series of injuries ended his career, he wanted to join the British Army,^[5] believing it to be his only realistic option to make an honest living.^[9] His parents sent him to the Army Cadet Force when he was 12 with the aim of teaching him discipline,^[6] but his juvenile criminal record prevented him from enlisting in the army.^[7]

As a youth, O'Connell was in and out of court on charges related to alcohol and violence, and he received a one-year young offender's referral order when he was 17.^[2][6] Regarding his past transgressions, he has described himself as "a product of [his] environment".^[6][10] At age 16, O'Connell left Saint Benedict Catholic School with two GCSEs in drama and English.^[1][6] He later reflected on his "brutal" experience at Saint Benedict: "What I learnt aside from anything academic at school was probably very valuable lessons in terms of how to lie, how to play the game, how to play authority against itself."^[6] He took an interest in acting during the compulsory drama classes, and from age 13 he attended the free Television Workshop in Nottingham, where he trained in drama twice a week.^[6][9] He began attending auditions in London, where he sometimes slept outside because he was unable to afford a hotel. He eventually moved to Hounslow in London, working in between acting parts as a farmhand in Cobham, Surrey.^[6]

Since the start of his career, O'Connell has mainly played young delinquents;^[6] The New York Times writer John Freeman noted retrospectively, "If a British film called for a tough case, a grappler, someone with a bit of grit, chances were O'Connell got the part. [He] has delivered one gripping physical performance after another, bringing an electric authenticity to the portrayal of angry, troubled youth."^[2] O'Connell made his professional acting debut in 2005 when he played a runaway with anger issues in an episode of Doctors, followed by a recurring role as a boy accused of rape in The Bill.^[1][11] His stage debut came that same year after a rendition of the play The Spider Men by the Television Workshop was selected to be performed at the Royal National Theatre in London.^[12] O'Connell played his debut film role in This Is England (2006), a critically acclaimed coming-of-age drama set in the skinhead subculture of the early 1980s.^[13][14] At age 15, he was deemed too old to play the main character, leading filmmaker Shane Meadows to write the supporting role of the belligerent Pukey specifically for him.^[12][15]

 

During 2007, O'Connell appeared in television episodes of Waterloo Road, Holby City and Wire in the Blood.^[1] He played a 15-year-old pupil involved in a sexual relationship with his teacher in the play Scarborough, first performed at the Edinburgh Festival before its transfer the following year to London's Royal Court Theatre.^[16] Variety's David Benedict wrote of his stage performance, "His sincere grasp of Daz's innocent tenderness is, paradoxically, a sign of the character's—and the actor's—unexpected maturity."^[17] In the horror–thriller Eden Lake (2008), which received positive reviews,^[18] O'Connell played a psychopathic gang leader who terrorises a young couple.^[19] He next starred as a juvenile delinquent in "Between You and Me" (2008), an educational film produced by the Derbyshire Constabulary,^[20] followed by a minor role in the ITV serial Wuthering Heights (2009).^[1]

O'Connell first found fame, chiefly among people his age, as the troubled and hard-living James Cook in the third and fourth series of the E4 teen drama Skins (2009–10).^[2] Grantland writer Amos Barshad opined that among his co-stars, which included Dev Patel and Nicholas Hoult, none "ever quite matched the luminescent, leering mania of O'Connell's Cook. As a preposterously ramped up bad boy, Cook was almost like a baby Tyler Durden."^[21] He won a TV Choice Award for Best Actor for his performance in the fourth series.^[22] O'Connell later reprised his role in the feature-length special Skins Rise (2013), which follows a twenty-something Cook on the run from authorities.^[23] He has said of Cook, "He's probably the most similar character to myself that I had the good fortune of portraying," though he noted that unlike Cook he had matured beyond adolescence.^[21]

In the vigilante thriller Harry Brown (2009), which polarised critics,^[24] O'Connell played an abused child turned vicious gang member.^[25] He impressed lead actor Michael Caine, who shouted "Star of the future!" at him during filming.^[5] His portrayal of a teenaged father in the BBC Two drama Dive (2010) earned him critical praise; Euan Ferguson of The Guardian described it as "a performance that is of an actor twice his years: mesmerising, comedic and soulful."^[26] The Daily Telegraph critic Olly Grant concurred, writing, "He was a revelation; nuanced, understated, wise beyond his years."^[27] Following a lead role in the Sky1 serial The Runaway (2011), set in the criminal underworld of 1970s London,^[13] O'Connell starred as football player Bobby Charlton in another well-received BBC Two drama, United (2011), which chronicles the 1958 Munich air crash that killed eight players of Manchester United.^[27]

His next film, the theatrically released Weekender (2011), showcased the Manchester rave scene of the early 1990s.^[13] Though the film received poor reviews,^[28] O'Connell's "dumb but sparky sidekick" was called "a godsend" by Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph.^[29] Similarly, the thriller Tower Block (2012), about flat tenants under attack from a sniper, received mixed reviews,^[30] but The Hollywood Reporter critic Jordan Mintzer singled out O'Connell as "the standout [of the cast]" as the building's protection racketeer.^[13][31] Following his turn as a soldier in Private Peaceful (2012), an adaptation of a novel of the same name by Michael Morpurgo, he co-starred as the apprentice of a hitman played by Tim Roth in The Liability (2012), both of which met with mixed critical reception.^[32][33]

 

O'Connell's career breakthrough came when he starred in the independent prison drama Starred Up (2013).^[5] His portrayal of a violent teenager incarcerated in the same prison as his father received widespread critical acclaim; Entertainment Weekly critic Chris Nashawaty wrote, "O'Connell bristles with terrifying hair-trigger unpredictability. Watching him, you feel like you're witnessing the arrival of a new movie star."^[34] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone agreed, describing his "mad-dog incarnate" portrayal as "a star-is-born performance."^[35] O'Connell next starred in another acclaimed independent film, '71 (2014), portraying a soldier deployed to Belfast at the height of political violence in Northern Ireland.^[5][36] He was director Yann Demange's first and only choice for the part.^[5] Writing for Empire, Nev Pierce opined, "In a superb ensemble, O'Connell is outstanding," adding, "We know he can do violence, but here he holds the screen with no swagger—just a simple desire to survive."^[37] He received consecutive nominations for the British Independent Film Award for Best Actor.^[38][39]

Following a supporting role as an Athenian warrior in his first blockbuster, 300: Rise of an Empire (2014), O'Connell played his first leading role in a major Hollywood picture, Unbroken (2014), directed by Angelina Jolie.^[5] He portrayed Louis Zamperini, an Italian-American Olympic distance runner who, as a bombardier in the Second World War, survived a plane crash over the Pacific and was held for two years in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps. To prepare for the role, he underwent a strict diet to lose almost 30 pounds and worked with a dialect coach to mask his thick Derbyshire accent.^[40] The resulting performance was positively received; Richard Corliss of Time concluded, "Jolie has made a grand, solid movie of the Zamperini story, but O'Connell is the part of Unbroken that was truly worth the wait."^[41] For his work in Starred Up and Unbroken, O'Connell received the Breakthrough Award from the National Board of Review.^[42] He additionally became the tenth recipient of the publicly voted BAFTA Rising Star Award.^[43] In August 2021, it was announced that O'Connell had joined the cast of a film adaption of Lady Chatterley's Lover, playing the lover, Oliver.^[44] In January 2023, it was announced that O'Connell was added to the cast of the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black (2024) and would be playing Winehouse's husband Blake Fielder-Civil.^[45]

O'Connell has said that he does not consider himself British, instead identifying specifically with his Derbyshire upbringing and Irish heritage.^[3][5] He has lived in East London since 2014.^[6]

After his father died when O'Connell was 18, he coped in part by engaging in self-destructive behaviour, later commenting that he "didn't stop partying for like seven years".^[2] While living in Bristol during his tenure on Skins, he acquired a reputation in the tabloids as a "party boy", a "bad boy", and a "bit of rough".^[5] He regularly gave interviews while hungover.^[6] His childhood nickname "Jack the Lad" (a phrase meaning "a conspicuously self-assured, carefree, brash young man")^[46] is tattooed on his arm.^[8][47]

O'Connell's troubled youth has influenced his work, resulting in him playing mainly delinquents for the first decade of his career,^[6] while his juvenile criminal record initially prevented him from being cast in Hollywood productions as he was unable to obtain a U.S. visa.^[2][10] By age 24, he had largely changed his lifestyle, saying, "I'm not trying to have the most fun I've ever had ever, anymore. That used to be the mentality every time I left the house."^[6][47] He has credited Angelina Jolie, who directed him in his first Hollywood film Unbroken, with influencing his outlook and described working with her as an "intervention".^[2]

On 20 June 2016, World Refugee Day, O'Connell, as well as Holliday Grainger, featured in a film from the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR to help raise awareness of the global refugee crisis.^[48] The film, titled Home, has a family take a reverse migration into the middle of a war zone. Inspired by primary accounts of refugees, and is part of UNHCR's #WithRefugees campaign, which also includes a petition to governments to expand asylum to provide further shelter, integrating job opportunities, and education.^[49] Home, written and directed by Daniel Mulloy, went on to win a BAFTA Award and a Gold Lion at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity among many other awards.^[50]

 

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• Jack O'Connell at IMDb