Jack O'Connell (actor)

Early life

Jack O'Connell came into the world on 1 August 1990 in Alvaston, Derbyshire, to a working-class family. His father, Johnny Patrick O'Connell, was an Irish national from Ballyheigue who worked on the British railways for Bombardier Transportation until pancreatic cancer took his life in 2009. His mother, Alison (born Gutteridge), is English and worked for British Midland airline before she started managing her son's acting career. His younger sister, Megan, is also an actress.

Their grandfather, Ken Gutteridge, played for and later managed Burton Albion FC, and young Jack dreamed of becoming a professional footballer. He played striker for Alvaston Rangers and earned trials with Derby County FC, but repeated injuries ended that ambition. He then set his sights on the British Army, seeing it as his only honest way to make a living. His parents enrolled him in the Army Cadet Force at age twelve to instil discipline, but his juvenile criminal record blocked his enlistment.

As a teenager, he faced repeated court appearances for alcohol and violence offences, and at seventeen he received a one-year young offender's referral order. He left Saint Benedict Catholic School at sixteen with just two GCSEs, in drama and English. He started drama classes at thirteen through the free Television Workshop in Nottingham, training twice weekly. Later, he moved to Hounslow in London and worked as a farmhand in Cobham, Surrey, between acting jobs.

Career

O'Connell made his professional acting debut in 2005 with an episode of Doctors, playing a runaway with anger issues, followed by a recurring role as a boy accused of rape in The Bill. His stage debut that same year came when the Television Workshop's play The Spider Men was selected for the Royal National Theatre. His debut film role was in This Is England (2006), for which filmmaker Shane Meadows wrote the supporting role of the belligerent Pukey specifically for him.

In 2007 he appeared in episodes of Waterloo Road, Holby City, and Wire in the Blood, and played a 15-year-old pupil in a sexual relationship with his teacher in the play Scarborough at the Edinburgh Festival and later London's Royal Court Theatre. He played a psychopathic gang leader in the horror-thriller Eden Lake (2008), starred as a juvenile delinquent in the educational film 'Between You and Me' (2008), and had a minor role in the ITV serial Wuthering Heights (2009).

His role as James Cook in Skins (2009–2010, 2013) brought him wider recognition. He later gave critically acclaimed performances in Starred Up (2013) and '71 (2014), earning British Independent Film Award nominations, and played war hero Louis Zamperini in Unbroken (2014), receiving the BAFTA Rising Star Award.

Personal life

O'Connell lives in North London, is in a relationship, and has a daughter. He does not consider himself British, instead identifying with his Derbyshire upbringing and Irish heritage. After his father died when O'Connell was 18, he coped through self-destructive behavior, later saying he 'didn't stop partying for like seven years.' While living in Bristol during his tenure on Skins, tabloids labeled him a 'party boy,' 'bad boy,' and 'bit of rough.' His childhood nickname 'Jack the Lad' is tattooed on his arm. His troubled youth influenced his early career of playing delinquents, and his juvenile criminal record initially prevented a U.S. visa for Hollywood productions. By age 24 he had largely changed his lifestyle, crediting Angelina Jolie, who directed him in Unbroken, with influencing his outlook and describing working with her as an 'intervention.'

Advocacy

On 20 June 2016, World Refugee Day, O'Connell and Holliday Grainger featured in a film titled Home from the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR, part of the #WithRefugees campaign. The film, written and directed by Daniel Mulloy, depicts a family taking a reverse migration into a war zone, inspired by primary accounts of refugees. Home won a BAFTA Award and a Gold Lion at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, among other awards.