Stephen Joseph Graham (born 3 August 1973) is an English actor. He is best known for playing Andrew "Combo" Gascoigne in the film This Is England (2006) and its television sequels This Is England '86 (2010), This Is England '88 (2011), and This Is England '90 (2015). His other film roles include Tommy in Snatch (2000), Shang in Gangs of New York (2002), Baby Face Nelson in Public Enemies (2009), Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano in The Irishman (2019), and Scrum in the Pirates of the Caribbean films On Stranger Tides (2011) and Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017).

Stephen Graham
Graham in 2013
Born	(1973-08-03) 3 August 1973 (age 49) Kirkby, Lancashire, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1990–present
Spouse	Hannah Walters ​ ​ (m. 2008)​
Children	2

On television, Graham has starred in the fifth series of the BBC One series Line of Duty (2019) as DS John Corbett, as Al Capone in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire (2010–2014), as Jacob Marley in the BBC/FX miniseries A Christmas Carol (2019), as DCI Taff Jones in the ITV miniseries White House Farm (2020), Eric McNally in BBC drama Time (2021), Tony in Help (2021), and Hayden Stagg in the sixth series of Peaky Blinders (2022).

Early life

Graham[1][2] was born on 3 August 1973 in Kirkby, Lancashire.[2][3] His father was of half Jamaican and half Swedish descent.[4] He was brought up by his mother, a social worker, and his stepfather, a mechanic who later became a paediatric nurse.[3] He maintained a good relationship with his biological father.[3][5] He attended Overdale Primary School in Kirkby, where he was encouraged to pursue an acting career at the age of eight by local actor Andrew Schofield, who had seen him perform as Jim Hawkins in a school production of Treasure Island.[3] He then continued his education at Ruffwood Comprehensive and was subsequently introduced to Liverpool's Everyman Theatre at the age of 14, later going on to train at the Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance.[3]

Career

Graham has often portrayed characters from different British, Irish and American regions. He has played characters who are Cockney, Welsh, Geordie, Scouse and Scottish, as well as an Irish gang member in 19th-century New York City, a 1930s Chicago bank robber, a New Jersey mobster^{[citation needed]}, a Texan, the short-fused English nationalist "Combo" in This Is England,[6] and a Jamaican gangster in Yardie.

Graham was nominated for an RTS Award for his work in The Street, and for a British Independent Film Award for his work on This Is England. He appeared in the music videos for "I Remember" by Deadmau5 and Kaskade,[7] "Fluorescent Adolescent" and "When the Sun Goes Down" by the Arctic Monkeys, "Unlovable" by Babybird (directed by Johnny Depp), and Gazelle's single "Finger on the Trigger".[8] Graham also appeared in the music video "Soul Vampire" by Macclesfield-based neo-psychedelic band The Virginmarys, the music video for "Turn" by Travis, and Kasabian's video "You're in Love with a Psycho". He appeared as an inmate within the open prison system in the music video for Goldie's "I Adore You" in 2017.

In 2011, Graham starred in the BBC Christmas show Lapland. When the series was remade as Being Eileen Graham's role was recast with Dean Andrews.[9][10] He also appeared on a promotional video for a DLC of the video game Call of Duty: Ghosts, titled "CODnapped".

In 2019, Graham featured as DS John Corbett in series 5 of the BBC drama Line of Duty.[11][12][13] In November of that year, Graham was the guest for BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.[14] In January 2020, he appeared in the ITV series White House Farm as Welsh detective "Taff" Jones. Despite his reputation for his ability to adopt different accents, a number of critics criticised his performance and stated that his Welsh accent was inauthentic.[15]

In 2021, Graham starred in Philip Barantini-directed film Boiling Point, alongside Vinette Robinson, Ray Panthaki and Hannah Walters. It is a one-shot film set in a restaurant kitchen, expanded from the 2019 short film of the same name.[16][17] In October 2022, it was announced that the BBC would produce a sequel series, set month after the feature film, with Graham returning.[18]

Personal life

Graham married actress Hannah Walters on 6 June 2008; they had met and started dating while both were training at the Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance. They currently reside in Ibstock, Leicestershire, having previously lived in the Beckenham area of London. They have a son and a daughter.[19]

Graham is a supporter of Liverpool FC and has made several appearances on the Sky Sports football show Soccer AM.[20] He has struggled with depression and once tried to hang himself in his early 20s; he survived because "the rope snapped".[3] He is teetotal and has dyslexia,[3] revealing that his wife reads scripts for him and helps him decide whether to accept or decline a role: "She says, 'We're doing this,' and I say, 'OK.' [...] If I can find socially aware, political things that are saying something—well, that's where I'm from. It's what I know. So it's where I've tried to keep my base."[3]

Filmography

Source: [21]

Film

Television

Music videos

BAFTA nominations

References

External links

• Stephen Graham at the British Film Institute
• Stephen Graham at IMDb

На других языках

[de] Stephen Graham (Schauspieler)

[es] Stephen Graham

[ru] Грэм, Стивен