Johnny Harris

Johnny Harris first burst onto our screens in the feature film London to Brighton. Despite being made on a tiny budget, the film went on to be voted into Time Out magazine's '100 Greatest British Movies Of All Time' and is now widely regarded as a cult classic with noteworthy actors and directors regarding Johnny's performance as "outstanding" and "astonishing." In an interview in The Independent on Sunday at the time of the film's release, celebrated British director Shane Meadows said of Harris' performance in the film: "It's an incredibly bold and massively powerful performance, the best I've seen on celluloid for a long time." Four years later, Harris' breakthrough role came when Meadows cast him in This Is England '86 and his portrayal of Lol's abusive father in the show saw him receive both BAFTA and The Royal Television Society Award nominations for his performance. The following year he reprised the chilling role of Mick in This Is England '88 with the show winning the BAFTA TV Award for Best Mini-Series. Johnny continued his run of award-winning projects with a leading role in the hit BBC drama The Fades, clinching the BAFTA TV Award for Best Drama Series. In 2012 he was back in cinemas in Universal Pictures smash hit film Snow White and the Huntsman starring Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron. He played one of the eight dwarves alongside the late Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Ian McShane, Nick Frost, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, and Brian Gleeson. Another feature film soon followed and Harris was seen in Welcome to the Punch with James McAvoy, Mark Strong, Peter Mullan and Andrea Riseborough which went on international release in 2013. Nev Pierce, Editor of Empire Magazine, has described Johnny as "An heir to Oldman, in terms of being able to be both sensitive and scary, indelible and real." The Independent described Harris as "One of Britain's finest actors". In 2015, Johnny stars in the hit new Sky Atlantic/Pivot 12-part drama Fortitude alongside Sir Michael Gambon, Stanley Tucci, and Christopher Eccleston. The show was shot on location in Iceland and London and aired exclusively on both sides of the Atlantic in January 2015. He also received critical acclaim for his performance as American Platoon Sergeant Noah Frater in the feature film Monsters: Dark Continent, the sequel to the Gareth Edwards hit film Monsters, his first starring role in a feature film. 2015 also saw Johnny return as 'Mick' in This Is England '90. The final installment of the hugely successful series. He also starred as DCI John Hind, opposite Anne-Marie Duff in From Darkness, a new four-part drama for BBC1. Filming took place on location in Manchester and Scotland. In February 2016, filming began on Johnny's debut screenplay Jawbone. Harris co-produced the film and also starred alongside Ray Winstone, Ian McShane and Michael Smiley, with Paul Weller composing and recording an original soundtrack for the movie. Boxing legend Barry McGuigan and his son, the esteemed trainer Shane McGuigan served as boxing consultants on the movie, and prepared Harris for the lead role. The film was backed by BBC Films and was shot on location in London, and the West Midlands. Jawbone was released nationwide in cinemas on May 12, 2017, receiving huge critical acclaim. Harris received both 'Best Actor' and 'Best Debut screenplay' Award nominations at The BIFA Awards 2017. Jawbone received 7 nominations in total. In January 2018 Johnny received a BAFTA Film Award nomination for 'Outstanding Achievement by a British Writer, Director, or Producer' for his work on Jawbone. He was also nominated by The Writers Guild of Great Britain for the 'Outstanding Debut Screenplay' Award. In 2018 Johnny played the role of "Agamemnon" in the new BBC - Netflix drama series Troy: Fall of a City. Filming took place on location in Cape Town, South Africa. In the same year, he also made his debut behind the camera, directing the music video for the Paul Weller single "Gravity". In December of 2019, Harris appeared as Franklin Scrooge in the BBC adaptation of A Christmas Carol, alongside Guy Pearce, Andy Serkis and Stephen Graham. In 2020, Johnny stars as Bruno Bernardi in the third and final season of the Netflix drama series Medici Season 3 (2020). Filming took place in Rome and Tuscany. Harris will also appear in the new highly anticipated BBC Drama Series The Salisbury Poisonings. a mini-series based on the real life events of 2018. In 2022, Harris was reunited on screen with Vicky McClure in the new ITVX Drama Without Sin. This was the first time the two have appeared together on screen since their portrayal of father and daughter in the multi-award winning This is England '86. In 2023, Harris plays the iconic role of Magwitch in the new FX Network/Disney/BBC production of Great Expectations, starring Olivia Colman. The show is exec-produced by Sir Ridley Scott and Tom Hardy and will hit screens in both The UK (BBC) and America (Hulu) on March 26th. 2023 also sees Johnny Harris cast as Osip Glebnikov in the new Showtime / Paramount production of "A Gentleman in Moscow" starring Ewan McGregor. This new eight-part series is based on the Best-Selling novel by Amor Towles and is due to air on TV screens internationally later this the year. [11]