Biography

Came into acting while doing a favor for a friend, who asked him to fill in for an actor who failed to show up for his friend's film shoot. Following this experience, he started taking acting classes during his off hours from work.

Found an acting coach in the Yellow Pages and began going to classes one night a week after work.

Studied business at Huddersfield and marketing at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology.

Has a son named Milo James-Collier with Lauren Chandiram.

Friend of Downton Abbey (2010) co-star Allen Leech.

[on his role in Downton Abbey (2010)] It's a dream job because it's completely the other side of the spectrum, particularly as it carries on. My character gets nastier.

[on kissing Charlie Cox in Downton Abbey (2010)] When you're kissing a woman and you want it to look realistic, you're thinking, 'Am I taking advantage of her? Is her boyfriend going to think I'm over-stepping the mark? Whereas when you are kissing a man, those thoughts don't cross your mind. I'm more scared of it looking false, so I went for it fully to make it look real and hopefully I've achieved that.

Working on Downton Abbey (2010) is amazing, but there's an ensemble cast of between 18 and 21 actors. With 'Love Life,' there are two couples and a few other key characters. As a smaller unit, you've got to take more responsibility - at the same time, you can have more ownership of the direction it's going in.

The reason I'm an actor and am trying to make my way in drama is to move people, to affect people, to gain a response - so these people who come up to you in the street are your audience.

I'm a working class lad. So at 25, and with no-one in our family having any theatrical inclination, when I said, 'I'm going to scratch all that and become an actor,' I may as well have said I was going to be a Premiership footballer for the chance I'd have.