- Born
- Height5′ 7½″ (1.71 m)
- Jack O'Connell was born in Alvaston, Derby, England, to Alison J. (Gutteridge) and John Patrick O'Connell. His mother is English, and worked at British Midland, and his father was Irish (from County Kerry), and worked on the railways for Bombardier. Jack went to Saint Benedict Catholic School, and began acting professionally playing Connor Yates in a 2005 episode of the television series Doctors (2000). His subsequent TV roles included 4 episodes of The Bill (1984), 6 of The Runaway (2010), and 18 of the popular teen drama Skins (2007).
He made his film debut playing Pukey Nicholls in 2006's This Is England (2006), later co-starring in Eden Lake (2008), Harry Brown (2009), Private Peaceful (2012) and The Somnambulists (2011), before receiving critical acclaim for his lead roles as a jailed teenager in Starred Up (2013) and a British soldier in Belfast in '71 (2014).
O'Connell made his Hollywood debut as Greek soldier Calisto in the graphic novel-based action-war film 300: Rise of an Empire (2014), and then played Olympic distance runner and World War II POW Louis Zamperini in the Angelina Jolie-directed war drama Unbroken (2014). His upcoming roles include The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018) and Money Monster (2016), the latter with George Clooney and Julia Roberts.
- IMDb mini biography by: anonymous
- ParentsAlison J. O'ConnellJohn Patrick O'Connell
- RelativesMegan O'Connell(Sibling)
- Midlands, slightly estuary accent
- His father was Irish, from Kerry. His mother is of English background.
- He had planned to join the Army, believing it to be the only way he could make an honest living, but his juvenile criminal record prevented him from enlisting.
- Considered for the role of Gary Unwin in Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014).
- He had a very troubled upbringing. As a youth, he 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.
- What's important to me is the longevity. I want to create a body of work that is entertaining and speaks to people for a long time. Longer than my life span. They're the real goals for me as an actor, not the fame side of things.
- I like the ideology of there being no such thing as perfection. But I'm of the opinion that I have witnessed perfection at various times, especially in art.
- [on playing Cook in Skins (2007)] I think out of the characters I've played, me and Cook are the most similar. I don't know whether he changed me; he helped keep me on the straight and narrow for a bit, ironically, because I could focus any troublesome incentives of mine into a very productive line of work. If he changed me, it was for the better... There is a significant amount [of fan mail], and it comes from all over the world; it's so humbling to know that Skins (2007) reached out on a global scale, from something we were just fucking around with in Bristol.
- [on his acting influences] Growing up, Gary Oldman has been a big role model of mine. Also Tim Roth, I've always loved his performances. A more recent example would be Tom Hardy. He decides to do what he does for his reasons, but I like the way he's been able to stay as Tom. He's not been warped in any way.
- [If you could go back in time, where would you go?] I'd go as far back as possible, just to have a look.
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