Early life
Speleers was born at St Richard's Hospital, Chichester, West Sussex, England. He is of Belgian descent. [2] [3] His parents divorced when he was three, [4] with his mother residing in Spain and his father in London. [5] He has two older half brothers. [4] While still in school, Speleers performed in school productions such as A Midsummer Night's Dream and Richard III . [6] [7] In addition to acting, Speleers wrote a play, entitled Retribution, that was performed at Eastbourne College, in Sussex, where he attended. Speleers completed his education in 2006. [5]
Career
2006–2011
Speleers' first professional role in 2006 was the lead in 20th Century Fox's screen version of Christopher Paolini's book Eragon . [7] His next role, in 2008, was Jimmy Penwarden on the British prime time series Echo Beach . [8] He also appeared in the comedy Moving Wallpaper and an episode of Moving Wallpaper: The Mole, which many saw as a parody of Echo Beach. [9]
In 2009 Speleers took on the role of Robin Cecil Byng in the Japanese television miniseries Jiro Shirasu: Man of Honor, which highlighted the intermediary between American and Japanese negotiators at the conclusion of World War II. [10] The next year, Speleers played Jason Grint in the fantasy-adventure television film Witchville , and starred in Aimee Powell's short film Deathless. [11] [12] In 2011, Speleers appeared in Julian Gilbey's action thriller film A Lonely Place to Die and Marion Pilowski's short film The Ride. [13] [14]
2012–2015
In 2012 Speleers starred as Jamie in Andy De Emmony's comedy horror film Love Bite, alongside Jessica Szohr and Timothy Spall. [15] [16] He appeared as the hunter Actaeon in the short promotional film Metamorphosis: Titian 2012 by Credit Suisse for an exhibition in the National Gallery. [17] [18] He was cast in the film A Dead Man in Deptford, based upon Anthony Burgess' novel of the same name, but the film was never completed. [19] [20] [21] That same year, Speleers was cast in the recurring role of Jimmy Kent in the award-winning ITV series Downton Abbey . [22] [23]
The short film Turncoat (2013), from Dark Matter productions, featured Speleers as Nathan Reese. [24] [25] He then starred as Sam in the 2014 thriller Plastic , which was written and directed by Julian Gilbey for Gateway Films. [26] [27] On 12 March 2014, it was reported that Speleers was among five actors being considered for a lead role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens , but was cut during the casting process. [28] [29] [30]
In 2015 Speleers had a small role in the BBC's historical drama mini-series Wolf Hall as Edward Seymour, brother of Henry VIII's third wife Jane Seymour. [31] [32] He also played a leading role in the direct-to-DVD werewolf horror film Howl , as a young train conductor overseeing the final London train. [33] That same year, Speleers guest starred in the BBC One miniseries Partners in Crime , an adaptation of two of Agatha Christie's novels, which focused on crime-solving couple Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. Speleers appeared in three episodes based on the story N or M? , in the role of Carl Denim. [34] Also that year, he portrayed Greg in director Omer Fast's psychological thriller Remainder . [35] [36]
2016–2020
In 2016 he played the role of Slean in ITV's epic fantasy drama television series, Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands . [6] [37] He had a supporting role in Disney's fantasy adventure sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass from director James Bobin. [23] [38] The following year he appeared in Andy Serkis' directorial debut, the biopic Breathe , which starred Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy. The film is about paraplegic Robin Cavendish, who is recognised as having helped pioneer the development of wheelchairs equipped with mechanical lungs. [39]
In 2017 Speleers was a producer on Barnaby Blackburn's short film Wale. [40] [41] The film, which centers on contemporary racial prejudices in Britain, was nominated for a British Academy Film Award in 2018 in the Short Film category. [42] In late 2017, Speleers was confirmed to appear in seasons four and five of Starz's time-travel drama series Outlander as Irish smuggler and pirate Stephen Bonnet. [43] [44] [45]
In 2018 Speleers starred in the dark comedy-horror film Zoo, which centers on a couple in crisis and attempting to reconcile during a zombie pandemic. [39] [46] He went on to feature in Lars von Trier's psychological thriller The House That Jack Built , which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. [47] On 20 August 2018, Speleers made his stage premiere in the play Rain Man, portraying the lead role of Charlie Babbitt. [48] The play, based upon the film of the same name, was directed by Jonathan O'Boyle and toured various theatres throughout the United Kingdom. [49] [50] [51]
Romantic comedy For Love or Money featured Speleers as Johnny, opposite Robert Kazinsky and Samantha Barks, in 2019. [52] [53] [54] In the same year, he produced Dad Was, the second short film with director Barnaby Blackburn, which was released in 2020. [55]
In 2020 Speleers made the final appearance in Outlander. [56] He was also the narrator of a David Copperfield audiobook published by Penguin Classics. [57]
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