Micheal Ward

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Micheal Ward
Micheal Ward at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival 01.jpg
Ward at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival
Born1996or1997(age 27–28) [1]
Spanish Town, Jamaica
Citizenship
  • Jamaica
  • United Kingdom
OccupationActor
Years active2016–present
Awards British Academy Film Award (2020)

Micheal Ward (born 1996 or 1997) is a Jamaican-born British actor and former model. [2] [3] Ward was awarded the 2020 BAFTA Rising Star Award. [4] [5] He acted in the Sam Mendes drama Empire of Light (2022) for which he was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. [6] He has also acted in the films Blue Story (2018), The Old Guard (2020), and Eddington (2025). [7]

Contents

On television, he acted in the BBC teen thriller series The A List (2018) and the Netflix crime drama series Top Boy (2019–2022). [2] [8] He also acted in the BBC anthology film series Small Axe (2020) earning a nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. [9]

In July 2025, the Metropolitan Police announced that Ward had been charged with two counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault. [10]

Early life

Micheal Ward was born in Spanish Town, Jamaica [11] to then 18-year-old mother Keisha. [12] [13] He has three sisters. [14] His father was killed in a car crash when Micheal was two years old. [15]

Ward then moved to Hackney, East London, with his mother and sister at the age of four, with the help of his aunt and uncle who ran a Caribbean restaurant in Chadwell Heath. [15] The family later moved to Romford. [16] He attended Chadwell Heath Academy and then studied performing arts at Epping Forest College after dropping out of sixth form. [2] [17] He worked delivering food for his aunt’s restaurant as a teenager and then later worked at a bookmakers shop. [18] [19]

Career

2016–2018: Modeling and early roles

Ward in 2019. Micheal Ward on W!ZARD Radio Media.jpg
Ward in 2019.

Ward began his career while he was at college when he signed with the talent agency. [17] Through the agency, he landed roles in music videos for artists such as Lily Allen and Tom Walker. [20] At the age of seventeen, Ward won the Face of JD Sports modelling competition. [21] He has since modelled a number of brands and was handpicked by Virgil Abloh to model for Louis Vuitton's AW20 menswear campaign in August 2020. [22] Ward made his film debut in Brotherhood in 2016. [23] He starred in the first series of the teen thriller The A List on BBC iPlayer in 2018 [24] and reprised his role for its second series on Netflix.

2019–2022: Top Boy and other work

Ward's breakout year came in 2019, when he starred as Jamie in Netflix's revival and third series of Top Boy . [25] He also appeared in a leading role in the film Blue Story in the same year. [26] The film received critical acclaim, and Ward won the BAFTA Rising Star Award for his performance. [27] Ward appeared in Steve McQueen's Small Axe: Lovers Rock in 2020, for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. [28] [9]

Ward starred alongside Olivia Colman, Colin Firth and Tanya Moodie in Sam Mendes' 2022 film Empire of Light . [29] [30] The film was released in the USA in December 2022, with the release in the UK in January 2023. In January 2023 it was announced that Ward was included on the longlist in the best supporting actor category for the 76th British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards. [31] In December 2022, he was cast in Jeymes Samuel's The Book of Clarence . [32]

2023–present

He appeared alongside Bill Nighy in the 2024 film The Beautiful Game . [33] In 2025 he acted in the Ari Aster directed satirical western Eddington . [34]

Personal life

Ward is an Arsenal fan. [35] He went to school with English professional footballer Rhian Brewster. [36] Ward was named in Forbes' 30 under 30 list in 2020. [37] Ward became a British citizen in 2015. [12]

Rape and sexual assault charges

On 25 July 2025, the Metropolitan Police announced that Ward was charged with two counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault. It was reported the offences occurred in January 2023, and were committed against one woman. [38]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
2016 Brotherhood The Supporting Artists
2019 Blue Story Marco
2020 The Old Guard Lykon
Good Thanks, You? LewisShort film
2022 Beauty Cain
Empire of Light Stephen
2023 The Book of Clarence Judas Iscariot
2024 Bob Marley: One Love The Shooter Uncredited
The Beautiful Game Vinny
2025 Eddington Michael

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
2018, 2021 The A List BrendanMain role (series 1)
Guest role (series 2)
2019–2022 Top Boy JamieMain role (series 3-4)
2020 Small Axe : Lovers Rock FranklynAnthology series

Music videos

SongYearArtistNotes
"Blessings"2017 Tom Walker
"Trigger Bang"2018 Lily Allen feat. Giggs
"Black"2019 Dave

Awards and nominations

OrganizationsYearCategoryWorkResultRef.
BAFTA Awards 2019 Rising Star Award HimselfWon [39]
2021 Best Supporting Actor Small Axe Nominated [40]
2022 Best Actor in a Supporting Role Empire of Light Nominated [6]
National Film Awards UK 2020Best Newcomer Blue Story Nominated [41]
Outstanding PerformanceNominated
NME Awards 2020Best Film ActorWon [42]
RTS Programme Awards 2020Actor (Male) Top Boy Nominated [43]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ritman, Alex (30 November 2022). "'Empire of Light' Star Micheal Ward on His Dramatic Ascent and Prophetic Vision for His Career". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 Alexi Duggins (21 November 2019). "Micheal Ward on gritty postcode war drama 'Blue Story': "We're not glorifying anything – we're just showing how it is"". NME . Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  3. ↑ Wolfson, Sam (17 November 2019). "Micheal Ward: 'Everywhere I go it's good vibes'". The Guardian– via www.theguardian.com.
  4. ↑ "Baftas 2020: Micheal Ward accepts selfie challenge". BBC News.
  5. ↑ Mel Evans (2 February 2020). "Top Boy's Michael Ward fans over Al Pacino and Robert De Niro after Baftas win". Metro . Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  6. 1 2 "Baftas 2023: The nominees and winners in full". BBC News. 19 January 2023. Archived from the original on 20 February 2023. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
  7. ↑ "The Old Guard 2 on Netflix: Release date, cast and everything you need to know". Digital Spy. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  8. ↑ Alex Ritman (13 September 2020). "'Top Boy' Newcomer Micheal Ward on Landing the Top Role in the Drake-Revived Crime Drama". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  9. 1 2 "BAFTA TV 2021: The Winners and Nominations for the Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards and British Academy Television Craft Awards". www.bafta.org. 28 April 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  10. ↑ Badshah, Nadeem (25 July 2025). "Top Boy actor Micheal Ward charged with rape and sexual assault". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  11. ↑ Clemenson, Matthew. "Romford actor Micheal Ward nominated for Rising Star Bafta award after starring roles in Top Boy and Blue Story". Romford Recorder. Archived from the original on 7 January 2020.
  12. 1 2 Reel Talk with actor Michael Ward , retrieved 22 March 2022
  13. ↑ "Micheal Ward's mum reveals A-list supporters after tears at the Baftas". 3 February 2020.
  14. ↑ ""I Need to Be in This": Rising Star Micheal Ward on Starring in Steve McQueen's New Series". Vogue. 16 March 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  15. 1 2 Dean, Jonathan. "Lovers Rock star Micheal Ward on how black culture is portrayed on screen". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  16. ↑ Jackson, Kevin (13 January 2020). "Rising Star". Jamaica Observer. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  17. 1 2 Joseph, Chanté (14 March 2022). "Micheal Ward on returning to Top Boy and rubbing shoulders with Quentin Tarantino". British GQ. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  18. ↑ Burgum, Becky (29 January 2020). "Top Boy's Micheal Ward Opens Up About Texting Drake And Fangirling On Set". ELLE. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  19. ↑ ""I Need to Be in This": Rising Star Micheal Ward on Starring in Steve McQueen's New Series". Vogue. 16 March 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  20. ↑ Burgum, Becky (29 January 2020). "Top Boy's Micheal Ward Opens Up About Texting Drake And Fangirling On Set". ELLE. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  21. ↑ McRae, Phoebe (3 February 2020). "Micheal Ward Started His Career as a Model". POPSUGAR Celebrity UK. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  22. ↑ "Michael Ward Looks Sharp in Louis Vuitton's FW20 Menswear Campaign". Wonderland. 20 August 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  23. ↑ Bell, Delano George (20 June 2020). "Jamaican-Born Actor, Micheal Ward, Stars in Cannes-Selected Film "Lover's Rock"". Jamaicans.com. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  24. ↑ Sophie. "The Top 10 Actors and Characters of The A List (Ranked Cast in 2021) | Series with Sophie". serieswithsophie.com. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  25. ↑ "Top Boy's back: Kano, Ashley Walters and Micheal Ward spill the new series' secrets". Time Out Worldwide. 29 August 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  26. ↑ Johnston, Kathleen (2 December 2019). "Inside the controversy around this year's most vital film, Blue Story". British GQ. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  27. ↑ Ritman, Alex (5 February 2020). "BAFTA Rising Star Winner Micheal Ward on the "Best Weekend" of His Life (and Waking Up in His Bow Tie)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  28. ↑ Adejobi, Alicia (22 November 2020). "Small Axe Lovers Rock: Micheal Ward on importance of Black love" . Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  29. ↑ Kroll, Justin (27 July 2021). "Sam Mendes Sets 'Small Axe: Lovers Rock's Micheal Ward To Star Opposite Olivia Colman in Searchlight's 'Empire Of Light'". Deadline. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  30. ↑ Heath, Paul (14 November 2022). "Sam Mendes' film Empire of Light Gets a Full Trailer". The Hollywood News. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  31. ↑ "Longlists, 2023 EE BAFTA Film Awards". BAFTA.org. 6 January 2023.
  32. ↑ Kit, Borys (5 December 2022). "Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy, RJ Cyler, Anna Diop Join Jeymes Samuel's Book of Clarence (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  33. ↑ Grater, Tom (3 August 2021). "Micheal Ward & Bill Nighy Starring In Soccer Pic 'The Beautiful Game' For Netflix & Blueprint". Deadline. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  34. ↑ "Eddington". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  35. ↑ "Micheal Ward: 'Everywhere I go it's good vibes'". the Guardian. 17 November 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  36. ↑ "Head to Head: Micheal Ward x Rhian Brewster Interview | GAFFER". gaffer.online. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  37. ↑ "30 Under 30 Europe 2020: Entertainment". Forbes. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  38. ↑ Youngs, Ian (25 July 2025). "Top Boy actor Micheal Ward charged with rape. He will appear in court on 25th August 2025". BBC . Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  39. ↑ "Micheal Ward- Winner's Acceptance Speech, EE Rising Star Award, EE British Academy Film Awards in 2020". www.bafta.org. 2 February 2020. Archived from the original on 12 August 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
  40. ↑ "Television - 2020". British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  41. ↑ Coleman, Lucy (January 2020). "National Film Academy reveals 2020 National Film Awards UK nominations". Chelsea Monthly. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  42. ↑ "'Blue Story' wins Best Film and Micheal Ward wins Best Film Actor at NME Awards 2020". NME. 12 February 2020. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  43. ↑ "Winners of the RTS Programme Awards 2020 announced". RTS. 17 March 2020. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
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