Stephen Graham

Stephen Graham OBE
Graham in 2013
Born	(1973-08-03) 3 August 1973 Kirkby, Lancashire, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1990–present
Spouse	Hannah Walters ​ ​ (m. 2008)​
Children	2

Stephen Joseph Graham OBE (born 3 August 1973) is an English actor. He began his career in 1990 and worked steadily until his breakout role as Andrew "Combo" Gascoigne in the film This Is England (2006).

Other notable film roles include Tommy in Snatch (2000), Shang in Gangs of New York (2002), Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano in The Irishman (2019), Scrum in two Pirates of the Caribbean films, and Andy Jones in Boiling Point (2021).

On television, Graham continued his role as Gascoigne in This Is England '86 (2010), This Is England '88 (2011), and This Is England '90 (2015). He also starred as Det. Supt. Dave Kelly in the 2017 drama Little Boy Blue, John Corbett in the fifth series of Line of Duty (2019), Al Capone in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire (2010–2014), Eric McNally in the BBC drama Time (2021), and Hayden Stagg in the sixth series of Peaky Blinders (2022).

Graham has received numerous accolades, including a Screen Actors Guild Award, nominations for five British Academy Television Awards and two British Academy Film Awards, and an OBE.

Early life and education

Stephen Joseph Graham was born on 3 August 1973 in Kirkby, Lancashire. His paternal grandfather was Jamaican, while one of his grandmothers was Swedish. He was brought up by his mother, a social worker, and his stepfather, a mechanic who later became a paediatric nurse. He maintained a good relationship with his biological father.

Graham attended Overdale Primary School in Kirkby, where he was encouraged to pursue an acting career at the age of eight by local actor Andrew Schofield, who had seen him perform as Jim Hawkins in a school production of Treasure Island. He then continued his education at Ruffwood Comprehensive and was subsequently introduced to Liverpool's Everyman Theatre at the age of 14, later going on to train at the Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance.

Career

Graham has often portrayed characters from different British, Irish and American regions. He has played characters who are Cockney, Welsh, Geordie, Scouse and Scottish, as well as an Irish gang member in 19th-century New York City, a 1930s Chicago bank robber, a New Jersey mobster, a Texan, the short-fused English nationalist "Combo" in This Is England, and a Jamaican gangster in Yardie.

Graham was nominated for an RTS Award for his work in The Street, and for a British Independent Film Award for his work in This Is England. He appeared in the music videos for "I Remember" by Deadmau5 and Kaskade, "Fluorescent Adolescent" and "When the Sun Goes Down" by Arctic Monkeys, "Unlovable" by Babybird (directed by Johnny Depp), and Gazelle's single "Finger on the Trigger". Graham also appeared in the music video "Soul Vampire" by Macclesfield-based neo-psychedelic band The Virginmarys, the music video for "Turn" by Travis, and Kasabian's video "You're in Love with a Psycho". He appeared as an inmate within the open prison system in the music video for Goldie's "I Adore You" in 2017.

In 2011, Graham starred in the BBC Christmas show Lapland. When the series was remade as Being Eileen Graham's role was recast with Dean Andrews. He also appeared on a promotional video for a DLC of the video game Call of Duty: Ghosts, titled "CODnapped".

In 2019, Graham featured as DS John Corbett in series 5 of the BBC drama Line of Duty. In November of that year, Graham was the guest for BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. In January 2020, he appeared in the ITV series White House Farm as Welsh detective "Taff" Jones. Despite his reputation for his ability to adopt different accents, a number of critics criticised his performance and stated that his Welsh accent was inauthentic.

In 2021, Graham starred alongside his wife Hannah Walters in the film Boiling Point. It is a one-shot film set in a restaurant kitchen, expanded from a 2019 short film of the same name. In October 2022, it was announced that the BBC would produce a sequel series, set months after the feature film, with Graham reprising his role.

Personal life

On 6 June 2008, Graham married actress and producer Hannah Walters, whom he had been dating since they met while training at the Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance. They reside in Ibstock, Leicestershire, having previously lived in the Beckenham area of London. They have two children, daughter Gracie (born 2005) and son Alfie (born 2007).

Graham is teetotal and suffers from dyslexia, revealing in 2019 that his wife reads scripts for him and helps him decide whether to accept a role. He has struggled with depression and once tried to hang himself in his early 20s, stating that he only survived because "the rope snapped".

He is a lifelong supporter of Liverpool FC and has made several appearances on the Sky Sports football show Soccer AM.

Graham's mother died in December 2022.

Honours

Graham was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to drama, which he dedicated to his mother.

Filmography

Source:

Film

Television

Music videos

Awards and nominations

External links

• Stephen Graham at the British Film Institute
• Stephen Graham at IMDb