Jack O’Connell: A Rising Star

The young 'Skins' star is running towards stardom after being cast in Angelina Jolie's 'Unbroken'.

I think one of the most impressive and surprising performances I saw last year came from Jack O’Connell in British prison drama Starred Up. Throughout the film I thought to myself ‘I know that guy…’ but I couldn’t figure out where from. After a quick IMDb after the film I thought ‘of course, I know him from skins!’.

Like many aspiring British actors (and even Russell Brand) Jack appeard in the TV series The Bill, as well as Holby City and Waterloo Road. That was before landing the part of James Cook in Skins, which was a huge hit and gave his talent the exposure it deserved and opened up a lot of doors for him. The subsequent film roles he was getting mainly consisted of gritty cockney thugs (Harry Brown, The Liability), roles that actor and rapper Plan B has become known for in recent years, however, with the talent Jack has it would have been a shame to see him get typecasted into this kind of role. He seems aware of this potential typecast "I like to be versatile as an actor, that's the intention… I'm very conscious of potential typecasting” and his performances in United, Starred Up and 300: Rise of An Empire showed that he is a very diverse actor with many tricks up his sleeve.

One of the films I’m really looking forward to this year is ’71, a film about a British soldier that is accidently abandoned following a riot in Belfast 1971, Jack plays the said soldier, and it looks absolutely brilliant.

The big news is that he seems to have his foot well and truly in the Hollywood door as he stars in Unbroken, a film directed by Angelina Jolie. If Skins opened up the doors for Jack, then this is going to blow the door off the hinges! The film is about the life of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who was taken prisoner by Japanese forces during World War II.

From what I’ve seen from Jack so far I think he could play any role he likes, under Angelina Jolie or any other big name, he is one of the most exciting actors out there at the moment.
What do you think of Jack?