Stephen Graham

Stephen Graham was born in Kirkby,^[1] Lancashire,^[a] on 3 August 1973.^[2][3] 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.^[4][5] He had a Swedish grandmother and Jamaican grandfather, and has discussed his experience being a light-skinned multiracial person, as he has brothers who have much darker skin.^[6]

He 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.^[4] 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.^[4]

Graham began his career in 1990, with early notable roles including Tommy in Snatch (2000), Myron "Mike" Ranney in Band of Brothers (2001), and Shang in Gangs of New York (2002), before his breakout role as Andrew "Combo" Gascoigne in the film This Is England (2006), the last of which garnered a nomination for a British Independent Film Award. He reprised his role as Combo on television 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).

He appeared as the Scrum in the 2011 film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, a role he reprised in the 2017 film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, starring alongside his wife Hannah Walters.^[7][8][9] Other film roles include Anthony Provenzano in The Irishman (2019) and Patrick Mulligan in Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) and its sequel Venom: The Last Dance (2024).

Graham has often portrayed characters from different parts of Britain, Ireland, and America, receiving praise for his accent work.^[10]

He appeared in the music videos for "I Remember" by Deadmau5 and Kaskade,^[11] "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".^[12] Graham 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, and also starred in Sam Fender's music video for "Spit of You", in which he plays Fender's father.^[13][14]

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.^[15][16] He also appeared in "CODnapped", a promotional video for a DLC of the video game Call of Duty: Ghosts.

In 2019 Graham featured as DS John Corbett in series 5 of the BBC drama Line of Duty.^[17][18][19] In November of that year, Graham was the guest for BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.^[20] 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.^[21]

In 2021 he starred alongside his wife Hannah Walters in the film Boiling Point, directed by his Band of Brothers co-star Philip Barantini. A one-shot film set in a restaurant kitchen, the film was expanded from a 2019 short film of the same name.^[22][23] In October 2022, it was announced that Graham would reprise his role in a BBC One series airing in 2023 as a sequel to the film, also named Boiling Point.^[24][25]

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 has received nominations for five British Academy Television Awards and two British Academy Film Awards. He was made an OBE in 2023.

In 2025 he created, co-wrote and executive produced the miniseries Adolescence on Netflix, in which he also appeared. The series was widely praised by critics.^[26] Graham also appeared in the British historical drama series A Thousand Blows.^[27][28][29]

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, who died in 2022.^[31][32][33]

Graham began dating actress and producer Hannah Walters after they met while training as actors at Rose Bruford College, and they later married. As of February 2018^[update] they live in Ibstock, Leicestershire, having previously lived in the Beckenham area of London. They have a son and a daughter together.^[1]

Graham has dyslexia,^[4] revealing in 2019 that Walters reads scripts for him and helps him decide whether to accept a role.^[4] He is teetotal and has struggled with depression, having once tried to hang himself in his early 20s, stating that he only survived because "the rope snapped".^[4]

He is a lifelong supporter of Liverpool FC and made several appearances on Sky Sports's Soccer AM.^[34] In December 2024, he faced an FA investigation after verbally abusing a referee at a non-league football match in Leicestershire.^[35]