Stephen Graham is an English actor, writer and television producer. He is best known for his roles in This Is England (2006), Boiling Point (2021) and Adolescence (2025). He was awarded an OBE in 2023 and has won Primetime Emmy Awards.
He was born on 3 August 1973 in Kirkby, Lancashire. He was raised by his mother, a social worker, and his stepfather, a mechanic. His stepfather later trained as a paediatric nurse, and Graham maintained close ties with his birth father. He has Swedish and Jamaican grandfathers on his father's side.
While at Overdale Primary School, Andrew Schofield urged him to act at the age of eight. He then attended Ruffwood School and, at the age of 14, Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre. He went on to train at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance.
He began his screen career in 1990, taking early roles in Snatch (2000) and Band of Brothers (2001). He also appeared in Gangs of New York (2002), before playing the role of Andrew 'Combo' Gascoigne in This Is England (2006). He reprised the role in the sequels This Is England ’86 (2010), ’88 (2011) and ’90 (2015). His film work includes Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), The Irishman (2019) and Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021).
In 2020, he and his wife, Hannah Walters, set up Matriarch Productions. Graham has said that he is dyslexic and that Walters reads scripts for him. He has also spoken about depression and an attempted suicide in his early 20s. He said that he survived because "the rope snapped".
In 2021, he starred in the one-shot film Boiling Point, set in a restaurant kitchen. This was later adapted into a BBC series of the same name, starring Graham.
In 2025, he co-wrote the film Adolescence with Jack Thorne, directed by Philip Barantini. This psychological crime drama is set near Doncaster and follows the arrest of 13-year-old Jamie Miller for the death of a girl. Each episode was shot in one take as the case progresses from the police station to the youth unit and back home again. At school, a forensic psychiatrist links Jamie's views to the manosphere and mock social media posts.
The plot follows his family as they face a harsh backlash from the town and try to cope. The series premiered on Netflix on 13 March 2025 and received acclaim for its aesthetic, tone, and performances. It topped the weekly TV list on Barb, the first streaming show to do so. The show received 13 Emmy nominations and won awards for the series itself, as well as for Barantini’s direction.
Graham won the award for lead actor, and there were also wins for Owen Cooper and Erin Doherty. In April 2025, Deadline reported that Netflix and Plan B were in talks about a second series.
Stephen Graham has received BAFTA and BAFTA Film nominations and was awarded an OBE for his work in drama.
Photo credit: Bryan Berlin, CC BY-SA 4.0
