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Rise to Fame
Lily Allen wrote a song about him, calling him lazy, gaming all day, a waste of potential. He proved her wrong by replacing Daniel Radcliffe in a UK production of Equus, which got him called in by Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss. He'd originally auditioned for Jon Snow. They gave him Theon Greyjoy instead, and he turned what could have been a one-note villain into eight seasons of systematic unraveling that earned him a 2019 Emmy nomination.
In the Spotlight
He self-submitted for that 2019 Emmy nomination, paying the $225 fee himself and not realizing he'd gotten it until a phone call interrupted a London shopping errand. The nomination didn't unlock a bigger career, but he kept working: White House Farm, SAS: Rogue Heroes, Night Teeth, stage work at the Donmar Warehouse. In 2025, he rejoined Benioff and Weiss for 3 Body Problem. The showrunners who made Theon Greyjoy famous are still casting him. That's not nothing.
Side Notes
Lily Allen's 2006 song Alfie is directly about him. It called him lazy, gaming all day, burning his potential. Lily has said she wrote it because she wanted him to do something with his life. His father is actor Keith Allen, his mother is film producer Alison Owen, and he's a third cousin of Sam Smith. Within two years of the song, he was in Equus. The song worked.