Jonathan Bailey: Belsize Park's rising star

It’s the biggest role a young actor can take on, that peculiar transition from child performer to adult star.  Many have found it an insurmountable obstacle, but Jonathan Bailey has taken it all in his stride.

Yet the 23 year old Oxford born actor, now based in Belsize Park, admits that his fast developing career has come together less by design than by a succession of contrasting projects that have caught the attention. For cinema audiences this began in 2004 with the release of family film Five Children & It.

“I think it dawned on me while I was doing that film that a career as an actor was a possibility,” he nods.  “It never seemed like a job, but then it still doesn’t, it’s ridiculous fun. I met Jo my agent through doing that film and it’s bizarre because I have been with her for about eight years, but it still feels like I’m just starting.

“I definitely don’t feel like I’ve achieved anything substantial yet. That was a summer in between my GCSEs, and I was getting a little insight into a more sophisticated world outside of school. After that I knew I would do whatever I could to keep it going.”

It doesn’t hurt that Bailey is handsome and well spoken, the kind of Englishman that Hollywood casting directors think of when they’re looking for a new Hugh Grant or Colin Firth.  They would doubtless think of him as the epitome of dear old Blighty, and Bailey is savvy enough to have played on this idea when he’s had the chance.

“I went to Magdalen College school in Oxford,” he laughs, “so if you say the first part of the name it can sound good. You do get ridiculous questions asked, and I’m sure they assume I wear a boater and punt my way to school.”

He does, though come from a comfortable middle class background, and admits he was supported in his professional ambitions by his parents even though they were concerned to see their son embark on so precarious a career. 

His dad was successful in business, a self-made man who rose to the position of chairman at Rowse Honey before he retired. From both parents Bailey and his three older sisters inherited a strong work ethic, and while he resolved to continue with his education the acting bug had already bitten.

“They made sure that we all had our opportunities. All my sisters did dance at some stage, and I did drama classes at a dance school in Henley every Saturday, and through that I got an audition for a play. So it was definitely something I loved doing.

“And it got to the stage where I don’t think anything could have stopped me from acting. I did that thing for a few years, of saying I wanted to be a pilot just to please them. The rule was always ‘stick with school and do as well as you can and then it’s up to you,’.”

His education continues in tandem with his acting, as he is currently studying an Open University degree course in English.  But lessons learned on a more practical level have borne fruit too, as he was shrewd enough from the outset to contrast the family friendly Five Children & It – from E. Nesbit’s novel – with the gay-coming-of-age play Beautiful Thing, and the infrequently performed Shakespeare play King John.

Even now he has grown up and begun to establish himself Bailey is keen to keep mixing it up and confounding expectations. He’s already had to get used to being recognised, either as his character Flatpack in the Channel 4 sitcom Campus, or the more dramatic title role in the CBBC adventure series Leonardo.

“I find that a bit weird,” he smiles, “but it’s not negative, which is lucky. I’ve been filming a BBC Three comedy called Pramface and a couple of girls were in Eastenders and that’s such a different thing. It’s nice to be able to do Leonardo and Campus, and if you keep it varied people know you’re an actor and not the character.”

With more high profile work on the horizon, recognition is becoming an occupational hazard even in the home in Belsize Park to which he has recently moved.  It’s a honeymoon period, he admits, during which he is excited by the area he now calls home. 

With his career continuing to develop nicely, and the personal contentment of a relationship with an actress girlfriend he remains sweetly discreet about, things are looking good for Jonathan Bailey as his career takes shape into adulthood.

“I think I always look for a challenge,” he adds, “that’s just part of my nature. And now you want to defy any expectations if you can, and build some momentum. I try not to think about it too much, but it’s great to be able to do things that are polar opposites.”

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