Jonathan Stuart Bailey (born 25 April 1988) is an English actor. Known for his comedic, dramatic, and musical roles on stage and screen, he is the recipient of a Laurence Olivier Award and a nomination for an Evening Standard Theatre Award.
Bailey began his career as a child actor in Royal Shakespeare Company productions and by eight was performing as Gavroche in a West End production of Les Misérables. He has since starred in contemporary plays such as South Downs in 2012, The York Realist in 2018, and Cock in 2022; in classical plays like the Royal National Theatre's Othello in 2013 and Chichester Festival Theatre's King Lear in 2017; as well as in musicals, namely the London revival of The Last Five Years in 2016 and the West End gender-swapped revival of Company for which he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical in 2019.
On screen, Bailey starred in the CBBC action-adventure series Leonardo (2011–2012) and the Disney Channel musical-comedy Groove High (2012–2013) before becoming known for his roles in the ITV crime drama Broadchurch (2013–2015), the BBC satire W1A (2014–2017), and the Channel 4 comedy Crashing (2016). He gained international recognition for his critically acclaimed portrayal of Anthony, Viscount Bridgerton, in the Netflix Regency romance series Bridgerton (2020–present).
Early life
Jonathan Stuart Bailey was born on 25 April 1988 in the Oxfordshire town of Wallingford, to an audiologist mother and Rowse Honey managing director father. He grew up in the neighbouring Benson and Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, and is the youngest of four siblings and the only son. He described being brought up by "a co-operative of four brilliant women and a dad who has an incredible work ethic." Bailey decided that he wanted to be an actor at the age of five after his grandmother took him to see a production of Lionel Bart's Oliver! in London. His first ever appearance on stage was in a primary school production of Noah's Ark playing a raindrop.
Bailey attended the local Benson Church of England Primary School, then The Oratory School while taking ballet lessons, and later studied at Magdalen College School, Oxford on a music scholarship, playing the piano and clarinet. After securing a talent agent at 15 years old and booking acting roles, he eventually declined his university acceptance offer and opted not to go to drama school, later saying that this kept him grounded in the performing arts: "I've never gone in as the overdog, and that's liberating and I don't want that to ever change. I just want to allow my own experiences to come through."
Career
Beginnings as a child actor (1995–2010)
Through his dance club in Henley-on-Thames, Bailey auditioned for and landed the alternating roles of Tiny Tim and Young Scrooge in the 1995 Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) production of A Christmas Carol at the Barbican Theatre in London at seven years old. He sang "Where is Love?" from Oliver! for his audition. The following year, he made his television debut in the Victorian period drama Bramwell. Bailey also played Little Baptiste in the RSC's 1996 production of Les Enfants du Paradis. By eight years old, he was performing as Gavroche in a West End production of Les Misérables.
In 2001, Bailey played Prince Arthur for the RSC's King John. He made his feature film debut in 2004 in Five Children and It, a film adaptation of E. Nesbit's fantasy novel of the same name. In 2006, on the day of his last A levels, he started rehearsing for a revival of the play Beautiful Thing in London, taking over the lead role from Andrew Garfield. The Telegraph wrote that Bailey "memorably lit up" the production. This was followed by guest roles in long-running British television staples like Doctors and The Bill. His first leading role on television was in the 2009 BBC sitcom Off the Hook about a group of university freshers.
Rising popularity and breakthrough (2011–2017) In 2011, Bailey played the titular Leonardo da Vinci in the 2011 CBBC action-adventure series Leonardo, which follows a young Leonardo and his friends in 15th century Florence. The show ran for two series, spawned an online game, and received four KidScreen Awards. The same year, he starred in the comedy Campus, a semi-improvised sitcom in which he played Flatpack, a student athlete with Olympic potential.