Many have been quick to call Sinners a breakout role for Jack O’Connell. However, the truth of the matter is – he’s been around for two decades now. The UK-born actor has worked his way from British independent cinema and TV as a teenager to starring in Hollywood productions, sharing the screen with the likes of George Clooney, Vince Vaughn, and Laura Dern.
Born in Derbyshire, England, Jack O’Connell falls into the working-class pantheon of actors, alongside the likes of Stephen Graham, James Nelson-Joyce, and Samantha Morton, to name a few. Across his career, he has stated that he believes his accent has possibly held him back. However, he has some weighty roles that can counteract that argument. So, here are 5 of the best roles for anyone new to Sinners star Jack O’Connell.
5. The North Water as Patrick Sumner (2021)
Early in Jack O’Connell’s career, he was nearly typecast as a thug. His first role in a film was in Shane Meadows‘ This Is England, playing Pukey, a member of a group of skinheads. He then built upon this skillset with many other delinquent type roles. In The North Water, O’Connell’s performance feels like him arriving at his most matured. In the acclaimed series, he stars as Patrick Sumner, a disgraced former military doctor who embarks as a surgeon aboard a whaler bound for the Arctic. Here, his quest for redemption becomes a fight for survival as he comes toe-to-toe with the brutal Henry Drax (Colin Farrell), a harpooner whose amorality has been melded to fit the harshness of his world.
In The North Water, the tables are very much turned and O’Connell flips the lid on what audiences have come to expect of him. While his character is dark and troubled, he is a subdued and broken man who wants nothing more than peace after seeing many horrors. As Drax stops that from being possible, a ferocity slowly but surely reveals itself in Sumner, making for a nuanced role for O’Connell. His performance is understated and quiet but a mystifying sense of danger lingers beneath until the series reaches its chaotic and haunting climax.
4. Eden Lake as Brett (2008)
Long before his critically-acclaimed villainous role in Sinners, Jack O’Connell portrayed one of cinema’s most despicable and evil antagonists in Eden Lake, a chilling British horror movie from James Watkins (The Woman in Black, Speak No Evil). The story follows Steve (Michael Fassbender) and Jenny (Kelly Reilly), a young couple from the city who venture into the backwoods of the UK for a quiet getaway. However, their peace is shattered when a group of unruly youths start tormenting them. What starts off as delinquent behaviour soon escalates into something much more sinister when Brett (O’Connell), the leader of the gang, instructs his friends to carry out a brutal torture regime.
Eden Lake is raw, visceral, and extremely hard to watch. At the time of its release, it was somewhat of a controversial film as many believed it was painting working-class teenagers in a bad light. However, many were praising O’Connell’s loud, vicious, and haunting rendition. At just 17 years old, he delivered a disturbing performance that would rival any seasoned thespian, serving as an early showcase of his dynamic skillset as an actor.
3. Starred Up as Eric Love (2013)
Released in 2013, Starred Up served as yet another boisterous and volatile role for Jack O’Connell. However, at its core, it is actually a much more deeply layered rendition. The plot centres on Eric Love (O’Connell), a 19-year-old prisoner who is prematurely bumped up to an adult prison due to his unhinged and intolerable behaviour, a process that is referred to as being ‘starred up’. Problems arise when Eric arrives at his holding point only to be met by his estranged father, Neville (Ben Mendelsohn).
Realizing Eric has deep emotional trauma driving his violent tendencies, behavioural specialist Oliver Baumer (Rupert Friend) enrols him into group therapy. As Eric tries to get a grip of his anger, he must also contend with his overbearing father, as well as the pressures that come with having a reputation. To that, O’Connell is gifted with a character that has layers upon layers, unraveling his psyche with moments of intense rage, charm amongst volatility, and an underflow of innocence. As a result, Starred Up stands as one of his most nuanced and versatile roles that actually helped break him free from his typecasting.
2. Unbroken as Louis Zamperini (2014)
After spending close to a decade in British productions, Unbroken served as the first leading role in a big budget Hollywood movie for Jack O’Connell. In Angelina Jolie‘s sweeping epic, O’Connell stars as real-life war hero and olympic athlete, Louis Zamperini. Charting his days as a troubled youth turned Olympic runner, O’Connell had a lot to sink his teeth into as a reformed criminal himself. The film then shifts into his time in the war as a bombardier, before being shot down and placed into a Japanese POW camp.
It was in this camp where Zamperini met his biggest ever foe, Mutsuhiro ‘The Bird’ Watanabe. During his time in the camp, Zamperini became the focal point to a vicious torture campaign by The Bird. Although it is at times hard to watch, Unbroken revels in its name, telling the story of man who refused to be broken and triumphed with sheer resilience. O’Connell’s role was widely praised and he had now fully proven that he could play much more than just a thuggish youth.
1. Skins as James Cook (2009-2013)
After a few years of minor parts in TV shows, Skins was the breakout moment for Jack O’Connell. He boarded the series in season 3, joining the second generation of characters after season 1 and 2. Playing James Cook, O’Connell brought forth intensity, levels of menace, and offsetting humour to the role. At the time of filming, he had just lost his father, potentially adding to the rawness of his character. While many would say that Sinners is his defining moment, in the eyes of many Brits, he defined himself very early on as James Cook, the oddly loveable teenage ‘Jack the lad’.
In 2013, after the third generation had closed out the show, producers decided to give three popular characters one last go around in Skins Redux. Much to the credit of his enduring character, O’Connell was welcomed back to close out the final two episodes with Skins: Rise. The two-part special saw Cook on the run after killing someone at the end of season 4. Now laying low in Manchester, he spends his days running drugs for a local dealer. However, when he gets on the wrong side of him, Cook’s bad side has to rise to the surface once again. This return to the character of Cook truly showcased how Jack O’Connell had grown as an actor, switching from loud and boisterous, to despondent and somewhat timid as a young man grappling with guilt. A sheer testament to his eclectic range as an actor.
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