This is what all the Heartstopper cast are actually like in real life

In case you missed it, the cast of Heartstopper on Netflix are all incredibly cool in real life. Like, so cool you would probably cry, shake and throw up if you saw them in a club smoking area.

This is absolutely everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the cast of Heartstopper and what they’re like in real life, from their ages and hometowns to where you recognise them from and their social media handles – because you KNOW you want to follow them and sob over how vibey they all are. Most of their Heartstopper characters are 15-16 years old, and in real life most of the cast are teenagers too – some of them are literally only 18 and are revising for their A-Levels right now! Imagine having a hit Netflix series before you’ve even sat your year 13 exams. Absolutely wild.

This is everything you need to know about what the cast of Heartstopper on Netflix are like in real life:

Kit Connor – Nick Nelson

Kit Connor who plays Nick Nelson is 18 in real life – right now he’s revising for his A-Levels! Kit is studying English, history and drama in sixth form. He was born in Croydon, south London and has previously appeared in Rocketman, playing a younger version of Taron Egerton’s rendition of Elton John. He’s also previously acted in BBC’s War and Peace.

Kit Connor has shut down fans for speculating about his sexuality, following Heartstopper’s success. He said on Twitter: “Twitter is so funny man. Apparently some people on here know my sexuality better than I do.” Then in an interview with the Times, he said: “I feel very strongly that I have no obligation to speak about my sexuality to the public. I am comfortable and confident in it, but it is a very private matter.”

His Instagram is @kit.connor and right now Kit has 2.6m followers. Kit is SO cool and his Instagram mainly shows him having fun with mates and hanging out with the Heartstopper cast. He also has TikTok, @kitsconnor1 and despite only having three vids up he has 1.9m followers – wild.

Joe Locke – Charlie Spring

18-year-old Joe Locke is from the Isle of Man and plays Charlie Spring. Like his on-screen partner Kit, Joe is also revising for A-Levels right now.

Heartstopper is Joe Locke’s first professional role, but he’s been part or amateur theatre groups for years. He went along to an open call audition for Charlie, along with 10,000 other people. Because auditions were during Covid, he had to isolate when he got back to the Isle of Man after them. His family moved out for two weeks and it was just him and his dog – and he was in isolation when he found out he’d gotten the role of Charlie. “I got a phone call from my agent who said, ‘Are you sat down?’ and I said yeah and he told me and I just screamed,” he’s said.

Joe has called Kit Connor “one of his closest friends”. He said: “It’s so great to have someone who is having the same experiences as me so we can talk about it. I don’t know if I’d cope as well if I didn’t have that.”

You can find Joe on Instagram @joelocke03 and TikTok @joelocke03. Right now he has 1.9 and 1.7m followers on each platform respectively. His Instagram bio says “Olivia Colman is my mother in law”, which is just a little bit iconic.

Yasmin Finney – Elle Argent

Yasmin Finney is an 18-year-old trans actress and plays Elle in Heartstopper. She started off on TikTok, sharing her experience as a trans woman growing up in Manchester. Her account is @yazdemand and she has 1.4m followers right now. Her Instagram is also @yazdemand and she has just under 1m followers on there, 984k. Yasmin is SUCH a vibe and her Insta is honestly just beaut all round.

Heartstopper is Yasmin’s first TV show, but she has previously starred in theatre productions such as DNA, Port, and Antigone. Last year, it was announced she would be starring in the directorial feature debut from POSE star Billy Porter. The feature film is called What If? and is described as a coming-of-age romantic-comedy.

Yasmin says it’s really rare to get a trans character who doesn’t delve into gender dysphoria or depression. She told Popbuzz: “Everything that is natrual about being trans is being highlighted, and I’m just do happy to be that positive representation that we’ve needed for so many years.”

In the future, Yasmin has said she would “just love it if I could play a cis role and just tell a great story and not necessarily one that has to capitalise on my sexuality or gender orientation. I think it’s important trans people get equal opportunity at the cis roles as well as the trans roles.”

William Gao – Tao Xu

Charlie’s best friend Tao is played by William Gao. William is 19 years old and is an actual model (!). He also has a band with his sister, called Wasia Project. They have an EP dropping next week, on 10th May, called How Can I Pretend. They have just over 16k monthly listeners on Spotify and their most popular song is called Misfit Biscuit with 65k streams.

William has 1.1m followers on TikTok, where he’s @hardynugget. He also has 1m followers on Instagram, @will.gao_.

William seems very artsy and creative, his whole Instagram is pics of him performing with his band Wasia Project or acting on stage in various theatre shows. There’s also lots of pics with the Heartstopper cast, naturally.

Corinna Brown – Tara Jones

Tara is played by Corinna Brown, who is 23 in real life and graduated from East 15 acting school back in 2020. But just like the rest of the class of 2020, Covid has postponed her graduation and Corinna has only just celebrated it. Her bio says she’s also a dancer and fight performer, which is essentially someone who specialises in a type of acting where they perform physical fights without getting hurt.

Corinna is from London. Her Instagram @itzz_cori has 336k followers, and she has just under 500k followers on TikTok @notcorinnabrown123. She has said the show is “long overdue” and Heartstopper will be “relevant for all audiences. No matter how old you are – young, old, queer, not queer. It’s for everyone.”

Kizzy Edgell – Darcy Olsson

Kizzy Edgell plays Tara’s girlfriend Darcy, who is 19 years old in real life. Kizzy is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. Their TikTok is @kizzyedgell and they have 374k followers, and their Instagram is @51212.87287. Kizzy has 410k followers on there right now.

Kizzy told Gay Times about Heartstopper: “I think it’s a good way to introduce kids to the concept of being queer. It’s not like there’s a video that you can put on and show kids to teach them how to be towards queer people, or if they are queer, to figure it out. There’s not many kid-friendly ways to do that so I think it’s helpful.”

Heartstopper is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

More Heartstopper stories recommended by this writer:

• The Heartstopper cast are all best friends and these behind the scenes pics prove it

• Stop complaining about Heartstopper and just let queer people have nice things for once

• Only Nick Nelson himself would get full marks on this Heartstopper trivia quiz

• Heartstopper soundtrack: All the iconic songs you recognise from the Netflix series

Featured image via Instagram @yazdemand @kit.connor