From E4 to Oscar nominations: All the major actors who got their big break in Skins

Skins was the Euphoria of our generation. Smoking weed in sheds, drunken parties in the woods, fighting over boys, crushing on teachers; what else do you need from a cult British television show? From wanting to base your entire personality on the mysterious and elusive Effy to falling in love with bad boy Cook, the series has defined the identities of thousands of cohorts of teenagers around the UK, from its pilot episode in 2007, and surely for many years to come.

Some of the Skins cast were already familiar faces where they took on their roles in the E4 series but for others, it was their first ever acting role or the first one that get them noticed at least. Here are all the actors who got their big break as part of Skins cast:

Dev Patel

Dev Patel’s breakout acting was playing the role of Anwar in the first generation of Skins; a young Muslim boy whose, according to the official Skins website, favourite things include, “tequila, dope, pills, Lupe Fiasco, breasts, and X Factor”.

Prior to this, Dev’s only acting experience had been in a school production of Twelfth Night, and his GCSE drama performances. His mother saw the advertisement for the role in a copy of Metro and took him to the audition. Patel was cast as Anwar after only two auditions, and now has gone on to take the lead roles in films such as Slumdog Millionaire, Lion, and even made his directorial debut with Monkey Man.

Kaya Scodelario

Famous for playing characters in Pirates of the Caribbean, The Gentlemen, and Maze Runner, Kaya Scodelario started out acting at the age of 14 with her breakout role as Effy Stonem, Tony’s younger sister, on Skins. Much younger than the rest of the original cast, she felt discouraged about her age, but was told to stay and read for her part by a producer of the show. And thank God – because I know I couldn’t imagine anyone else pulling off the messy eye makeup, the wry smile, and ripped tights as well as she did.

Jack O’Connell

Despite having some professional acting experience prior to his time on Skins, Jack O’Connell shot to fame at the age of 19 after having been given the role of James Cook, a key character in the second generation of the show, and one of Effy’s love interests. His performance in the fourth season led to his being given a TV Choice Award for Best Actor. Jack has since starred in Netflix’s Lady Chatterly’s Lover and Unbroken directed by Angelina Jolie. More recently he played Blake Fielder-Civil in the biopic about Amy Winehouse’s life, Back to Black.

Joe Dempsie

At the age of 20, Joe was cast as Chris Miles in the first generation of Skins and got his big break. He has gone on to star in another of the biggest TV series in the world – Game of Thrones, as Gendry Baratheon who appears in several seasons of the show.

Daniel Kaluuya

Perhaps the biggest actor to have come out of Skins, Daniel Kaluuya had humble beginnings, much like many of his co-stars. He was found by producers in a youth drama club in Camden, and quickly went on to become a small but well-liked character, Posh Kenneth, in the first generation. As well as this, Kaluuya wrote several episodes including Thomas and Jal. He said to the Independent in 2008: “If I was at school and one of my friends said something funny, I’d write it down in a notebook and take it to the writers meetings.”

Now, he has featured in films like Get Out, Nope, Judas and the Black Messiah, and Black Panther to name but a few, and has been nominated for two Academy Awards, three BAFTAs, two Golden Globes, and four SAG awards.

Luke Pasqualino

The heart-throb of the second generation of Skins who definitely deserved better was none other than Freddy McClair, played by Pasqualino. He has gone on to star in Our Girl, a BBC drama about female medics in the British army, and the series The Musketeers, Shadow and Bone, and the Netflix movie Snowpiercer.

Aimee-Ffion Edwards

Perhaps the weirdest character ever to grace the Skins universe was Sketch, played by Aimee-Ffion Edwards. Since appearing in the first generation of the show in 2008, she has gone on to play big roles such as Esme in Peaky Blinders and Jenny Jones in Luther. As well as these TV roles, she has starred in various stage productions around the world.

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Related articles recommended by this author:

• Everything Jack O’Connell has been up to since breaking all our hearts as Cook in Skins

• Everything Kaya Scodelario has been up to since she defined a generation as Effy in Skins

• This is what the Skins cast look like now, 15 years after the first ever episode aired

Featured images via E4.