George Ross Robinson (born 12 September 1997) is a British actor. He is known for his role as Isaac Goodwin in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

series ''

Sex Education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, sexual activity, sexual reproduc ...

''.

Life and career

Robinson was born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

to parents Simon and Gill and grew up in Maxey, a village near

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

. He has a younger brother Edward "Eddie". They both attended Stamford School, and the family moved closer to Stamford in 2015. Robinson became interested in acting at 13. When he was 17, Robinson went on a school rugby tour to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. On 27 July 2015, he had a severe spinal neck injury attempting a tackle whilst playing against

D.F. Malan High School Hoërskool D.F. Malan is a State school, public Afrikaans language, Afrikaans medium co-educational high school situated in the suburb of Boston, Bellville, Boston, Bellville, Western Cape, Bellville in the Western Cape province of South Africa - ...

in Bellville near

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. He was taken to the intensive care unit at Melomed Bellville Private Hospital, where he was operated on and stayed for 37 days. He was visited by Huw Jones. After being weaned off the ventilator, Robinson was transported back to England via

air ambulance Air medical services is a comprehensive term covering the use of air transportation, aeroplane or helicopter, to move patients to and from healthcare facilities and accident scenes. Personnel provide comprehensive prehospital and emergency and cri ...

. He spent an additional 5 weeks at

Addenbrooke's Hospital Addenbrooke's Hospital is an internationally renowned large teaching hospital and research centre in Cambridge, England, with strong affiliations to the University of Cambridge. Addenbrooke's Hospital is based on the Cambridge Biomedical Camp ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

followed by 10 months in rehabilitation at the Princess Royal Spinal Unit in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

. As a result of the accident, Robinson is

tetraplegic Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of motor and/or sensory function in the cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weakness or paralysis leading to partial or ...

and uses a power-assisted

manual wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...

. The accident received media coverage and attention from public figures in and out of the rugby community. A fundraiser #TeamGeorge was established by family friends, the proceeds of which went towards Robinson's equipment and long-term care. With support from Stamford, Robinson was able to return to finish his secondary education at 19 with an unconditional offer to the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

. He paused his studies in Philosophy when he was cast as a series regular in the second season of the

comedy-drama ''

''. His character Isaac's disability was written around the actor's real life one, and Robinson was included in the creative process. Robinson spoke on a panel on disability representation and treatment in the workplace at the 2021

Edinburgh TV Festival The Edinburgh International Television Festival is an annual media event held in the United Kingdom each August which brings together delegates from the television and digital world to debate the major issues facing the industry. The Festival ...

. That same year, he appeared in a two episode arc of the Channel 5 series '' Dalgliesh'' and was selected to be on the UK BAFTA Breakthrough list. Robinson is set to feature in an educational film for the charity Back Up Trust. Robinson will also play the lead (

John McClamrock John McClamrock (March 24, 1956 – March 18, 2008) was a Dallas high school American football player who received media attention and sympathy from many Americans after an accident that left him with near-total paralysis in 1973. Background ...

) in the film ''Still Life'', based on an award-winning

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. ''Texas Monthly'' was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy and has been published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. since 1998 and is ...

non-fiction article of the same name written by Skip Hollandsworth in 2009, about John McClamrock and his mother Ann.

Filmography

Audio

*''Life Hacks'' for

BBC Radio One BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, George Living people 1997 births 21st-century English male actors Male actors from Nottingham British actors with disabilities English disabled sportspeople English people of Scottish descent English people with disabilities Male actors from Cambridgeshire Male actors from Lincolnshire People educated at Stamford School People with tetraplegia Wheelchair users