Joseph William Locke (born 24 September 2003) is a Manx actor. He is known for his lead role as Charlie Spring in the

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teen series '' Heartstopper'' (2022), for which he received a nomination for the

Children's and Family Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Performance The Children's and Family Emmy Awards, or Children's and Family Emmys, are a part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts ...

Early life and education

Joseph William Locke was born on 24 September 2003. He grew up in Douglas, Isle of Man. He attended Ballakermeen High School. He told ITV's '' This Morning'' in April 2022 that he was studying for A-Level exams in politics, history and English. While in high school, Locke and three fellow students submitted a petition to government officials to investigate the feasibility of welcoming Syrian refugees to the Isle of Man.

Career

He participated in the 2020 National Theatre Connections as well as productions at the Gaiety Theatre and with the Kensington Art Centre's youth group. In April 2021, it was announced Locke would star as lead character Charlie Spring in his debut television role in the 2022

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...

series '' Heartstopper'', an adaptation of the webcomic and graphic novel of the same name by

Alice Oseman Alice May Oseman (born 16 October 1994) is an English author of young adult fiction. She secured her first publishing deal at 17, and had her first novel ''Solitaire'' published in 2014. Her novels include ''Radio Silence'', ''I Was Born for Th ...

. He was chosen out of 10,000 other potential actors who were up for the role through an open casting call. While Locke was 17 at the time of the filming, his role has him playing a 14-15 year old student in an English boys'

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

. In November 2022, it was announced that Locke had been cast in Marvel Studios' ''

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'' spin-off television series '' Agatha: Coven of Chaos'' for

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Personal life

Locke has spoken about his experiences of being a young gay man from the Isle of Man and their parallels with Charlie's story in the ''Heartstopper'' series. In August 2022, the Isle of Man's health minister,

Lawrie Hooper Lawrie Lee Hooper is a Welsh-born Manx politician who is the leader of Liberal Vannin Party and current Minister for the Department of Enterprise. He represented Ramsey Ramsey may refer to: Geography British Isles * Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, ...

, announced that the government would change its blanket ban on gay men donating blood after Locke called for the "archaic" rule to be changed in a video message played at the island's annual pride celebration.

Filmography

Television

Theatre

Accolades

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Locke, Joe 2003 births 21st-century Manx male actors 21st-century LGBT people British male child actors British male television actors British male stage actors Living people Manx gay actors People from Douglas, Isle of Man Place of birth missing (living people)