Kristian Nairn (born 25 November 1975) is an actor and DJ from

Lisburn Lisburn (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with ...

, Northern Ireland. He is best known for his portrayal of Hodor in the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

fantasy series ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first ...

''. More recently, he has played Wee John Feeney on the HBO Max series '' Our Flag Means Death''.

Career

Nairn's portrayal of Hodor on ''

'' was his first acting role; Nairn earned enough to buy his mother a house. He is a progressive house/trance DJ, and used to be the resident DJ of Kremlin, a gay club in Belfast. Since ''Game of Thrones'' began, Nairn has toured as a DJ with "Rave of Thrones" using musical themes and costumes from the television series. At the end of 2017, he performed the first part of the Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike concerts in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

. He was the DJ during the

BlizzCon 2016 BlizzCon is an annual gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to promote its major franchises including ''Warcraft'', ''StarCraft'', '' Diablo'', ''Hearthstone'', ''Heroes of the Storm,'' and ''Overwatch''. The first BlizzCon was held ...

anniversary party and BlizzCon 2018 closing festivities. In October 2018, Nairn appeared in a commercial for eToro that was launched on YouTube, featuring the

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HODL. Nairn is an accomplished guitarist. He got the opportunity to play backstage with

Megadeth Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal along wit ...

during the Hellfest Open Air Festival in Clisson, France, during June 2018. Since 2022, he has portrayed Wee John Feeney on the HBO series Our Flag Means Death.

Personal life

In March 2014, Nairn publicly discussed his gay identity in an interview with a ''Game of Thrones'' fan site. He stated: "When you talk about 'the gay community,' you are talking about MY community. ..I've never hidden my sexuality from anyone, my whole life in fact, and I've been waiting for someone to ask about it in an interview." He went on to say that his sexuality is "a very small part of who I am on the whole, but nonetheless, in this day and age, it's important to stand up and be counted." In 2015 Nairn clarified in an interview with ''Chicago Go Pride'' that it was really his "second coming out. I'd done it when I was 14 and didn't think I'd have to do it again. Especially since every single person in my life knew." In April 2023, Nairn revealed to the BBC that he had witnessed the shooting of policeman Darren Bradshaw at the Parliament Bar in Belfast in May 1997.

Filmography

Film

Television

Podcast

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nairn, Kristian 1975 births Living people Male television actors from Northern Ireland Actors from Lisburn Gay actors from Northern Ireland DJs from Northern Ireland LGBT DJs 21st-century male actors from Northern Ireland