Tylan Grant (born 9 October 2001) is an English actor, known for playing

Brooke Hathaway Brooke Hathaway is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', played by Tylan Grant. Grant made their first appearance as Brooke in episode 4947, originally broadcast on 10 July 2018. Brooke is introduced as an a ...

in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

soap opera '' Hollyoaks''. For his role as Brooke, Grant was nominated for Best Newcomer at the

2019 British Soap Awards The 2019 British Soap Awards honoured the best in British soap operas throughout 2018 and 2019. The ceremony was held on 1 June 2019 at the Lowry theatre in Salford Quays, Salford, and was broadcast live on ITV1 and STV. The publicly voted c ...

, as well as Celebrity of the Year at the 2019

National Diversity Awards The National Diversity Awards is an awards ceremony which honours positive role models, entrepreneurs and community organisations across several different strands within the equality and diversity sector. It is held annually in various venues ac ...

Early and personal life

Tylan Grant was born Talia Vanessa Grant on 9 October 2001 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, to parents

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

and Carrie Grant. Grant also has three siblings;

Olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...

, Arlo and Nathan. Grant was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome in 2009, at the age of seven, and has spoken about the difficulties he faced while attending school, due to there being little awareness on the syndrome at the time. In a piece for ''i'' newspaper, Grant stated that teachers did not believe that he was autistic, and that nobody at school understood him. He also wrote: "I was scared of loud noises, terrified of certain subjects, I wasn’t sure how to make friends or how to keep friendships going, how to cope when I was teased about my afro hair, or how to eat next to someone who sneezed." Grant's mother Carrie revealed that when he was younger, Grant was "really badly bullied to the point where it made them mentally ill" and that he was "unable to escape the bullies". Father David added that Grant was hospitalised for mental health issues caused by the bullying, which transformed into

cyber bullying Cyberbullying or cyberharassment is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means. Cyberbullying and cyberharassment are also known as online bullying. It has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers, as the digital s ...

while Grant was in hospital. Grant is a trans man and uses he/him pronouns.

Career

Grant made his professional acting debut in an episode of the

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

sitcom '' So Awkward'' as Greta Masters. Then in 2018, he was cast in the

soap opera '' Hollyoaks'' as

, making his first appearance as Brooke on 10 July 2018. Grant is the first

BAME A number of different systems of classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom exist. These schemata have been the subject of debate, including about the nature of ethnicity, how or whether it can be categorised, and the relationship betwe ...

actor to play an autistic character on a television series. Grant appeared on ''

Loose Women ''Loose Women'' (previously known as ''Live Talk'' from 2000 to 2001) is a British talk show that broadcasts on ITV1 weekdays from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm. The show focuses on a panel of four female presenters who interview celebrities, talk about ...

'', where he explained that he is different to Brooke, since they have different forms of autism. He added how exciting it was to represent autism. In 2020, Grant's parents appeared in the soap as Mal and Zoe, the adoptive parents of Brooke's newborn child.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Tylan 2001 births 21st-century English actors Actors from London English child actors English television actors English soap opera actors English people of Zambian descent LGBT Black British people English LGBT actors Living people People with Asperger syndrome Transgender male actors