William Walter Douglas Howle (born 9 November 1989) is a British actor. His films include ''

On Chesil Beach ''On Chesil Beach'' is a 2007 novella by the British writer Ian McEwan. It was selected for the 2007 Booker Prize shortlist. ''The Washington Post'' and Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic Jonathan Yardley placed ''On Chesil Beach'' on his top ...

'', ''

The Seagull ''The Seagull'' ( rus, Ча́йка, r=Cháyka, links=no) is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramatises ...

'', and '' Outlaw King''. On television, he is known for his roles in the E4 drama '' Glue'', the BBC miniseries '' The Serpent'', ''

MotherFatherSon ''MotherFatherSon'' is a British thriller television series starring Richard Gere his first major television role Helen McCrory, Billy Howle, Ciarán Hinds and Elena Anaya. The series broadcast on BBC Two began on 6 March 2019 and ended on 24 ...

'', and the

BritBox BritBox is an online digital video subscription service, founded by BBC Studios and ITV plc, operating in nine countries across North America, Europe, Australia and South Africa.

thriller series '' The Beast Must Die''.

Early life

Howle was born in

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

, Staffordshire. His mother was a school teacher and his father was a music professor and composer. He was born the second of four boys, with three brothers, Sam (older), George and Alfie (younger). Due to his father's profession the family moved 12 times when Howle was a child, before settling in Scarborough. It was there that he became involved in the local music scene. At 18, he left home to study drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, before embarking on his career.

Career

Howle made his debut as James Warwick on the E4 television series '' Glue''. He co-starred in the 2017 film '' The Sense of an Ending'' (as the younger version of Jim Broadbent's lead character) and the miniseries ''

The Witness for the Prosecution "The Witness for the Prosecution" is a short story and play by British author Agatha Christie. The story was initially published as "Traitor's Hands" in ''Flynn's'', a weekly pulp magazine, in the edition of 31 January 1925. In 1933, the story w ...

'' in the pivotal role of the defendant in a murder case, Leonard Vole. Howle appeared in the war film '' Dunkirk'', and starred alongside Saoirse Ronan in the film, ''

'', an adaptation of

Ian McEwan Ian Russell McEwan, (born 21 June 1948) is an English novelist and screenwriter. In 2008, ''The Times'' featured him on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked him number 19 in its list of th ...

's novel. He appears in the film adaptation of Anton Chekhov's ''

'' and 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 ...

film '' Outlaw King''. Howle was the face of Prada S/S16, shot by

Craig McDean Craig McDean (born 1964 in England) is a British fashion photographer, originally from Middlewich, now based in New York City. Life McDean originally trained and worked as a car mechanic before studying photography at Mid Cheshire College (OND ...

. In 2019, Howle starred alongside Richard Gere and Helen McCrory in the BBC Drama series ''

'', which was written by Tom Rob Smith and he and Jodie Comer made cameo for ''Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker'' In 2021 he starred in the BBC series '' The Serpent'' as Herman Knippenberg, and on BritBox's '' The Beast Must Die'' as Nigel. In February 2022, Howle starred in ''Chloe'' as Elliott, appearing in all six episodes. He also appeared in ''Under the Banner of Heaven''. In the latter part of 2022, Howle played the title role in John Haidar’s production of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

’s ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

''. It was performed at the Bristol Old Vic. Howle will play a 1970's boxer in ''Kid Snow.''

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

*''The Little Mermaid'' (2014) *''Ghosts'' (2015) *''Long Day's Journey Into Night'' (2016) *''Europe'' (2018) *''Hamlet,'' Bristol Old Vic (2022)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Howle, Billy 1989 births Living people People from Stoke-on-Trent British male film actors British male television actors 21st-century British male actors Actors from Staffordshire Actors from Scarborough, North Yorkshire Alumni of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School