Johnny Flynn Biography

Johnny Flynn is a British singer, musician and actor who was born in Johannesburg in his mother's native South Africa to a family of actors. His father is actor Eric Flynn, whose sons from his first marriage are also actors, Daniel Flynn and Jerome Flynn (of Game of Thrones fame). Johnny's older half-sister Kerry Flynn is also an actress. When Johnny was 18, his father Eric died of cancer.

While living in South Africa, Johnny was attacked by a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, which resulted in some facial scarring. At the age of two, he and his family moved to the U.K., where he attended an independent school in the city of Winchester, Hampshire. There he sang in the chapel choir and learned to play the violin and the trumpet, and later taught himself to play guitar.

Johnny credits an English teacher at Bedales School for his thespian talents after he was introduced to Shakespeare, Yeats and Dickens. While at the school, he also began dating his future wife, designer Beatrice Minns. Their relationship remained off-and-on while they lived apart from each other until the two eventually came together and married. They now have three children together.

Johnny's acting career began on stage. He performed in Propeller’s all-male Shakespeare troupe in several productions, including The Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night. He also performed in Shakespeare's Globe Theatre's production of Richard III.

His first television roles were guest appearances in series such as Murder in Suburbia (2005), Holby City (2006) and Kingdom (2008). In addition to several small film roles, he appeared alongside Anne Hathaway in Song One (2013), playing a musician named James Forester. He also played Christopher in Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) alongside Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart. Next, he played the starring role of Dylan in the British comedy series Scrotal Recall. Following its immense success in Britain, the show was commissioned for a Netflix series entitled Lovesick, which has completed three seasons as of 2018. He also played the starring role of Young Albert Einstein on the National Geographic TV series Genius (2017 - 2018).

Johnny returned to the big screen opposite Jessie Buckley in the psychological thriller Beast (2018). and followed that up with a lead role as George Knightley opposite Anya Taylor-Joy in Emma (2020), a new adaptation of the novel by Jane Austen.

In addition to acting, Johnny is an accomplished musician who has had his music featured in film and has released several albums that featured on the UK’s top 100 list.


Filmography:
Beast (2018)
Love is Thicker Than Water (2016)
A Smallholding (2015)
Cloud of Sils Maria (2015)
Song One (2014)
Something in the Air (2012)
Lotus Eaters (2011)
Crusade in Jeans (2006)