From Kirkby to Hollywood: The unstoppable rise of Stephen Graham

The path to stardom for Stephen Graham was far from manufactured, his career is built on grit, graft, and a dedication to his craft that sees him channel his characters so completely you forget you’re watching a performance.

As we get ready to welcome Stephen Graham back to the big screen in Peaky Blinders’ film The Immortal Man this March, we take a closer look at his unstoppable rise from “just a mixed-race kid from the flats in Kirkby,” to Hollywood fame and being bezzies with Leonardo DiCaprio.

The Kid from Kirkby

Graham was raised by his mum and stepdad in Kirkby. His biological father’s half-Jamaican, half-Swedish heritage made Graham a target for racist abuse growing up. Years later, those experiences would influence and inspire one of British cinema’s most unsettling characters: Andrew “Combo” Gascoigne in This Is England.

Graham’s passion for performing was obvious from early on. As a kid, he’d entertain family and mates in his living room with impressions of Idi Amin and Margaret Thatcher. Such was his talent that Liverpool actor and Royal Court icon Andrew Schofield encouraged an eight-year-old Graham to pursue acting after seeing him in a school production of Treasure Island.

At 18, he found his way to the youth theatre at the Liverpool Everyman – the city institution that helped shape the careers of Pete Postlethwaite, Julie Walters and Bill Nighy. It was there, under the mentorship of teacher Jerry Pantomime, that Graham fell in love with acting. A play called Easy, in which he played a teenager who contracts HIV, made an indelible mark. The heavy subject matter and powerful lead role sharpened his eye for honest, authentic performance. It also gave him the confidence to leave for London to pursue his dream. 

At Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance in London, Graham met his wife, actress and producer Hannah Walters. But it wasn’t an easy time. Speaking on Desert Island Discs, Graham admitted he struggled to cope away from home. He attempted to take his own life. Thankfully, the rope snapped, and he survived.

With help from his parents and close friends, Graham realised that his life was worth living. 

Bit Parts and The Big Break

Like most British actors coming through in the 90s, Graham cut his teeth on British telly, doing the rounds on the likes of The Bill, Heartbeat, and Coronation Street. 

Fittingly, it was a bit part that put him on the road to the big time. Supporting a friend at an audition for Guy Ritchie’s short film The Hard Case, he ended up being cast himself. That touch of luck led to the role of Tommy in Snatch (2000), Jason Statham’s dim-witted but well-meaning sidekick in one of the decade’s defining British crime films. Suddenly, he was sharing the screen with Brad Pitt and Benicio del Toro.

His performance caught the eye of legendary director Martin Scorsese who cast him in Gangs of New York (2002), alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis. The lad from Kirkby could have been forgiven for immediately chasing more success on the Hollywood big screen. 

Instead, he found his breakout role back in the UK. 

In 2006, Graham played the volatile skinhead “Combo” in Shane Meadows’ This Is England. His performance as the broken extremist fuelled by anger and hatred was uncomfortable, unnerving viewing. But it was impossible to ignore. Graham’s showing earned him a British Independent Film Award nomination and cemented him as one of the most captivating actors around. He reprised the role in three follow-up series. The role not only changed how audiences saw him, it also changed his life. 

From Ruffwood to Hollywood

By the early 2010s, Graham was a man in demand. 

He played Leeds United hero Billy Bremner in The Damned United. He gave a nuanced account of Al Capone in HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. His dedication, discipline, and intensity, combined with remarkable accent work and character range, put him high on the list of LA producers. But he never strayed too far from home.

In 2017, he took on the role of Det Supt Dave Kelly in Little Boy Blue, the harrowing drama about the murder of Liverpool schoolboy Rhys Jones. The restrained, respectful performance was rooted in the grief he shared with his city. 

Since then, we’ve seen him appear in Line of Duty, Time, Peaky Blinders, two Pirates of the Caribbean films, the Venom franchise, and The Irishman (with Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, no less) 

In 2021 came Boiling Point, directed by his former Band of Brothers co-star Philip Barantini and produced by Graham’s wife, Hannah Walters. Set inside a pressure-cooker restaurant kitchen and shot in one continuous take, Graham’s performance as chef Andy Jones was frantic, fragile and all-too-familiar to those who’ve worked in a busy kitchen. 

Adolescence and Global Recognition

If This Is England made him a household name, then Netflix’s Adolescence in 2025 made him a worldwide one. 

Co-written by Graham alongside Jack Thorne and directed by Barantini, the series centred on a murder investigation involving teenagers influenced by online misogyny. Using the same one-shot technique that defined Boiling Point, the streaming show attracted huge audiences and critical acclaim, smashing TV viewing records in the process. 

After sparking debate in Parliament and influencing the UK’s Online Safety Act, it swept the board at major award ceremonies, including the Emmys and the Golden Globes, with Graham recognised for Best Actor.

With the Peaky Blinders film set to dominate cinemas and more heavyweight projects in the  pipeline, it’d be easy for Stephen Graham OBE to feel untouchable. 

Instead, he’s still the same fella encouraging young Scouse actors when they approach him, like when James Nelson-Joyce introduced himself to Graham and Walters in a Liverpool Nando’s to ask for advice. 

But that’s the thing about Stephen Graham. For all the global success, red carpets, and awards, he’s still grounded in Kirkby and shaped by the Everyman.

Hollywood may have claimed him. But he’ll always be ours. 

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