Who Is Owen Cooper, the First-Time Actor Who Plays Jamie in 'Adolescence'?

Netflix's harrowing miniseries Adolescence is set to become this year's Baby Reindeer-esque word-of-mouth hit, thanks in large part to its breakout star Owen Cooper. In the U.K.-set series, rising star Cooper plays Jamie, a 13-year-old boy accused of stabbing a female classmate to death, across four single-take episodes. Inspired by the recent rise of knife crime in the U.K, the drama is an examination of toxic masculinity and how social media can radicalize young men, with Cooper delivering a layered, terrified performance.

As nearly all of Adolescence's viewers have noted, it's amazing to consider that the Netflix series is the young actor's first-ever professional role. However, the 15-year-old actor's career is set to skyrocket, as he's already filming his next role in one of 2026's most highly-anticipated films. Below, read on to learn more about Owen Cooper, including which Marvel star inspired him to pursue acting.

Owen Cooper is a 15-year-old rising star from Northern England.

Owen Cooper, 15, grew up in Warrington, a town near Liverpool in Northern England. In an interview with i-D, the young star said he dreamed of being a football player when he was younger, and that acting "wasn’t really in [his] DNA," until he joined a drama club after watching Tom Holland's 2012 film The Impossible.

Cooper explained in interview with Variety that he began taking acting lessons and signed with an agency. "It’s an agency called The Drama Mob. And the lessons were just hourly lessons on a Tuesday where we’d get a piece of script and just read it off. But I was just doing it for a hobby and didn’t expect much from it. And then when Adolescence came, I obviously took it a lot more seriously. And I just took it on the chin really, and just did it."

Episode 3 of 'Adolescence' was Cooper's first time acting professionally.

To play Jamie in Adolescence, Cooper, who was 14 at the time, had to perform in one-take episodes that were filmed from start to finish in a continuous shot. The miniseries' standout third episode was not only the first Cooper filmed for the show, but his first-ever time on a professional set.

"I didn’t know any better really!" Cooper told Variety of the one-shot filming. "When [director] Phil [Barantini] told me about the one-shot thing, I thought he was just talking about like one episode, or one quarter of an episode. But then he said all four episodes are being shot in one take. And I immediately thought I’d never, ever be able to do this. But everyone helped me through it.... So I’d definitely do one shot again."

Owen Cooper's on-screen dad Stephen Graham compared him to a young Jodie Comer.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, veteran actor Stephen Graham—who co-created, co-wrote, and plays Jaime's father Eddie in Adolescence—opened up about recognizing Cooper's talent during their chemistry read during the show's casting. Graham compared Cooper's talent to one of his past co-stars, another young actor Graham worked with before they rose to fame: Killing Eve star Jodie Comer.

"There was just a piece of magic within," Graham said of Cooper. "I don’t mean this to sound trite, but you try and catch lightning in a bottle. We were just in the moment of something, and he looked at me in a certain way…. And what I saw in Owen was the exact same thing I saw in Jodie Comer when Jodie was 17."

Graham and Comer both starred in the 2012 crime miniseries Good Cop, years before the actress went on to win an Emmy and a BAFTA for Killing Eve, as well as a Tony for her one-woman play Prima Facie.

"I saw the same kind of ability, the same kind of natural talent, and just a real presence," Graham added, comparing Cooper to Comer. "He just blew my mind."

Cooper counts Tom Holland, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Robert De Niro among his role models.

In addition to Tom Holland, Cooper counts some of the world's most lauded actors among his career role models.

"I would love Leonardo DiCaprio’s career," he said to British Vogue, when told that he has been compared to the Oscar winner. "And Robert De Niro’s. And Al Pacino’s. Those films like Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, The Godfather were all before my time. But Wolf of Wall Street, Django Unchained, Inception and Shutter Island… I don’t think Leonardo DiCaprio’s in a bad film."

The 15-year-old also added that he'd "love to do stunts... to an extent. "Probably not like Tom Cruise," he added. "I’m scared enough going on roller coasters, let alone hanging off the side of a plane. But jumping off the side of a cliff into the water? I could probably do that."

Owen Cooper's first film role will be costarring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi.

Following Adolescence, Cooper is set to appear in both a TV rom-com and a highly-anticipated book-to-movie adaptation. First, he'll play a role in the upcoming BBC comedy series Film Club, which is co-created by and starring Aimee Lou Wood of Sex Education and The White Lotus. The show follows longtime friends Evie (Wood) and Noa (Nabhaan Rizwaan) as they're "forced to consider for the first time they might be more than just friends," per BBC, with Cooper playing "Evie’s annoying neighbour Callum."

After that, Cooper will play the young version of Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell's divisive adaptation of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. With the movie filming now and set to come out in 2026, Cooper will appear alongside Jacob Elordi and Oscar nominees Margot Robbie and Hong Chau.