Will Merrick

Will Merrick
Born William Charles Merrick[1]
9 April 1993
Ledbury, Herefordshire, England
Occupation Actor
Years active 2009–present
Known for Skins

Will Merrick (born 9 April 1993) is an English screen and stage actor. His debut was in the third generation of the BAFTA winning, E4 television series Skins as the character Alo Creevey.[2]

Career

Merrick began his career as a child stage actor performing in several school productions, including The Taming of the Shrew playing Grumio, Amadeus as Venticello, Hamlet as Polonius.[3] As a member of the Close up Theatre Merrick performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2010 and 2011, in the productions of The History Boys playing Posner and Arthur Miller's masterpiece Death of a Salesman in the role of Charley.[4] At the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2012–2013 Merrick played lead roles with the No Prophet Theatre Company in Punk Rock, a stage production by Simon Stephens, and in Boys written by Ella Hickson.[5][6]

In 2011, Merrick made his first television appearance in the E4 teen drama Skins, playing Alo Creevey. Originally he auditioned in Bristol for the role of Rich Hardbeck and became Alo at the end of the audition process.[7] He described his character as a " loving person, very open-minded, positive and enthusiastic kind of guy."[8]

In February 2012 Merrick won the RTS Award for Best Actor, competing with Dakota Blue Richards co-star in Skins.[9] For his role as Alo Creevey he got also a nomination for Best Actor at TV Choice Awards 2012.[10]

In May 2012 Merrick recorded an episode of BBC One family sitcom In with the Flynns,[11] in which he plays the role of Dean.[12] In the same year he has landed his first big screen role as Jay in Richard Curtis' new romantic comedy About Time alongside Hollywood star Rachel McAdams and Domhnall Gleeson.[11]

Merrick appeared in a 2013 episode of popular sci-fi show Doctor Who, where he played a character named Brains.[13] He also starred as Tom alongside Jessie Cave in an episode of Coming Up aired on Channel 4 in July 2013[14] and was a guest star in fantasy BBC series Atlantis.[15]

Early life

Merrick originates from Ledbury in Herefordshire.[16] He was educated at The Downs School in Herefordshire and at Dean Close School in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. In 2009 he was one of the top ten of over 50,000 candidates nationally in his drama GCSE examination.[3] He can sing and play the guitar.[17]

Filmography

Film and Television
Year Title Roles Notes
2011–2012 Skins Alo Creevey E4 TV Series (17 episodes)
Won—RTS Award for Best Actor
Nominated—TV Choice Award for Best Actor
2012 In with the Flynns Dean BBC One TV series (1 episode "Frozen Assets" No.2.6)
2013 About Time Jay Director Richard Curtis
Doctor Who Brains Series 7 (1 episode No.3.13 Nightmare in Silver)
Coming Up Tom Channel 4 TV series (1 episode No.8.2 Burger Van Champion)
Atlantis Arcas BBC One TV series (1 episode No.1.8 The Furies)
2015 Count Arthur Strong Jeremy BBC Two TV series (1 episode No. 2.2 The Day The Clocks Went Back)
Theatre
Year Title Roles Notes
2009 The Taming of the Shrew Grumio Close Up Theatre
Amadeus Venticello Close Up Theatre
2010 Hamlet Polonius Close Up Theatre
The History Boys Posner Edinburgh Festival Fringe
2011 Death of a Salesman Charley Edinburgh Festival Fringe
2012 Punk Rock William Carlisle Edinburgh Festival Fringe
2013 Boys Benny[18] Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Arcola Theatre
2013–2014 Wendy and Peter Pan Slightly Royal Shakespeare Company[19]

References

  1. ↑ Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England and Wales, 1916–2005
  2. ↑ Meet the Skins Will Merrick
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Will Merrick theatre formation". skinsfansite.
  4. ↑ Death of a salesman
  5. ↑ "Punk Rock, Edimburgh Festival Guide". edinburghfestival. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  6. ↑ "Punk Rock, The Edimburgh Festival Fringe". edfringe. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  7. ↑ "Will Merrick ('Skins') interview". cultbox. 1 March 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  8. ↑ Skins 5 meet Will Merrick
  9. ↑ RTS Bristol Best Actor Will Merrick
  10. ↑ "Nominations TV Choice Awards 2012". tvchoicemagazine. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "About time for stardom as Will lands big screen role". thisisgloucestershire. Retrieved 31 Aug 2012.
  12. ↑ "Will Merrick Credits". unitedagents. Retrieved 31 Aug 2012.
  13. ↑ Lazarus, Susanna (6 December 2012). "Skins actor Will Merrick appeared in Doctor Who". Radio Times. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
  14. ↑ "Coming Up Episode Guide". Channel 4. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  15. ↑ Jeffery, Morgan (16 Nov 2013). "'Atlantis' episode 8 review: Blood ties and past lies". Digital Spy. Retrieved 1 Dec 2013.
  16. ↑ Will Merrick throws party to mark debut in Skins
  17. ↑ "Will Merrick plays Alo". Channel 4. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  18. ↑ "EHE8: Boys". Arcola Theatre. Retrieved 3 Oct 2013.
  19. ↑ "Wendy And Peter Pan". Royal Shakespeare Company. Retrieved 9 Sep 2013.

External links