Sebastian Croft
Born
Sebastian Theodore Kemble Croft

(2001-12-16) 16 December 2001 (age 22)
Newcastle upon Tyne, England
OccupationActor
Years active2007–present

Sebastian Theodore Kemble Croft (born 16 December 2001) is an English actor. He began his career as a child actor on stage before making his television debut as Young Ned Stark in Game of Thrones (2016).[1] He earned a BAFTA Children's Award nomination for his role as Atti in Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans (2019).[2][3] Croft's voice work includes the film Where Is Anne Frank (2021), "Ice", an installment of the Netflix anthology Love, Death & Robots (2021) and voice option one for the player character in the game Hogwarts Legacy. From 2022 to 2023, he starred as Ben Hope in the Netflix series Heartstopper.

Early life

Croft was born on 16 December 2001.[4][citation needed] Croft was named after Lord Sebastian Flyte, one of the main characters of Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited.[5] He began taking acting classes at the Abingdon-on-Thames branch of Stagecoach when he was seven[6] and at Michael Xavier's MX Masterclass, of which Croft is now a patron.[7] He attended the Dragon School for preparatory school[8] and St Edward's School, Oxford for GCSEs.[9][10] He completed A Levels in English, philosophy and film.[11]

Career

Theatre

Croft made his first West End stage appearance in 2010 in Sam Mendes' production of Oliver! (Theatre Royal Drury Lane).[12] In 2011 he was cast as Gavroche in Les Misérables (Queen's Theatre). Croft was later hand picked by producer Cameron Mackintosh to return to Oliver! this time playing the title role in the UK touring company for eighteen months. In 2013 Croft played Tommy in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Matilda (Cambridge Theatre).[13] His final musical performance as a juvenile was in the title role of the world premiere production of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole (Leicester Curve). Prominent musical theatre workshops include: I Can't Sing, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Bumblescratch,[14] Danny Hero and The Braille Legacy.[15] Prominent one night concerts and performances include: Rags: The Musical (Lyric Theatre)[16] and A Charity Concert With Emeli Sande and Laura Wright. In June 2016 Croft appeared in the West End Live presentation of Bumblescratch in Trafalgar Square.[17]

In 2014, Croft's vocals were featured in the National Theatre Live's production of Coriolanus (Donmar Warehouse) with Tom Hiddleston.[13] Croft workshopped the play Emil and The Detectives (National Theatre) in the title role of Emil Tischbein. In 2016 Croft was cast in the role of Prince Arthur in Sir Trevor Nunn's production of Shakespeare's King John (Rose Theatre)[18] for which Croft received high praise from the national press.[19]

In 2023, in his first stage appearance in eight years,[20] Croft appeared in Amy Herzog's play 4000 Miles at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester at Chichester Festival Theatre, with Dame Eileen Atkins.

Film and television

In 2016 Croft appeared in the ITV and Fox series Houdini and Doyle and the Sky Atlantic and Showtime series Penny Dreadful. Croft rose to prominence portraying the role of a young Eddard Stark (portrayed by Sean Bean as an adult and Robert Aramayo as a young adult) in the sixth season of the HBO series Game of Thrones.[1]

Croft made his feature film debut in 2017 as a Young David Logan in The Hippopotamus. He appeared in the 2019 films Music, War and Love and Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans as Young Robert Pulaski and Atti respectively, the latter of which earned him a BAFTA Children's Award nomination in the Young Performer category.[2]

Croft voiced Peter van Daan in the animated fantasy film Where Is Anne Frank, which premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. He lent his voice to Volume II of the Netflix animated anthology Love, Death & Robots in the Creative Arts Emmy Award-winning episode "Ice". Croft and Ty Tennant were cast as the Dead Boy Detectives Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine respectively in season 3 of the DC Universe series Doom Patrol.[21]

In April 2021, it was announced Croft would play Ben Hope in the 2022 Netflix series Heartstopper, an adaptation of the webcomic and graphic novel of the same name by Alice Oseman.[22] Later that year, he was part of the cast of the horror-fantasy film Dampyr released in Italy on 28 October 2022.[23] Croft has an upcoming role in the young adult romantic comedy How to Date Billy Walsh for Amazon Prime.[24]

In August 2023, it was confirmed that Croft would not be returning for the third season of Heartstopper as Ben Hope, given that his character's storyline had been finished in the second season's seventh episode.[25]

In November 2023 it was announced that Croft was starring in the film Svalta with Nick Frost and Aisling Bea.[26]

In November 2023 Croft joined the cast of the upcoming BBC crime drama series Dope Girls.[27]

Personal life

Croft has dyslexia and identifies as queer.[28][29][30] For Pride Month in 2022, Croft tweeted that he "designed a t-shirt with two gay dinosaurs kissing, reminding everyone that Queer has always been here".[31] All of the money from these sales was to go to Choose Love and Rainbow Railroad – two charities helping LGBT refugees – according to Croft.[32][33]

Filmography

Film

Key
† Denotes films that have not yet been released
Year Title Role Notes
2017 The Hippopotamus Young David Logan
2019 Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans Atti
I'll Find You Young Robert Pulaski Formerly titled Music, War and Love
2021 Where Is Anne Frank Peter van Daan Voice role
School's Out Forever Pugh
2022 Dampyr Yuri
2023 Wonderwell Daniele
2024 How to Date Billy Walsh † Archie Post-production
2024 Svalta † Post-production

Television

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2016 Houdini & Doyle Newsie Episode: "Spring-Heel'd Jack"
Game of Thrones Young Eddard Stark 2 episodes [1]
Penny Dreadful Boy Familiar 4 episodes [1]
2021 Love, Death & Robots Fletcher Episode: "Ice"
Doom Patrol Charles Rowland Episode: "Dead Patrol" [21]
2022–2023 Heartstopper Ben Hope 13 episodes [22][34]
2024 Dope Girls Silvio Salucci In production[35]

Music videos

Year Song Artist Notes Ref.
2014 "Baby, It's Cold Outside" Michael Bublé and Idina Menzel [36]

Radio

Date Title Role Writer Broadcast Ref
Dec 2023 A Single Act Ben Vane A. L. Kennedy BBC Radio 4 [37]

Video games

Year Video Game Character Ref
2023 Hogwarts Legacy Protagonist (male voice) [38]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ref.
2019 British Academy Children's Awards Young Performer Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans Nominated [2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Roy Espinosa (29 May 2016). "Sebastian Crof, the young Ned Stark". La Prensa. Archived from the original on 30 May 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "Children's Awards Nominations 2019". BAFTA.com. 22 October 2019. Archived from the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  3. ^ "Childrens BAFTA Nominations Announced". Televisual.com. Archived from the original on 28 October 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  4. ^ "Sebastian Croft (@SebastianCroft) / Twitter Bio". Twitter. Archived from the original on 13 May 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  5. ^ "50 Questions With Heartstopper's Sebastian Croft". AnOther. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  6. ^ Radisevic, Dijana (5 August 2015). "Meet Sebastian Croft". Archived from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  7. ^ "Teachers". MX Masterclass. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  8. ^ "Sebastian Goes Back to School". Dragon School. 21 January 2021. Archived from the original on 3 March 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  9. ^ "Teddies and the Creative Industries". St Edward's Oxford. Archived from the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  10. ^ Keown, Callum (15 July 2017). "Can Oxford's last Game of Thrones link survive the next series?". Oxford Mail. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  11. ^ "Sebastian Croft". Storm Management. Archived from the original on 20 November 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  12. ^ "Sebastian Croft – Oliver!". Oliverthemusical.com. Archived from the original on 5 September 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  13. ^ a b "Sebastian Croft – Matilda and Coriolanus". Archived from the original on 9 May 2016.
  14. ^ Bumblescratch The Musical EPK. YouTube. 21 May 2013. Archived from the original on 14 May 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  15. ^ "Sebastian Croft". Curtis Brown. Archived from the original on 6 May 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  16. ^ "Rags the Musical in Concert – Lyric Theatre". Musicaltheatrereview.com. Archived from the original on 9 May 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  17. ^ "Bumblescratch at West End Live". YouTube. Archived from the original on 29 December 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  18. ^ "Cast announced for Sir Trevor Nunn's King John in Kingston". Kingston Guardian. 18 April 2016. Archived from the original on 6 May 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  19. ^ Cavendish, Dominic; "Game of Thrones' Sebastian Croft saves this King John" Archived 31 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Daily Telegraph, 19 May 2016.
  20. ^ .Sebastian Croft talking about 4000 Miles on YouTube
  21. ^ a b Del Eclarinal, Aeron Mer (15 April 2021). "Doom Patrol Season 3: Sebastian Croft & Ty Tennant Cast as Dead Boy Detectives (Exclusive)". The Direct. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  22. ^ a b Kanter, Jake (26 April 2021). "Netflix Rounds Out Cast For 'Heartstopper' With 'What If?' Star Yasmin Finney & Seven Others". Deadline. Archived from the original on 2 May 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  23. ^ "Dampyr, il trailer del film tratto dal fumetto Sergio Bonelli Editore". Sky TG24 (in Italian). Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  24. ^ "Amazon announce comedy film How To Date Billy Walsh". British Comedy Guide. 25 August 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  25. ^ "Ben Won't Be Back for 'Heartstopper' Season 3 — Here's Why". Netflix Tudum. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
  26. ^ "'Svalta:' XYZ & Wayward Wrap Production On Horror Pic". Deadline. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  27. ^ "BBC announces cast for major new drama series Dope Girls". Deadline. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  28. ^ "Game of Thrones Actor Gives Talk to Drama Boys". Bedford School. 13 September 2019. Archived from the original on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2022. Sebastian admitted that he struggled academically at school – mainly due to his dyslexia.
  29. ^ Rounds, Alex. "Interview: Horrible Histories' Sebastian Croft". The Light Cambridge. Archived from the original on 12 March 2022. Retrieved 4 June 2022. I was a big Horrible Histories fan. I'm very dyslexic, and they were the only books that I really enjoyed reading...
  30. ^ "Queer Was Always Here". Queer Was Always Here. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  31. ^ "Queer Was Always Here". Queer Was Always Here. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  32. ^ @SebastianCroft (17 June 2022). "To raise money for @chooselove and @RainbowRailroad I designed a T-shirt with two gay Dinosaurs kissing, reminding everyone that Queer has always been here. 100% of the money will go to helping queer refugees fleeing persecution. Click the link 💖🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  33. ^ Leon Kaye (5 July 2022). "How 20-Year-Old Actor Sebastian Croft Defines Relentless 'Allyship' with LGBTQ People". Triple Pundit. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022.
  34. ^ Ariana Romero (3 August 2023). "Ben Won't Be Back for 'Heartstopper' Season 3 — Here's Why". Netflix. Archived from the original on 3 August 2023.
  35. ^ Cordero, Rosy; Whittock, Jesse; Goldbart, Max (15 November 2023). "'Dope Girls': Julianne Nicholson & Eliza Scanlen To Lead BBC Drama About Female Crime Boss In Soho; Filming Underway". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  36. ^ "Adult Contemporary". Billboard.com. 20 December 2014. Archived from the original on 1 January 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  37. ^ "A Single Act - Drama on 4 | Wizarding World". www.bbc.co.uk/. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  38. ^ "Hogwarts Legacy voiceover talent revealed with Simon Pegg confirmed as Headmaster Black | Wizarding World". www.wizardingworld.com. Retrieved 11 January 2023.

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