Ed Skrein Biography

Edward George "Ed" Skrein (born 29 March 1983) is an English actor and rapper. Outside his rap career, he is best known for his roles as Daario Naharis in Season 3 of Game of Thrones, Frank Martin Jr. in The Transporter Refueled and Francis Freeman/Ajax in Deadpool (2016).

Early life

Skrein was born in Camden, London, England, and was raised there and in other London boroughs, Haringey and Islington. He is of Jewish Austrian and English descent. Skrein graduated from Central Saint Martins, a public tertiary art school, with a BA Hons degree in fine art painting.

Career

Music

In 2004, Skrein released a three track EP under the record label Dented Records. In 2007, he released his first album, The Eat Up. He has collaborated with a variety of artists including Foreign Beggars, Asian Dub Foundation, Plan B, Dubbledge and Doc Brown. Later that year, Skrein released a collaborative EP, Pre-Emptive Nostalgia, with the group A State of Mind.

Acting

Skrein made his acting debut in Plan B's short film Michelle. Skrein got his first lead role in Plan B's Ill Manors. Skrein portrayed Daario Naharis in the third season of the television series Game of Thrones. However, in the fourth season of the series, he had been replaced by Dutch actor Michiel Huisman. Skrein states that "behind the scenes politics" had forced him to leave the show. In 2014, Skrein was cast in The Transporter: Refueled, replacing Jason Statham as the lead. Though the film was critically panned, his performance was praised. In 2016, Skrein played the lead villain, Ajax, in the blockbuster action film Deadpool.

On 23 October 2015 Skrein was cast in sci-fi thriller, Gateway 6, alongside Rhys Ifans, with Tanel Toom making his directorial debut. Filming will commence in Estonia in the spring of 2016. On 29 October 2015 Skrein was cast in psychological revenge thriller, In Darkness, alongside Natalie Dormer and Stacy Martin; principal photography will begin early 2016. He was slated to star in the upcoming Hellboy reboot as Ben Daimio, a Japanese-American character; after controversy over his casting, Skrein announced on Twitter that he was stepping down from the role in the hopes an actor of the proper ethnicity would be cast.

Personal life

Skrein lives in London with his son Marley. Since he was 15 years old, Skrein has been a swimming coach for a company called GLL where he worked at leisure centres such as Caledonian Road Pool and Gym and Archway Pool.

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Details
The Eat Up	Released: 2007 Label: Dented Records Formats: CD, Digital download

Extended plays

Title	Details
Mind Out/Once Upon a Skrein	Released: 2004 Label: Dented Records Formats: CD, Digital download
Pre-Emptive Nostalgia (with A State of Mind)	Released: 2007 Label: Dented Records Formats: CD, Digital download

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2012	Piggy	Jamie
	Ill Manors	Edward "Ed" Richardson
	The Sweeney	David
2013	Goldfish	Vincent	Short film
2014	Northmen: A Viking Saga	Hjorr
2015	Sword of Vengeance	Treden
	Tiger House	Callum
	The Transporter: Refueled	Frank Martin Jr.
	Kill Your Friends	Danny Rent
2016	Deadpool	Francis Freeman / Ajax	MTV Movie Award for Best Fight Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Villain Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
	The Model	Shane White
2017	Tau	Alex	In post-production
2018	Alita: Battle Angel	Zapan	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	The Tunnel	Anthony Walsh	3 episodes
	Game of Thrones	Daario Naharis