Ed Speleers Biography

Edward John "Ed" Speleers (born 7 April 1988) is an English actor and producer. He is best known for playing the title role in the 2006 film Eragon, as well as starring in Golden Globe and Emmy-award winning TV show Downton Abbey.

Personal life

Speleers was born at St Richard's Hospital, Chichester, West Sussex. His parents divorced when he was three. He is the youngest son of mother Gill, who lives in Spain; his father, John, is a financial consultant and lives in London. He has two older half brothers. In 2006, he left Eastbourne College to portray Eragon.

Career

Acting

Prior to Eragon, Speleers appeared in school productions, such as A Midsummer Night's Dream when he was 10, Peter Pan, A Streetcar Named Desire, Richard III and Hamlet. While at Eastbourne College, Speleers wrote a play, Retribution, with his friend Rob Curran, which investigated the subjects of child abuse and paedophilia. Speleers also acted in a short film by Charlie Bleakley, called Metropolis.

He then landed the lead role of the 20th Century Fox screen version of Eragon. In 2008, he appeared in the British prime time series Echo Beach as Jimmy Penwarden.

In mid 2010, Speleers was cast as one of the lead roles in British thriller film A Lonely Place to Die directed by Julian Gilbey, a feature film, starring Melissa George, Sean Harris and Eamonn Walker, released in September 2011 in Britain.

In 2012, Speleers was part of the comedy horror film Love Bite, in the lead role of Jamie, with Jessica Szohr and Timothy Spall. He was also cast in the film A Dead Man in Deptford, based on the novel of the same name by Anthony Burgess, and in the Golden Globe award winning series Downton Abbey, where he played the regular role of Jimmy Kent.

Recently he got a lead big-screen role as Sam in thriller film Plastic, written and directed by Julian Gilbey for Gateway Films. Production is set to be shot in Britain, Miami and Brunei from January 2013.

Speleers is represented in the USA by the IFA Talent Agency, and in Britain by the Independent Talent Group. His manager is Matthew Hobbs at Firefly.

Producing

Speleers is a founding partner, with his manager Matthew Hobbs, in film production and talent management company Firefly.

Philanthropy

In March 2010, Speleers became the first ambassador of YouthNet, an online company which provides help and advice to young people aged 16 to 25. In June, his participation to the 2011 Virgin London Marathon to raise funds was announced.

In April 2013, Ed ran his second London Marathon - this time, in support of Pets As Therapy.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
2006	Eragon	Eragon	Film
2007	Echo Beach	Jimmy Penwarden	TV series (ITV)
2008	Shirasu Jiro	Robin Cecil Byng	TV film (NHK Japan)
2009	In Between the Waves	Guy	Teaser - Feature
2009	Deathless	John	Teaser - Feature
2010	Witchville	Jason Grint	TV film (Sci/Fic)
2011	A Lonely Place to Die	Ed	Film
2012	Love Bite	Jamie	Film
2012"present	Downton Abbey	Jimmy Kent	TV Series (6 episodes)
2013	Plastic	Sam	Film (post-production)