Billy Howle

Billy Howle
Howle in 2018
Born	William Walter Douglas Howle (1989-11-09) 9 November 1989 (age 35) Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England
Alma mater	Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2014–present

William Walter Douglas Howle^[1] (born 9 November 1989) is an English actor. His films include On Chesil Beach (2017), The Seagull (2018), and Outlaw King (2018). On television, he is known for his roles in the E4 drama Glue (2014), MotherFatherSon (2019), the BBC miniseries The Serpent (2021), the BritBox thriller series The Beast Must Die (2021), and the Netflix mystery series The Perfect Couple (2024).

Howle was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. His mother Allison was a school teacher and his father Tim was a music professor and composer.^[2] He was born the second of four boys, with three brothers, Sam (older), George and Alfie (younger).

Because of his father's profession, the family moved 12 times when Howle was a child, before settling in Scarborough. It was there that he became involved in the local music scene. At 18, he left home to study drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, before embarking on his career.^[3]

In 2014, Howle made his debut as James Warwick on the E4 television series Glue. He co-starred in the 2017 film The Sense of an Ending (as the younger version of Jim Broadbent's lead character) and the miniseries The Witness for the Prosecution in the pivotal role of the defendant in a murder case, Leonard Vole.^[4]

Howle appeared in the war film Dunkirk,^[5] and starred alongside Saoirse Ronan in the film, On Chesil Beach, an adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel. He appears in the film adaptation of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull and in the Netflix film Outlaw King.

Howle was the face of Prada S/S16, shot by Craig McDean.^[6]

In 2019, Howle starred alongside Richard Gere and Helen McCrory in the BBC drama series MotherFatherSon, which was written by Tom Rob Smith and he and Jodie Comer made cameo appearances in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker as Rey's parents Dathan and Miramir.

In 2021, he starred in the BBC series The Serpent^[7] as Herman Knippenberg, and on BritBox's The Beast Must Die as Nigel.

In February 2022, Howle starred in Chloe as Elliott, appearing in all six episodes.^[8] He also appeared in Under the Banner of Heaven as Allen Lafferty who struggled his faith after his wife Brenda's (Daisy Edger-Jones) murder.^[9] In the latter part of 2022, Howle played the title role in John Haidar's production of Shakespeare's Hamlet. It was performed at the Bristol Old Vic.^[10][11]

In 2024, Howle portrayed a 1970s boxer in Kid Snow,^[12][2] and starred in the Netflix limited series The Perfect Couple as Benji Winbury, the son of the rich family.^[13][14] The long-delayed Sweet Dreams will set to start filming in October 2024.^[15] He started stage production of Look Back in Anger.^[16]

• The Little Mermaid (2014)
• Ghosts (2015)
• Long Day's Journey Into Night, Bristol Old Vic(2016)
• Europe, Donmar Warehouse (2018)
• Hamlet, Bristol Old Vic (2022)
• Dear Octopus, National Theatre, Lyttelton (2024)
• Look Back in Anger, Almeida Theatre (2024)
• Roots, Almeida Theatre (2024)

• Billy Howle at IMDb