Jack Lowden facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jack Lowden
Lowden in 2019
Born	Jack Andrew Lowden (1990-06-02) 2 June 1990 (age 35) Essex, England
Education	Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (BA)
Occupation	Actor producer
Years active	2010–present
Spouse(s)	Saoirse Ronan ​ (m. 2024)​

Jack Andrew Lowden (born 2 June 1990) is a Scottish actor and producer. He has won two BAFTA Awards and has been nominated for other big awards like the Emmy and Golden Globe.

After acting on stage for four years, Jack became well-known for his role in the 2016 BBC TV show War & Peace. He then appeared in movies like A United Kingdom (2016), Dunkirk (2017), and Mary Queen of Scots (2018), where he played Lord Darnley. He won a BAFTA Scotland Award for his acting in the movie Calibre (2018). He also played Zak Zodiac in the film Fighting with My Family (2019) and was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2020. Since 2020, he has starred as River Cartwright in the Apple TV+ series Slow Horses. He was even nominated for an Emmy Award in 2024 for this role.

Jack continued his film career in movies about real people like Capone (2020) and Benediction (2021), where he played Siegfried Sassoon. Benediction won him his second BAFTA Scotland Award. He also acted in independent movies like Kindred (2021) and Tornado (2025). In 2022, he received the Trophée Chopard award. As a producer for the film The Outrun (2024), which starred his wife Saoirse Ronan, he was nominated for a BAFTA Award. His other TV roles include the shows The Passing Bells (2014), Wolf Hall (2015), and The Long Song (2018). He also played lawyer Ian Macdonald in Small Axe: Mangrove (2020) and Kenneth Noye in The Gold (2023–2025). Jack's biggest success on stage was playing Oswald Alving in the play Ghosts (2013–2014). He also performed in plays like Black Watch (2010–2011) and Chariots of Fire (2012).

Early Life and Education

The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, where Lowden studied.

Jack Lowden was born in Essex, England, in 1990. His parents are Scottish. He grew up in a Scottish village called Oxton. Jack's younger brother, Calum, became a ballet dancer. Jack also took dance classes when he was young, but he found he was better at acting. When he was a child, he wanted to be a football player.

When Jack was 10, his parents enrolled him in the Scottish Youth Theatre in Edinburgh. At age 12, he played John in a Peter Pan play at the King's Theatre, Edinburgh.

He went to Earlston High School. There, he played Buddy Holly in a musical about the singer. He also performed in many concerts. He decided he wanted to be a professional actor after seeing the play Black Watch in 2007. While in high school, he studied acting during summer at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. He also performed regularly at the Galashiels Amateur Operatic Society. He played the main role in their 2008 show The Boy Friend.

Jack earned a degree in acting from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow in 2011.

Career Highlights

Starting Out (2009–2011)

In 2009, when he was 18, Jack Lowden appeared in a TV ad for Irn-Bru. In 2010, he had a small part in the TV show Being Victor.

From 2010 to 2011, Jack played the main character, Cammy, in the play Black Watch. This play was about Scottish soldiers serving in Iraq. Jack and the other actors trained hard to get into military shape for their roles.

The Black Watch play toured in the UK and the U.S. Critics praised Jack's acting. They called him a "hugely promising young actor" and "quietly charismatic."

Growing Recognition on Stage (2012–2015)

Lowden, Vangelis, and co-star James McArdle (r) at the Gielgud Theatre for the stage adaptation of Chariots of Fire (2012)

From May 2012 to January 2013, Jack starred as Scottish runner Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire. This play was based on the famous movie and was created for the 2012 London Summer Olympics. Jack's performance received a lot of praise.

On TV, he appeared in the drama Mrs Biggs in 2012. In 2013, he played Adam in the TV series The Tunnel. He also had a big role as a young British soldier in the 2014 film '71. This movie was set in Belfast in 1971 during a time of conflict.

In 2014, Jack won two major awards for his role as Oswald in the play Ghosts. He won the Olivier Award and the Ian Charleson Award. The play was also shown in cinemas.

In June 2014, Screen Daily magazine named Jack one of the UK Stars of Tomorrow.

He played Orestes in the play Electra in 2014. He starred alongside famous actress Kristin Scott Thomas.

On television, he was one of the two main actors in the 2014 BBC drama series The Passing Bells. This show told the story of two young soldiers, one German and one British, during World War I.

Breakthrough Roles (2016–2019)

Lowden at an event for England Is Mine in August 2017

Jack Lowden played Nikolai Rostov, a main character, in the 2016 BBC show War & Peace. This show was watched by many people around the world and helped Jack become more widely known.

In movies, he played the main role in Tommy's Honour (2016). This film was about the Scottish golf champion Old Tom Morris and his son Tom Morris, Jr.. Jack was nominated for Best Film Actor at the BAFTA Scotland Awards for this role. He also played British politician Tony Benn in A United Kingdom (2016). In another movie, Denial (2016), he played a lawyer in a true story about Holocaust denial.

In April 2016, he was a finalist at the Young Scot Awards. In November 2016, The List magazine named him one of The Hot 100.

He played a Royal Air Force fighter pilot in Christopher Nolan's World War II film Dunkirk, which came out in July 2017. He also played Morrissey in a movie about the singer called England Is Mine. This film premiered in July 2017.

He starred with Martin McCann in a Scottish thriller called Calibre (2018). This movie was released globally on Netflix in June 2018. Critics praised Jack's acting, saying he gave a "powerful" performance. Jack won the BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Film Actor for this role.

On stage, Jack starred with Hayley Atwell in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure in 2018. They even switched roles during the play! On TV, in December 2018, he appeared in The Long Song. This was a three-part BBC show about a slave on a sugar plantation in Jamaica.

Lowden and actress Saoirse Ronan (left) co-starred together in Mary Queen of Scots (2018) and co-produced The Outrun (2024). They also married in 2024.

He played Lord Darnley in Mary Queen of Scots (2018), starring alongside Saoirse Ronan. He also played Zak "Zodiac" Bevis in the 2019 comedy-drama film Fighting with My Family. He appeared as an FBI agent in the 2020 movie Capone, which starred his Dunkirk co-star Tom Hardy.

In February 2019, Jack started his own production company, Reiver Pictures. This company helped make the movie Kindred, in which Jack also starred. He played Siegfried Sassoon in the 2022 movie Benediction.

Slow Horses and Recent Work (2020–Present)

Jack Lowden was announced as a star in the Apple TV series Slow Horses in December 2020. He has continued his role for seasons two, three, and four, and is set to appear in season five. He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2024 for his role in Slow Horses.

He also joined the upcoming film Rogue Trooper.

Personal Life

From 2019 to 2021, Jack lived in Leith, Edinburgh. He then moved back to the Scottish Borders in May 2021. He supports Scottish independence.

Since 2018, he has been in a relationship with Irish actress Saoirse Ronan. They starred together in Mary Queen of Scots. They married in Edinburgh in July 2024. In May 2025, it was reported that they are expecting their first child.

Jack supports Broxburn Athletic Football Club. He sometimes goes to their games. He even gave a man of the match award to a player after a game.

Filmography

Key

Denotes projects that have not yet been released

Film Roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	U Want Me 2 Kill Him?	Henry
2014	Ghosts	Oswald Alving	Filmed play performance
	'71	Thompson "Thommo"
2016	Tommy's Honour	Tom Morris, Jr.
	A United Kingdom	Tony Benn
	Denial	James Libson
2017	England Is Mine	Morrissey
	Dunkirk	Collins
2018	Calibre	Vaughn
	Mary Queen of Scots	Lord Darnley
2019	Fighting with My Family	Zak "Zodiac" Bevis
2020	Capone	Stirling H. Crawford
	Kindred	Thomas	Also co-producer
2021	Benediction	Siegfried Sassoon	Also executive producer
2024	The Outrun	N/A	Producer
2025	Tornado	Little Sugar
	Rogue Trooper	Gunnar (voice)	Post-production
	Ella McCay	TBA	Post-production

Television Roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	Being Victor	Nick Fairclough	Episode: "Episode 3"
2012	Mrs Biggs	Alan Wright	2 episodes
2013	The Tunnel	Adam Roebuck	10 episodes
2014	The Passing Bells	Michael	TV miniseries
2015	Wolf Hall	Thomas Wyatt	TV miniseries
2016	War & Peace	Nikolai Rostov	TV miniseries
2017	The Dreams of Bethany Mellmoth	Hunter	TV pilot
2018	The Long Song	Robert Goodwin	TV miniseries
2020	Small Axe	Ian Macdonald	Anthology film series; episode: "Mangrove"
2022–present	Slow Horses	River Cartwright	24 episodes
2023–2025	The Gold	Kenneth Noye	10 episodes
2024	The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power	Forodwaith Sauron	Episode: "Elven Kings Under the Sky"
TBA	Pride and Prejudice	Mr. Darcy	TV miniseries
TBA	Berlin Noir	Bernhard "Bernie" Gunther	Pre-production

Video Games

Theatre Performances

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: Jack Lowden para niños