Jack O'Connell makes danger feel impulsive and uncomfortably human. We rate his physical conviction, especially when it allows some vulnerability through; the turn towards conspicuous villains is understandable, but menace alone is not much of a part.
Fi1m perspective
Jack O'Connell is convincing as someone who might act before he has thought through the consequences. That volatility has made him an obvious choice for threatening parts, though it should not be mistaken for all he can do. In Shane Meadows' This Is England (2006), he plays Pukey Nicholls within a skinhead gang. We were frightened by that film because Meadows makes the gang's warmth and humour so appealing: the threatening performances disturb something we have been encouraged to enjoy.
Skins (2009–2013), as James Cook, brought wider recognition, but the important change came with the leads in Starred Up (2013) and '71 (2014). The former draws on his hair-trigger physicality; the latter gives his vulnerability and instinct for survival equal weight. They suggest how much can be done within parts that might otherwise look like further variations on the tough youth. Angelina Jolie's Unbroken (2014) took that physical commitment into a Hollywood leading role.
The films that followed have not always given us stronger reasons to watch him. Ferrari (2023) casts him as Peter Collins, but our recommendation rests on Penélope Cruz and Michael Mann's racing sequences. In Sam Taylor-Johnson's Back to Black (2024), he plays Blake in a film too fond of its characters to examine them properly. The fault there lies in the film's soft treatment of a hard life, and Marisa Abela supplies the reason to persevere.
Ryan Coogler's Sinners (2025) puts his unsettling presence to work as the villain Remmick. It is worth an evening for horror admirers, though the music in its Mississippi juke joint is more compelling than the horror. There is a caution here for anyone tempted to call the villain roles an uncomplicated advance. O'Connell is well suited to menace, but we would like the surrounding films to find more for him to do with it.
Nia DaCosta's 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026) makes that reservation harder to ignore. His Sir Jimmy Crystal heads a cult of tracksuited Jimmys, the loudest and least interesting half of a film whose stronger material belongs to Ralph Fiennes. For a closer look at what O'Connell can do, go back to Starred Up and '71.
Biography
Jack O'Connell is an English actor. Born on 1 August 1990 in Alvaston, Derbyshire, he began acting professionally in the mid-2000s.
He first gained recognition for his role as James Cook in the television series Skins (2007–2013). Early film roles include Pukey Nicholls in This Is England (2006) and Brett in Eden Lake (2008). He received critical acclaim for lead performances in Starred Up (2013) and '71 (2014), and played Louis Zamperini in Unbroken (2014), for which he won the BAFTA Rising Star Award.
O'Connell has since appeared in Money Monster (2016), Back to Black (2024) as Blake, Ferrari (2023) as Peter Collins, Sinners (2025) as Remmick, and the 28 Years Later films (2025–2026) as Sir Jimmy Crystal.
