Josh O'Connor is especially good at letting vulnerability show through difficult behaviour. His acting is physically precise, and we rate him most highly in films patient enough to let a guarded character become someone we care about.
Fi1m perspective
In La Chimera (2023), Josh O'Connor's Arthur holds our attention with a slump and a stare. Alice Rohrwacher's tale of tomb raiders in 1980s Tuscany wanders in the middle, but he keeps us interested in staying with it. This is one of his strongest performances, and a useful place to see how much he can communicate through the way a man carries himself.
God's Own Country (2017), his breakthrough lead, shows how much effort can sit behind that apparent simplicity. As Johnny Saxby, a repressed Yorkshire sheep farmer, O'Connor worked on accent, body and farm labour; director Francis Lee gave that preparation a use in the romance. We were moved by the intimacy between O'Connor and Alec Secăreanu because their physical closeness is so convincing. Gheorghe is less fully written than Johnny, a limitation the performances cannot entirely cure. Even so, Lee gets something tender out of an actor whose characters can be difficult company.
Playing Prince Charles in The Crown (2019–2020) brought a prominent television role, while Mr Elton in Emma. (2020) allowed room for comedy. Those parts have not confined him to period drama: Challengers (2024) makes good use of him in a contemporary ensemble. As Patrick Zweig, he forms a sharply acted trio with Zendaya and Mike Faist in Luca Guadagnino's tennis triangle. His physical expressiveness suits the film's speed and humour. The insistent score and the over-styled final stretch are real reservations, but the three actors give us plenty to enjoy.
In Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025), his young priest, Fr. Jud Duplenticy, gives Rian Johnson's crowded mystery its heart. Johnson benefits from that warmth, although the length and the underused supporting actors remain frustrations. For a first encounter, choose God's Own Country; allow La Chimera a little more room to wander.
Biography
Josh O'Connor is an English actor. Born on 20 May 1990 in Southampton, he trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He first gained attention in television series including Doctor Who (2013) and Peaky Blinders (2014).
O'Connor had his breakthrough as the lead in Francis Lee's God's Own Country (2017). He portrayed Prince Charles in the Netflix series The Crown (2019–2020), for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Subsequent film roles include Emma. (2020), La Chimera (2023) as Arthur, Challengers (2024) as Patrick Zweig, Lee (2024) as Antony Penrose, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025) as Fr. Jud Duplenticy and Disclosure Day (2026) as Dr. Daniel Kellner.
