Nico Mirallegro is a good ensemble actor, often cast as young men under pressure but worth noticing when he gets to be funny. His bellboy in The Pass gives us a reason to keep watching.
Fi1m perspective
Nico Mirallegro plays Harry, the hotel bellboy in The Pass (2016), with an uninhibited comic energy. Ben A. Williams’s film of John Donnelly’s play barely leaves its hotel rooms, and Mirallegro gives that confined drama a useful change of pace. We like the willingness to be funny in a film whose discomfort can become insistent. We were moved more than we expected by Russell Tovey’s performance: the footballer’s flattened voice and stiff body make his trouble with intimacy painful without making him likeable.
The move from Barry ‘Newt’ Newton in Hollyoaks (2007–2010) to Finn Nelson in My Mad Fat Diary (2013–2015) took him from soap to teenage comedy-drama. As Finn, the love interest, he is part of a programme we recommend warmly, despite its occasional eagerness to reassure. Sharon Rooney carries it, and our enthusiasm rests chiefly on her performance. That distinction matters when recommending a series as a place to discover another actor.
The Village (2013), with Mirallegro as Joe Middleton, and Common (2014), as Johnjo O’Shea, widened that work into period and issue-driven drama. The recurring parts are young men under social or emotional pressure, giving some continuity to the changes of setting. Antonia Bird directed him in The Village; Mike Leigh later worked with him as John Bagguley in Peterloo (2018). The succession of ensembles makes more sense of his work than a simple story of leaving soap behind.
Harry offers the clearest evidence of what we value in him: the freedom to make a supporting part funny within an emotionally charged film. Mirallegro had played the role on stage in 2014 before returning to it for the film, so this was a character he had already spent time with. The Pass does labour its point in the middle section, and our recommendation comes with that reservation about the writing. Watch it for Tovey, but keep an eye on the bellboy.
Biography
Nico Mirallegro is an English actor. He was born on 26 January 1991 in Heywood, Greater Manchester. He trained at the Manchester School of Acting and made his television debut in 2007 as Barry "Newt" Newton in the soap opera Hollyoaks, remaining in the role until 2010.
Mirallegro is known for his performances as Finn Nelson in the series My Mad Fat Diary (2013–2015), Joe Middleton in The Village (2013), for which he received a BAFTA nomination, and Johnjo O'Shea in the film Common (2014). His film credits include Spike Island (2012), Anita B. (2014), The Pass (2016) as Harry, and Peterloo (2018). He has also appeared in Rillington Place (2016) as Timothy Evans and Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017). More recent television work includes Spy/Master (2023) and Stags (2024).
