Ed Skrein was born on March 29, 1983 (age: 40), in Camden, England, and was raised there as well as in other London boroughs, Haringey and Islington. As a teenager, Skrein was drawn into gang-related crime but after getting stabbed at the age of 17 he quickly removed himself from that lifestyle. He became very passionate about sports, and in particular, swimming, eventually going on to coach younger kids.

Ed Skrein Bio: Early Life

“It was a passion of mine and a love of mine,” the actor has said of his swimming days, “Whether I was teaching 3-year-olds to swim their first 10 meters, or trying to shave off milliseconds to get national times for a 100-meter butterfly, that was a real passion of mine. It’s genuinely something I miss – working with kids, and being around kids and the energy they gave me.”

Skrein attended university at Central Saint Martins and graduated with BA Hons degree in Fine Arts, and it was during these years that his interest in rapping flourished.

Ed Skrien: Rapping Career

In 2004, Skrein released a three-track EP under the record label Dented Records. In 2007, he released his first album, The Eat Up. He has collaborated with a variety of artists including Foreign Beggars, Asian Dub Foundation, Plan B, Dubbledge and Doc Brown. Later that year, Skrein released a collaborative EP, Pre-Emptive Nostalgia, with the group A State of Mind.

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Ed Skrein: Acting Career

Speaking exclusively to uInterview the actor described how an acting career unexpectedly presented itself to him when his best friend, Ben Drew, who is also a singer under the name Plan B, approached him about appearing in a short film he had written. Skrein, who had never acted before, jumped at the opportunity. “I trusted him creatively and I trusted him as a friend, so it seemed like a challenge that would be fun but at the same time I felt like I had no right to do it,” Skrein told uInterview. “People had studied for years, people had dreamed of it and there I was being thrust into this short film which then became a feature.”

The short film, Michelle (2008), which Plan B made on just £4,000 of his own money, became the springboard for a full-length feature, ill Manors (2012), for which Skrein received critical acclaim in his leading role as a drug dealer caught up in a vicious circle of violence and struggle to survive on the streets. ” It was a difficult shoot but one that I loved,” Skrein said of the film, “I’ve just fallen in love with the craft since then.”

Following his appearance in ill Manors Skrein was cast in a number of indie shorts and features but his big break came when he was cast as Daario Naharis on hit HBO show, Game of Thrones. Skrein played love interest and advisor to leading lady Emilia Clarke‘s, Khaleesi and swapped his signature shaved head for a flowing mane of curls.

Skrein only played Naharis for one season of the show, however, as other opportunities presented the actor with some difficult choices. In the same year, he was cast in Game of Thrones, he also signed up to play the younger version of Jason Statham‘s character in the popular Transporter film series. Widely reported in the media that Skrein left Thrones for the film series, the actor eventually set the record straight. “My plan was to stay with Game of Thrones for the long haul. That was always my plan. I would have loved to,” Skrein told EW.com, “It was a wonderful experience, but politics led to us parting ways.”

Moving on from the drama, Skrein was cast as villain Ajax in the Ryan Reynolds starring, X-Men spinoff, Deadpool, which was released in 2016 and proved a major success at the box office.

Since then, Skrein appeared in the 2019 Disney live-action film Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and the 2022 movie I Used To Be Famous.

Signing off on his interview with us Skrein remarked: “I really feel like the best is yet to come from me. I haven’t filled my potential yet and I look forward to this continued journey of self-improvement.”

Ed Skrien: Dating & Personal Life

Skrein and his girlfriend live in East London with their four-year-old son Marley.

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