Johnny Flynn: I was always going to end up in acting... it's all my family know how to do

Flynn is fast becoming one of Britain’s most in-demand actors
Thespian: Johnny Flynn posing for ES magazine
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Johnny Flynn has said he has had to put his music career on hold after becoming one of Britain’s most in-demand actors.

The British star, 35, has enjoyed roles in Kingdom, Inside No.9 and hit Netflix series Lovesick and recently starred in an off-Broadway production of Martin McDonagh’s Hangmen.

His next role will see him play William Dobbin alongside Michael Palin and Olivia Cooke in the forthcoming ITV adaptation of Vanity Fair. Flynn has also released several albums and tours with his band The Sussex Wit, but said being a musician has had to take a back seat.

“Music always gets bumped until I have some time to get around to it,” he told ES Magazine.

Johnny Flynn and Shannon Tarbet in National Geographic's Genius 
National Geographic/Robert Viglasky

Flynn’s father, who died from cancer in 2002 when he was 18, was actor and singer Eric Flynn. His two older brothers from his father’s first marriage, Jerome and Daniel, are also actors.

Flynn said that following in their footsteps was the only viable option growing up, despite living “very hand-to-mouth” when his father was “out of work a lot”.

In demand: Johnny Flynn has put music on the back burner

“I imagine that, for most people, acting isn’t something they think is a viable option, whereas for me it was the most viable option,” he said. “No adults around me knew how to do anything else.”

Flynn, who has son Gabriel with his wife Beatrice Minns, studied at Bedales after winning a music scholarship. He credited his English teacher with fuelling his passion for acting, but said he feels uneasy about his time at the prestigious Hampshire boarding school.

He said: “I can’t deny that it gave me an experience that is unique and rare and very privileged, but privileged in a way that I now rail against, that people have that as a birthright. I had this weird experience of being inside it but always feeling outside it.”

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