Few actors become incredibly famous from their professional debut—even fewer who are only in their teens. But 15-year-old Owen Cooper is taking his fame in stride. “The success of the show will never sink in, but the noise around me has sunk in a little bit,” says the breakout star of Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham’s four-part miniseries “Adolescence,” which has become the second-most watched series ever on Netflix following its release in March.
“Adolescence” follows the family of 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Cooper) after he’s arrested on suspicion of murdering a girl from his school. The show has been widely praised for opening up the conversation around the manosphere, incel culture, and teen bullying on social media. It’s currently in the running for 13 Primetime Emmys, including an outstanding supporting actor award for Cooper.
“When the show first came out, it was all I could think about really, because it was everywhere, but I’m dealing with it fine,” he says, when we sit down for a Zoom call shortly after the nominations have been announced.
Cooper, who is from Warrington in the north of England, attends a regular secondary school, but he spent two years taking weekly acting classes at the Drama MOB in nearby Manchester, which doubles as an acting agency. While he enjoyed the lessons, he was keen for them to lead to professional work. “I was waiting and waiting for jobs, but I was enjoying it,” he remembers.
During his time at the school, he submitted several self-tapes, including for the long-running U.K. soap “Coronation Street,” but “just never got the part,” he says.
Then came a mysterious self-tape request for a television series. All Cooper knew about the project was that filmmaker Philip Barantini, of “Accused” and “Boiling Point” acclaim, was attached to direct. “It was a self-tape where you’ve got to walk into the headmaster’s office,” he explains. “In the first video you’re innocent, and in the second you’re guilty.” It was a request that makes sense for a project that, for the bulk of the first episode, keeps its audience guessing whether or not Jamie committed the crime.
Cooper impressed Barantini and the casting team with his improv, and he was invited back for several rounds of in-person auditions. It was after one with Graham, who plays Jamie’s dad Eddie, that Cooper felt confident the part was his. “As soon as I came out of that room, I called my mum and told her I’d smashed it,” he says, adding that he and Graham bonded over their shared support of Liverpool FC, talked about school, then “easily got into the script.”
Reading Episode 3, in which psychologist Briony Ariston (played by Erin Doherty, who also earned a supporting actress Emmy nod) tries to make progress with an increasingly volatile Jamie, made Cooper aware of how dark the project is—and how shocking his character’s actions are. With virtually no performances by actors of a similar age to look to for inspiration, he turned to an unusual source. “When we got into the hotel, the night before my first-ever day on the film set, I don’t know why, but I watched ‘The Shining,’ ” he says. “Jack Nicholson got into my head, where he’s mental. So I think that might have helped.”
Filming was “intense,” Cooper notes. Production spent three weeks on an episode, and each was shot in a single take. They also filmed out of order, beginning with the third installment. “Looking back, I’m so glad we began with Episode 3. I don’t think I would have been able to do Episode 1 first,” he says of the premiere, in which police break down Jamie’s bedroom door and arrest him. “It was so emotionally draining. I’d be asleep within 10 minutes on the car [ride] home. My eyes were just gone, [and] I had no tears left in me to cry.”
But Cooper was able to bounce back between each take. In fact, he’d “go straight into tutoring [or] play swingball” until he was “just straight back to normal. It was weird.” He had to, though: Like all British 15-year-olds, Cooper also has his GCSEs to think about. He’s been back in school since the show’s release, and will be taking the exams next summer. “I’m not really looking forward to that,” he says with a laugh.
Since his masterly performance on “Adolescence,” Cooper has filmed two more high-profile projects: He’s portraying Young Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell’s 2026 film adaptation of “Wuthering Heights,” and Callum on the BBC’s upcoming romantic dramedy series “Film Club.” Of the former, he speaks highly of his costars Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie. “I just got on with [Elordi] really well,” he says. “He sent me a voice note of how to say the lines; he was like my second director. Same for Margot.” He describes “Film Club” creator and star Aimee Lou Wood as “one of the funniest people I’ve ever met.”
It’s a fine start to what will hopefully be a long, successful acting career. Cooper has hopes of one day portraying a Gallagher brother. “I’d love to play Liam…. No, Noel! I think I’d do a better Noel than Liam—I just love them both, to be honest,” says the young star, who describes seeing their Oasis reunion tour live as “one of the best nights of my life.”
He adds that he wants to work with the Tom Hollands and Jake Gyllenhaals of the world, too. But for now, it’s time to knuckle down and nail those GCSEs.