County Lines Star Conrad Khan: ‘Be Forward-Focused—Leave Rejection at the Door’

The following Career Dispatch essay was written by Conrad Khan, whose star turn in County Lines earned him a BAFTA EE Rising Star nomination (vote for him here!) alongside a Screen Star of Tomorrow and BIFA Most Promising Newcomer. He’ll also be joining BBC’s Peaky Blinders for Season 6 when it returns to screens later this year. Here, Khan shares valuable advice and insights from his acting career to date.

My joy for acting was founded at an early age. Like most children, I enjoyed taking part in end-of-year school productions. I would throw myself into the characters making costumes and working on specific accents by myself. My professional career began a bit later, around the age of 15. I was introduced to my first agent through word of mouth. She lived locally and I began doing acting classes with her, and soon after, I started auditioning. She helped me find the talent in myself and I owe a lot to her.

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On auditioning
I don’t remember exactly what my first audition was for but I can recall the intense nervousness I felt. A debilitating anxiety right in the pit of the stomach, making it hard to speak or move. I still get nervous, sometimes, about auditioning today, especially when it is something that I am particularly excited about, but never to that extent. The fretful novelty of the process has worn off over countless meetings.

My first professional job was on a Disney production called The Huntsman: Winter’s War. It came quite early in my career, only after a handful of auditions. It is still, to date, the largest-scale production I have been in. I was amazed and somewhat overwhelmed by the magnitude of it all, with vast looming sets, mazes of film-trailers and teams of hundreds of people. On set, I was treated with care and attention; at the same time, it was very different to school because I was treated somewhat as an adult – working professionally alongside others on something with high stakes and global importance.

I soon learned that the auditioning process was a lot more strenuous – and heart-breaking, at times – than I had first thought. I discovered that rejection was part of the process, with a rough baseline of 98%. I found a way to let go of projects as soon as I stepped out of the casting office. This was a difficult thing to do, especially after having invested so much time, effort and care into a script – to leave those feelings at the door was hard at first, but over time I developed an attitude of being thick-skinned and forward-focused. Some advice that I have learned along the way is to work diligently and single-mindedly on the material in front of you. Not to get carried away by the fantasies of production, such as shooting in foreign, sunny locations or the potential of working alongside directors or other actors who you admire. Just work on the scenes and the lines, nothing more.

On the BAFTA nomination
My nomination for the BAFTA EE Rising Star award is something I am immensely proud of. To be among a list of past winners and nominees who are so talented and established within world cinema is humbling, as well as the four other nominees this year whose work I greatly admire. A nomination of this calibre is something I have often dreamt about, so to have it materialise relatively early in my career is amazing.

On County Lines
The project that helped most to gain traction for this award is County Lines (2019). Written and directed by Henry Blake, who – prior to making the film – worked within the social care sector supporting young children for over 10 years. It is the stories of these people who create the fabric of the film. The film centres around a 14-year-old boy called Tyler, who is coerced into a vicious drug network across Britain’s home counties.

I took away many lessons after playing the role of Tyler. Firstly, I found my own emotional boundaries and how to push past them in order to give everything to a scene; to find a place of selflessness in becoming a character, stepping into someone else’s shoes and empathising to the furthest degree.

In doing so, I covertly found the importance of having a solid and loving home; I found gratitude in this knowledge when many others may not have the same stability in their lives. I learned how hard it is to produce an independent film. I learned the importance of trust within the workplace. I had to trust everybody within that space when I was in a position of vulnerability, physically and emotionally. I spent time learning how hard everybody on set works and how hard it is to do their jobs well. Finally, among many other things, I learned that there are no limits to success when hard work and persistence are the core of what you do.

Cambridge Film Festival at Home Youth Lab Presents a ‘Pay What You Can’ online screening of County Lines (UK only) until Thursday 1 April. It is also available to rent on BFI Player.

Public voting for the EE Rising Star Award is now open at ee.co.uk/BAFTA and the winner will be announced at the EE British Academy Film Awards on Sunday 11^th April 2021.