Owen Cooper, a 16-year-old from Warrington, has made history by winning the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Male Actor for his role in Netflix's drama Adolescence. The show, which explores male toxicity, was one of the night's biggest winners, taking home four awards. Cooper described the experience as 'not feeling real'.
Cooper's journey began at the Drama Mob, a school co-founded by Esther Morgan and Coronation Street actress Tina O'Brien. Morgan recalls that Cooper stood out from the start: 'You could tell he definitely wanted it. He wasn't messing around when it came to listening, taking direction and learning his lines.'
The casting process for Adolescence involved several rounds, and Cooper's name kept returning to casting director Shaheen Baig. Co-writer Jack Thorne noted that Cooper came to rehearsals 'word perfect and ready to work', and by the end of the week, he had fully embodied his character, Jamie.
Morgan is a passionate advocate for northern actors, who face challenges as the industry becomes more London-centric. She argues that more productions should be based in the north to provide opportunities for young talent. 'We need more casting directors working here because for some of our young people they don't have the funds to travel up and down to London for castings,' she said.
Cooper's success is already inspiring more boys to take up drama. Morgan reports an increase in male attendance at her classes since Cooper's rise. 'Having that role model of saying, 'yeah, I went to drama classes, I gave it a go' has really helped some of those boys to step out of their comfort zone,' she said.
The show's success, which broke UK viewing records with 6.45 million viewers for its first episode, has also sparked hope for a new wave of working-class British dramas. Thorne is cautiously optimistic that Adolescence could pave the way for more regional stories to find international audiences.
