Sebastian Croft, the 24-year-old actor currently appearing on Celebrity Traitors, has spoken about the bullying he faced at school over his sexuality. He described enduring a "really difficult few years" after a boy he was having a secret relationship with "outed" him as a teenager.
Bullying and a secret relationship
Croft said: "I don't blame the other boy who did it, because he was obviously just also trying to navigate the fact that he was getting chipped for being gay. But it was a really lonely and difficult time in my life."
Speaking to the i, he added: "I would leave school and be an actor and be doing the thing I loved the most, and be with other like-minded people, and feel so liberated in myself, and then I go back to school and be bullied and ostracised."
Early career and Heartstopper role
Croft was privately educated in Oxford, attending the same school as Harry Potter star Emma Watson and comedian Jack Whitehall. He began his career on the West End in the musical Oliver! before landing his TV break as a young Ned Stark on Game of Thrones.
He later starred as Ben Hope in the Netflix series Heartstopper, appearing in 13 episodes alongside Kit Connor, Joe Lock, and Emmerdale star Bradley Riches. Speaking about the show, which follows a teenage romance between two schoolboys, Croft said: "It was this chance that most people don't get. I got to go back and redo what would have been my sixth form, but with the most supportive group of people, doing the thing I loved in a show that celebrates that."
Queer advocacy and Celebrity Traitors
Croft, who has publicly identified as queer, teamed up with actor Connor Jessup in 2023 to create the Queer Was Always Here initiative. The official website states: "Queer Was Always Here is a community dedicated to queer lives, queer art and queer history. We work in partnership with Choose Love to secure futures for LGBTQIA+ refugees and displaced people around the world."
On joining Celebrity Traitors, Croft told NME that he spent years trying to think of himself as a "serious actor" before realising he could do other things. He said: "I once tried to curate how I'd be perceived, and I wanted to be perceived as this, like, 'serious actor.' But there's something so liberating about just doing the things that genuinely interest and excite you – like The Celebrity Traitors – and then letting other people decide what that makes you."
