Deep State
Season 1 FOX (*125) 21:00 Action
Joe Dempsie has swapped rowing boats for seven seasons as Gendry in fantasy series Game Of Thrones (2011-current) for being shot at as undercover agent Harry Clarke in spy thriller Deep State (2018-current), but he says it’s all in a day’s work. And Joe isn’t doing too badly for someone who never planned on acting, with Deep State being renewed for season 2 after just two episodes and Game Of Thrones being one of television’s biggest-ever shows.
1
“No doubt about it. If my parents
had stayed in Liverpool, I wouldn’t be an actor today,” reveals the 30-yearold. He attended acting workshops in Nottingham “as a laugh with my mates. Even when the coaches told me that I was good, I just laughed at them”.
2
He applied to study history at the
University of Birmingham after a gap year, only to be cast in rebellious teen drama Skins (2007-2013) before taking a single lecture. He only stayed on as drug-abusing hedonist Chris Miles for two seasons before being killed off.
3
Leaving Skins actually suited the
shy actor, who reveals that being recognised in the streets wasn’t something he enjoyed. It also made his work difficult “because I was only being sent Chris roles, you know, as an out-of-control character,” says Joe.
4
He lives in South London but goes
home to Nottingham as often as he can to visit his parents Gretta and Jim and his younger sister Lauren, who has cerebral palsy.
5
Joe is a campaigner for cerebral
palsy charities in the UK and says that fame gives his sister a voice that she and others wouldn’t have, so “it’s a no-brainer to help out,” adds the actor.
6
As for Gendry’s fate, Joe is clue
less, adding: “I don’t know.”