10 True Facts About Tony Clay (Eastenders’ Callum)
1 Tony David Clay was born on 8 August 1991 in Kent, to mum Suzanne and dad
Christopher. He has two younger sisters, Christina and Chelsea. The star still lives in the area, and supports local charities, recently taking part in a football match to raise funds for mental health. He studied drama at the
Arts Ed School Of Acting in west London.
2 Tony joined Eastenders as Callum ‘Halfway’
Highway on 1 January 2018 and he certainly arrived with a bang. “It was mad – I shot Mick on New Year’s Day, so that was one way of announcing myself!” shares Tony. “The response on Twitter was scary!” Since Callum’s arrival, the now ex-solider has wooed Whitney, but is also currently embroiled in a tortured romance with Ben. 3 The first thing Eastenders producers did when Tony won his role was to send him for a haircut – and create Callum’s distinctive fringe. “At first I thought, ‘Oh no, what have I done?’, but I’ve realised it adds character,” he said at the time. Eventually bosses relented and let Tony style his own hair. “Now he’s with Whitney, she might be the type of girl to say, ‘Let’s take you to the barbers’,” says Tony.
5 Tony has been dating Olivia Griffin for three
years. “She’s not part of the industry, but she gets it,” explains the star of his girlfriend. “It doesn’t seem to faze her – though I’m sure when we’re out, she must be thinking, ‘Why are people looking at us?’ She’s a beautiful girl, so people are more likely looking at her!” How sweet! 4 Tony is a big TV fan, with Luther, The Inbetweeners and a certain fantasy epic among his favourites. “I truly, truly wasn’t prepared for that episode of Game Of
Thrones,” he tweeted during the final season. “The unreal amount of effort that has gone into that episode alone is insaneeee!! Probably the best episode of TV I have ever seen.”
6 Before his time in Walford, Tony made one-off appearances in Foyle’s War and
Stan Lee’s Lucky Man – where the look of his character, computer geek Woody Gilbert, was not unlike Halfway’s. Tony even had experience of playing a soldier before Halfway, when he starred as Sgt Tinley in the play The Plough And The Stars.
7 Tony knew Ben Mitchell before
Eastenders. Actor Harry Reid – who played Ben from 2014 to 2018 – tweeted a pic of the pair in a fun embrace together way back in 2008! With Max Bowden now playing Ben, Harry joked to Tony on Twitter: “You could have got that kiss after all…” 8 In 2018, Tony took part in a special Children In Need episode of Mastermind, which saw four children who have all benefitted from the charity team up with a celebrity partner. Tony joined forces with Ella – a young carer who answered questions on Eastenders, while the actor took on the general knowledge round. Sadly, they were beaten by Harry
Potter star David Bradley and his partner.
9 The star was very proud of one achievement in 2018 – passing his
driving test! Tony wrote next to a beaming pic of himself with his certificate: “Passed my test!!! The thing I’ve put off for 10 years and I’ve done it first time!
Over the moon!”
10 Tony’s biggest acting ambition is to work with Al Pacino of The Godfather
fame. “I’m a big Pacino fan, but that really is a dream to work with him,” he says. Yet sadly only time travel would allow him to fulfil his second ambition: “I also would have loved to have been in The
Godfather. What a film!”