One star who doesn’t mind the exposure: Crown hotshot Josh
A KEY scene in Challengers is set in a changing room where fully nude men shower, walk around and chat.
Among them is actor Josh O’Connor, who plays a bad-boy tennis star. Cinema-goers are treated to several scenes of him scantily dressed, with his impressive washboard stomach on view.
While the 33-year-old actor is fast becoming one of Hollywood’s most sought-after leading men, he’s perhaps still best known as Larry in ITV’s The Durrells and for his portrayal of a young Prince Charles in 13 episodes of Netflix’s The Crown.
But his burgeoning fame is now cemented in Challengers, with his performance as Patrick, a cocksure tennis professional.
He’s one of several actors, including Paul Mescal, who have sprung to fame for portraying more nuanced sides of masculinity.
Although O’Connor put it more bluntly in an interview: ‘I think we’re all still trying to figure out what the f*** is wrong with men.’
His role in the 2017 film God’s Own Country fits into this category. As his character falls in love with a man, he bares more of his soul – and more of his body.
The nudity was no less fullfrontal in the romantic drama Mothering Sunday, whose intimate sex scenes raised eyebrows, but O’Connor explained: ‘I’m pretty comfortable in that situation. We’re all insecure about our bod
ies, but I love trying to play a character to its total truth.’
O’Connor grew up in Cheltenham. He attended a private school then trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. After minor TV roles came God’s Own Country, for which he won Best Actor at the British Independent Film Awards. More awards followed, not least an Emmy and Golden Globe for The Crown.
Success came at a price, though. He has said: ‘Sometimes we underestimate how powerful even a slight loss of anonymity can be.’
No wonder that he gives little away about his love life. In 2021 he was dating marketing director Margot Hauer-King, but their current status is unclear. What is known is that he has bought a house in a Gloucestershire village and makes ceramics.
His other love is his delivery truck that was transformed into a camper van and painted sunflower yellow.
‘When you pass other vans, you have this moment of eye contact where it’s like, total respect,’ he has said. ‘They think you’re a van driver, and not an actor living in a van.’
O’Connor may find that from now on those drivers do a double-take.