In Stephen Graham's World, Nice Guys Finish First

New York Times

21-02-2025

In 2012, the actor Stephen Graham and his wife were having a quiet dinner at a chain chicken joint in London when a young man approached the table. The man, James Nelson-Joyce, told Graham that he had just left drama school and wanted to be an actor, too. Many would have sent the 20-something away with some polite encouragement, but Graham asked for Nelson-Joyce's email, and kept in touch, offering him regular advice and eventually recommending the younger actor to his agent.
More than a decade later, Graham and Nelson-Joyce are playing brothers in 'A Thousand Blows,' a rip-roaring new Hulu drama set in the grimy East End of London in the 1880s.
Graham's character, a bare-knuckle boxer known as the East End Gladiator, is of a type with the intimidating bruisers that he built his career playing, including a skinhead English nationalist in Shane Meadows's 'This Is England' and Al Capone in HBO's 'Boardwalk Empire.'.
But over cups of tea on a recent gray afternoon in London, Graham, now 51, choked up while recounting his history with Nelson-Joyce. It means a lot, he said, laughing at the tears in his eyes, to be able to pass 'the baton on' to younger actors. It also reflects Graham's ethos that 'you're never above anyone, and you're never below anyone.'
This egalitarian approach also applies when Graham works with some of Hollywood's biggest names. In an email, Leonardo DiCaprio recalled that on the set of Martin Scorsese's 'Gangs of New York' more than 20 years ago, Graham's 'fearless unpredictability kept everyone on their toes. But more than that, he brought truth to every scene.'
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