Jack O’Connell: 5 Things to Know About the Actor Playing Alexander McQueen

Jack O’Connell has some big shoes to fill for his next film role.

The Hollywood Reporter announced Tuesday morning that the English actor has been cast as late fashion designer Alexander McQueen for the upcoming biopic being directed by Andrew Haigh, whose film and TV credits include 45 Years and HBO’s Looking.

The film will explore the creative process of McQueen, who took his own life at age 40 in 2010, in the months leading up to one of his greatest shows in 2009.

But before O’Connell, 26, steps into the role of the famed British designer (the resemblance is almost uncanny), here are five things to know about the rising star:

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O’Connell is best known for his role on the British series Skins.

The thespian rose to fame playing teenage rebel James Cook on the British teen drama. His breakout role earned him the TV Choice Award for best actor in the U.K. in 2010.

O’Connell scored his first leading role with Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken (2014).

The actor starred as real-life Olympian and World War II hero Louis Zamperini in the Angelina Jolie-directed film Unbroken. THR chief film critic Todd McCarthy described O’Connell as a “a pleasure to watch at all times” during the movie. “He has energy, seems watchful and resourceful by instinct, is open to others and, crucially, seems like a man who, even when he doesn’t necessarily win, will nonetheless prevail.”

O’Connell won BAFTA’s Rising Star Award in 2015.

BAFTA announced O’Connell as one of its nominees for the Rising Star Award last year, along with Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Margot Robbie, Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller. He ultimately took home the prize.

O’Connell continues to nab buzzy film and TV roles.

After appearing this year in Jodie Foster’s Money Monster alongside George Clooney and Julia Roberts, the actor’s upcoming projects include Netflix’s Western drama Godless and the romantic drama Tulip Fever, which stars Alicia Vikander, Cara Delevingne and Christoph Waltz.

O’Connell is already a fashion pro.

Photographed by Craig McDean, O’Connell starred in Prada’s spring 2015 menswear ad campaign. His red-carpet ensembles, which have included tuxedos by Gucci and Prada, don’t disappoint either — though we have yet to see him in a McQueen design. We have a feeling that could change.

 

A photo posted by Prada (@prada) on Jan 29, 2015 at 9:29am PST