Douglas Booth

Not to be confused withSir Douglas Allen Booth, 3rd Baronet.

For Australian academic and former footballer, seeDoug Booth.

Douglas Booth
Booth in 2011
Born	Douglas John Booth (1992-07-09)9 July 1992 London, England
Education	National Youth Music Theatre Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Occupation(s)	Actor, musician
Years active	2006–present
Spouse	Bel Powley ​ (m.2023)​
Relatives	Mark Powley(father-in-law)

Douglas John Booth(born 9 July 1992) is an English actor and musician. He first came to public attention through his performance asBoy Georgein theBBC TwofilmWorried About the Boy(2010). He went on to star in the BBC adaptations ofGreat ExpectationsandChristopher and His Kind(both 2011), Carlo Carlei's film adaptation ofRomeo & Juliet(2013), and theNetflixbiopicThe Dirt(2019).

Booth also appeared inDarren Aronofsky'sNoahandLone Scherfig'sThe Riot Club(both 2014) and co-starred inThe Wachowskis'Jupiter Ascending(2015).

Early life and education

Douglas John Booth was born inGreenwich,London,to Vivien (néeDe Cala), a painter, and Simon Booth, a shipping finance consultant and former managing director of bothCitiGroupandDeutsche Bank's shipping finance divisions.Booth's father is English, and his mother is of Spanish and Dutch ancestry.His older sister, Abigail, is aChelsea School of Artgraduate.Booth spent his early childhood in Greenwich and moved toSevenoaks, Kentat the age of ten.

Booth is severelydyslexicand found it "very hard" to read or write up until the age of ten; he remains "a really slow reader".He struggled at school, "having to put in double or triple the amount of effort as everyone else" but said the condition made him "more resilient in every sense".He played the trumpet as a child.Booth took his first major roles in musicals presented by the Sackville Children's Choir at the Stag Theatre in Sevenoaks. He played Leader of the Rats inRats! The Musical,and Uncle Andrew inThe Magician's Nephew.He further developed his interest in drama at the age of twelve, after starring in a school production ofAgamemnon:"I found myself feeling really engaged for the first time... I thought, 'I rather like being the centre of attention. This is where I want to be.'"By the age of thirteen, he was involved with theNational Youth Theatreand theGuildhall School of Music and Drama.

Booth received both private and state education; he attended Solefield School, a boys' juniorindependent schoolin Sevenoaks, followed byBennett Memorial Diocesan School,a Church of England stateVoluntary Aided schoolin the town ofRoyal Tunbridge Wells(Kent), andLingfield Notre Dame School,anindependent schoolin the village ofLingfieldinSurrey.

Booth joined theCurtis Brownacting agency at the age of fifteen.He won his first professional acting role at the age of sixteen and quit hisAS levelsin drama, media studies and English literature.

Career

Early work

Booth's first professional role was in the children's adventure filmFrom Time to Time(2009), directed byJulian Fellowesand starringMaggie SmithandTimothy Spall.Following the film's release, Booth signed to theUTAtalent agency for American-based representation.He then had a minor role as Prince Eustace in theChannel 4miniseriesThe Pillars of the Earth(2010), a medieval saga filmed in Budapest withIan McShaneandDonald Sutherland.Also in 2009 and 2010, Booth modelled in severalMario Testino-shot campaigns for the luxury fashion labelBurberry;he starred in the Autumn 2009 campaign withEmma Watson,the Autumn 2010 campaign withRosie Huntington-Whiteley,and the Burberry Sport fragrance campaign withLily Donaldson.

Breakthrough

Booth rose to prominence in 2010 following his performance as the pop starBoy Georgein theBBC TwodramaWorried About the Boy.He underwent a physical transformation for the role, shaving off his eyebrows and wearing heavy makeup. Booth met Boy George during filming, with the singer remarking: "He just gets it. There's something about him that reminds me of me when I was 17."Writing inThe Daily Telegraph,Ceri Radford said Booth delivered a "mesmerising" performance: "He offered a convincing portrayal of O'Dowd as a beautiful young man who oozed ambiguous sex appeal and protected his feelings with a carapace of prickly wit."Mike Higgins ofThe Independentdeclared Booth "a discovery": "Moving, witty, he also got the singer's wheezy enunciation down pat."

Booth next played the role ofPipin theBBC OneadaptationofDickens'Great Expectations(2011), alongsideGillian AndersonandRay Winstone.Broadcast over the Christmas period, the miniseries was a huge ratings success.Anne BillsonofThe Telegraphfelt it was a misstep to cast someone "so distractingly lovely" in the role of Pip: "It's not that Douglas Booth was bad, it's just that one can't imagine Dickens ever intended Pip to be more beautiful thanEstella,who, after all, has been brought up to break men's hearts. "Mike Hale ofThe New York Timesdismissed Booth as "aCW-style actor whose exceptionally pretty face doesn't convey much beyond puzzlement and petulance. "Betsy Sharkey of theLos Angeles Times,however, found the actor's performance "haunting"while Emma Jones ofThe Huffington Postdismissed the "debate over the extreme prettiness of Douglas Booth", arguing that "Booth's beauty is only a backdrop to Pip's naivety."

Also in 2011, Booth appeared in the BBC filmChristopher and His Kind,which explored novelistChristopher Isherwood's formative years in 1930s Berlin. He played Heinz, a German street-sweeper who became the lover ofMatt Smith's Isherwood.

In 2012, Booth starred oppositeMiley CyrusandDemi Moorein the teen dramaLOL.He witnessed the paparazzi interest surrounding co-star Cyrus during filming: "It was bizarre and, interestingly, not at all glamorous."Filmed in 2010, when Booth was seventeen, the movie received a very limited theatrical release and unfavourable reviews.Later that year, Booth read selected extracts fromDavid Copperfieldas part ofSky Arts'sIn Love With Dickensdocumentary; other contributors includedSimon CallowandMiriam Margolyes.

In 2013, Booth starred oppositeHailee Steinfeldin Carlo Carlei'sfilm adaptationofShakespeare'sRomeo and Juliet.Betsy Sharkey of theLos Angeles Timespraised Booth's memorable performance: "It's not so much that he makes a great Romeo; franklyDiCaprio's was better inLuhrmann's version,as wasLeonard WhitinginZeffirelli's…But it has been a while since a camera has so loved a face... If anything, the movies in general are too intent on reducing Booth to that singular feature, when he is actually a fine actor. "R. Kurt Osenlund ofSlantfelt that Booth gives "a rather fantastic breakthrough performance, offering a poignant interpretation of one of literature's greatest lovers."Mick LaSalleof theSan Francisco Chroniclebemoaned the poor casting of Steinfeld: "And this is especially a shame because Douglas Booth as Romeo is quite good and could have been better, if only he had someone to play off of."Todd McCarthyofThe Hollywood Reporterremarked that Booth "seems to have a grasp of what he's saying and behaves in credibly laddish fashion... but Booth's vocal range is very narrow, and he speaks in a monotone."Claudia Puig ofUSA Todayfound Booth "more skilled" than Steinfeld "in the passionate intonation department"whileThe Independent's Geoffrey MacNab asserted that Booth "shows a certain star quality."

2014–present

Booth at the 2015San Diego Comic-ConpromotingPride and Prejudice and Zombies

In March 2014, he appeared asSheminDarren Aronofsky's biblical epicNoah.Emma Watson played his character's wife; she first met Booth while shooting a Burberry fashion campaign in 2009: "There's something old-mannish about Doug, which he had even then. He knows who he is. He doesn't get intimidated, doesn't hold back, and is generally fearless."

In September 2014, Booth starred alongsideSam Claflin,Max IronsandFreddie Foxin the black comedyThe Riot Club,directed byLone Scherfig.Based on the stage play byLaura Wade,the ensemble piece centres around ten members of an exclusive Oxford University dining club known as The Riot Club, based on the real-lifeBullingdon Club.Booth made "friends for life" during the film shoot, and has said of the characters: "When you meet these sort of guys, they're always so charming. It's almost more discomfiting for the audience to be charmed by them, to like them a lot, and to see how far they'll go with them."In February 2015, he appeared inThe Wachowskis' science-fiction filmJupiter Ascending,starringMila Kunis,Channing TatumandEddie Redmayne."They're just the most original people," Booth has said of the Wachowskis. "They've created something very exciting and special and bonkers."He played Mr. Bingley inPride and Prejudice and Zombies(2016), an adaptation of the novelof the same namebySeth Grahame-Smith.

In November 2017, Booth starred in the international filmLoving Vincent,as Armand Roulin, one of the models forVincent van Gogh'sRoulin Familyportraits. Booth playedMötley CrüebassistNikki Sixxin the 2019 filmThe Dirt.

Booth played the writer boyfriend, Don, oppositeMargaret Qualleyin the 2020 filmMy Salinger Year.

Personal life

On 3 July 2021, Douglas announced on his Instagram account that he had proposed to his girlfriend and fellow actressBel PowleyonPrimrose Hill,having met in 2016 on the set ofMary Shelley.The wedding took place on 28 October 2023 at Petersham Nurseries inRichmond,followed by an afterparty at theInstitute of Contemporary Arts.The couple were married under achuppahmade by Booth's sister, an artist, to honour Powley's Jewish heritage.

Philanthropy

Booth has been supportingUNHCRsince 2015. Booth has supported various UNHCR fundraising events and campaigns.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Hunters of the Kahri	Sagar
2009	From Time to Time	Sefton
2012	LOL	Kyle Ross
2013	Romeo & Juliet	Romeo Montague
2014	Noah	Shem
	The Riot Club	Harry Villiers
2015	Jupiter Ascending	Titus Abrasax
2016	Pride and Prejudice and Zombies	Mr. Charles Bingley
	The Limehouse Golem	Dan Leno
2017	Loving Vincent	Armand Roulin
	Mary Shelley	Percy Bysshe Shelley
2019	The Dirt	Nikki Sixx
2020	My Salinger Year	Don
2023	Unwelcome	Jamie
	Shoshana	Tom Wilkin
TBA	Young Werther	Werther	Post-production
TBA	The Way of the Wind		Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	Worried About the Boy	Boy George	Television film
	The Pillars of the Earth	Eustace IV	Miniseries
2011	Christopher and His Kind	Heinz Neddermayer	Television film
	Great Expectations	Philip "Pip" Pirrip	Miniseries; main role
2012	In Love with Dickens	Ham Peggotty	Television film
2015	And Then There Were None	Anthony Marston	Miniseries
2022	That Dirty Black Bag	Red Bill	Main role

Audiobooks

Year	Title	Role
2017	Northanger Abbey	John Thorpe
	Scarlet City Part I, II, III	Jonah

External links

• Douglas BoothatIMDb
• Douglas BoothatCurtis Brown
• Evening Standardinterview