George Rainsford

George Rainsford (born 31 July 1982) is a British actor, best known for his portrayal of Jimmy Wilson in the medical drama Call the Midwife and Ethan Hardy in Casualty, for which he has been nominated for a Best Actor award in the 2017 TV Choice Awards.

Rainsford was born in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. He attended Repton School in Repton, Derbyshire, where he became interested in drama. Whilst reading for a Bachelor of Arts in drama at the University of Manchester, he was involved with the student theatre. He joined the National Youth Theatre in June 2003 and won a Goldman Sachs scholarship to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. After graduating in 2006, he appeared in The Three Musketeers as D'Artagnan at Bristol Old Vic.

He was In BBC Drama Call The Midwife as Jimmy, his storylines were with Jessica Raine, as a love interest of her character, Jenny Lee, of which the series is based on from the memoirs of a real life midwife in the 1950s and 1960s.

In September 2013, it was announced that Rainsford would join the main cast of Casualty as Dr Ethan Hardy. He took part in an audition in London and a screen test in Cardiff with Richard Winsor.

In November 2009, Rainsford was treated at Salisbury District Hospital for a gashed fist and damaged tendon after accidentally punching Luke Norris during a stage fight in the Royal Shakespeare Company production Days of Significance.

In the summer of 2014, Rainsford took three episodes of Casualty off due to paternity leave. His last episode of 2014 was aired on 29 November, and he returned at the start of 2015.

He married actress Jaimi Barbakoff in 2012 and they have two boys. They met at the National Theatre.

Barbakoff emerged to fame for her performance in the sci-fi TV series Black Mirror as Anna, but she became more familiar because of her contribution to several video games.

Television and film

Theatre