Kit Connor

Kit Sebastian Connor (born 8 March 2004) is an English actor. He gained recognition for starring as secondary school student Nick Nelson in the Netflix teen series Heartstopper (2022–present). He won the inaugural Children's and Family Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Performance for the role.

Connor previously appeared in the films Get Santa (2014), Rocketman (2019), and Little Joe (2019), had a recurring role in the series Rocket's Island (2014–2015), and a voice role in the series His Dark Materials (2019–2022). He has since starred in a Broadway musical adaptation of Romeo & Juliet in 2024.

Early life and education

Kit Sebastian Connor was born in the South London Borough of Croydon on 8 March 2004. His parents, Richard and Caroline, are in advertising. He has two older siblings. He is from Purley and attended the Hayes Primary School in Kenley, as well as Whitgift School in South Croydon, where he completed his A Levels in drama, English literature, and history.

Career

Connor made his onscreen debut at the age of eight with minor appearances in Chickens on Sky One, the television film An Adventure in Space and Time, and the soap opera Casualty. In 2014, he starred as Tom Anderson in the holiday comedy Get Santa, and as a recurring character Archie Beckles in the CBBC series Rocket's Island.

Connor had a recurring role playing young Petya Rostov in the miniseries War & Peace and as Bob Sheehan in the miniseries SS-GB. He made his stage debut in Welcome Home, Captain Fox! at Donmar Warehouse. He had roles in the 2018 films The Mercy, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Slaughterhouse Rulez, and the BBC One television film Grandpa's Great Escape. He starred as Alexander in the Old Vic Theatre production of Fanny & Alexander.

In 2019 Connor portrayed a teenaged Elton John in the musical film Rocketman, and played Joe Woodard in the drama Little Joe. In the same year, he began voicing the part of Pantalaimon in the BBC One and HBO fantasy series His Dark Materials. In April 2021, it was announced that Connor would star opposite Joe Locke in the Netflix series Heartstopper, an adaptation of the webcomic and graphic novel of the same name by Alice Oseman. He originally auditioned for the role of Charlie but ended up cast as the other lead, Nick Nelson.

In 2024 Connor was part of the voice cast of DreamWorks Animation's The Wild Robot, an adaptation of Peter Brown's novel of the same name. He made his Broadway debut playing Romeo opposite Rachel Zegler's Juliet in a musical adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet directed by Sam Gold with music by Jack Antonoff.

Connor was named a 2023 Screen International Star of Tomorrow. In 2024 Connor was named to Forbes' 30 under 30 Europe list in the Entertainment category. He was also highlighted in Variety's Young Hollywood Impact Report.

Connor will next star in an upcoming film adaptation of the novel A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey. He will lead the cast of the upcoming mystery-horror film One of Us, and was cast in Warfare, an A24 war movie written and directed by Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza.

Personal life

In October 2022 Connor came out as bisexual in a Twitter post. Connor has objected to speculation about his sexuality in the past and had quit Twitter the previous month due to harassment and claims of queerbaiting after he was photographed holding hands with actress Maia Reficco. In his coming-out tweet, Connor said fans were "forcing an 18 year old to out himself" and "missed the point" of the Heartstopper television series. Many fans expressed support for Connor and criticised how people were treating him, as did Heartstopper creator Alice Oseman, co-stars Joe Locke, Sebastian Croft, Kizzy Edgell, and Olivia Colman, journalist Mark Harris, and Labour Party MP Nadia Whittome.

Filmography

Accolades