This past awards season, it’s been odd to see Jack O’Connell recognized as the Irish vampire Rennick in Sinners, because ever since high school I’ve known of him as Cook. As I and every other teenager permitted too much access to YouTube know, O’Connell got his start playing Effy Stonem’s charming but troubled love interest, James Cook, on the E4 series Skins. O’Connell has since become one of the most promising names in Hollywood, not only drawing recent acclaim from Sinners, but starring in both the 28 Days Later franchise and the new upcoming Godzilla movie.
Skins, often referred to as “Skins UK” to differentiate from the cataclysmic failure that was the attempted US adaptation, revolutionized the entertainment industry with its controversially gritty representation of teenage life in Bristol. You may know the show from the countless TikTok audios pulled from it (“I’ll love you forever, Sid”) or maybe you’ve seen the sad-girl Tumblr posts romanticizing Effy Stonem and Cassie Ainsworth that did such numbers throughout the 2010s. But the real impact of Skins is that it, and its contentious yet innovative casting techniques, produced many of the biggest names in entertainment today.
In addition to O’Connell, Skins made names out of previous unknowns Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire, Lion), Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Nope) and Kaya Scodelario (The Maze Runner and Pirates of the Caribbean franchises). Arguably the biggest name to come out of the show is Nicholas Hoult, who you may recognize from Superman, The Great, Nosferatu, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Menu… you get the point. Although, it does feel necessary to note that, while Skins catapulted Hoult into his impressive adult career, he came into the show with the most to his name already, having starred in the 2002 film About a Boy as a child, playing the son of Hugh Grant.
Still, while those might be the most recognizable names the show has produced, the list continues. Many more actors who have had extremely respectable careers following their Skins cycles, including Hannah Murray (Game of Thrones), Luke Pasqualino (Rivals, Shadow and Bone), Sebastian Denis de Souza (The Great, Normal People), Sean Teale (Reign, Rosaline), and Jessica Sula (Split, Panic – her character dated Mike Faist’s).
So how can one show produce so many great actors? Especially when you look at the listings by Hoult, Patel, Kaluuya, and O’Connell’s names, these are not just examples. These are some of the works that we’re going to be talking about in twenty, fifty years. How does one show produce so much talent? In my opinion, it all goes back to the very design of the show.
Skins made waves with its depiction of serious subject matter, including underage substance abuse, mental illness, loss. But it also is known for the unique model behind-the-scenes– the show was not only for teens, but starring teens, and overall, by teens. The cast, with the slight exception of Hoult, was all unknowns because that’s what they wanted. Skins relied on massive open call auditions or going to local drama clubs, allowing kids from across the region the opportunity to basically just give it a go. Who would better understand the struggles and lives of kids from Bristol than kids from Bristol?
This mindset extended past the cast itself – much of the writers’ room was also composed of young adults. Daniel Kaluuya was an actor and a writer on Skins at just 18 years old, and was even a head writer on two episodes: “Jal” and “Thomas.” The episode “Thomas” focused on the eponymous character, a young immigrant from Congo. Kaluuya himself is the son of Ugandan immigrants, and while it shouldn’t have to be an impressive feat for a show to assign creative control to a writer with personal understanding of the subject matter, it’s a welcome difference from the tendency of predominately white, privileged creators to attempt to attack any sort of subject matter, whether or not it is within their comprehension (hi, Sam Levinson).
Characters were also created specifically for the new actors encountered in the casting process. The character Anwar, a young Muslim boy struggling to balance his faith and family with the way he wants to live his life, was created specifically for Dev Patel. O’Connell’s character, Cook, may seem on the surface like a comical “bad boy,” but is yet another example of how the show’s realism was created from the actor’s own personal experiences. O’Connell had left school and been charged with multiple petty crimes by the time he played Cook, himself describing how “I think out of the characters I’ve played, me and Cook are the most similar.” Through Anwar and Cook, Skins created a unique representation of teenagers that we know exist because of the similarities with those who played them. In doing that, it made huge names out of these then-kids, allowing them to continue to tell stories that matter to people.
I’m a pretty firm believer in the idea that genuine experience makes for genuine understanding, which creates better art. When this understanding is lacking, that’s when we get the works that feel shallow, empty, or even laughable. For example, Nicola Peltz of Avatar: The Last Airbender infamy (ironically also starring Dev Patel) was born into a billionaire family. In 2024, she married into the millionaire Beckham family. So, naturally, in 2024, when she made her directorial debut, it was with Lola – a film about poverty and desperation. The film was destroyed by critics, calling it “tone deaf,” and “awful beyond my wildest expectations.” I’m not one to limit who can tell which stories; if you feel a connection to something, and you feel this is your story to tell, then tell it. I just think that it’s harder to connect to something you have never understood. As Martin Scorsese once said (and as Bong Joon Ho once repeated at the Oscars), “The most personal is the most creative.”
It’s important to mention that, for all of the talent it gave us, there is some controversy around the way Skins was created, largely due to the ages of its actors. Casting teenagers may have made the show feel real and genuine to its same-aged primary audience, but it also forced a lot of unprepared, unestablished teens to depict extreme subject material under questionable conditions. Many of the actors have spoken out about their experiences on set, and their perceptions are very mixed. For instance, Hannah Murray, who plays Cassie Ainsworth, has spoken fondly of her time on the show, describing it as “some of the happiest times of my life.” On the other hand, April Pearson, who played Michelle, has openly discussed how she felt extremely oversexualized in her role, sharing that “I was too young, I feel like I wasn’t protected.” Dev Patel has also talked about the potentially dangerous conditions created on set for the sake of realism.
The lack of protection for kids and teenagers in the entertainment industry continues to be an issue, and while it is important to note the darker side of this story in order to talk about it, I don’t think it takes away from the central point. We should want new talent, and people from all backgrounds, to be granted opportunities to tell stories and express real experiences. We should also want their experiences doing so, especially when they are young, to be safe. When Dad or Mom has an Oscar, you become more difficult to pick on, and you come in with the exposure and support systems needed to set boundaries that will be respected. Certain circumstances make it a lot easier to speak up for what makes you the most comfortable.
There’s been a lot of discourse about casting recently. It’s always the same faces, or it’s all nepo babies. Just a few weeks ago, the movie Roommates was released on Netflix, starring Sadie Sandler in her lead acting debut. Earlier this month, it was announced that Billie Eilish will be playing Esther Greenwood in a film adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s classic The Bell Jar. And, while not a nepo baby, Mckenna Grace is just being cast in literally everything.
The lasting impact of Skins is in the success of its cast, reminding us that taking risks, and finding new voices, works. I would argue often much, much better. And Skins isn’t completely an individual phenomenon. Amazingly talented actors like Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Rachel Zegler were discovered through open call opportunities. Owen Cooper, who just won just about every award to ever exist for his gripping performance in Adolescence, was cast without professional experience from his drama school because the show wanted to find a first-time actor.
It’s refreshing to see genuine. It’s refreshing to see people who don’t quite know the “rules” or follow them. People have been saying they are bored of the same faces, and the same last names, so give them what they want. We need new voices, and new representation, who have lived life outside of the contained bubbles of the entertainment industry or the top 0.001%. These examples show that when you give new artists opportunities, it pays off.