Greg Austin (actor)

Greg Austin
Born (1992-08-02) 2 August 1992 (age 32)
Bournemouth, England
OccupationActor
Years active2014–present
Notable workClass, Mr Selfridge

Gregory Paul Austin (born 2 August 1992) is an English actor, best known for his roles as Travis Leich in Amazon Prime's Hunters and Charlie Smith in the BBC's Doctor Who spin-off Class.[1]

Early life

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Austin grew up in Bournemouth, England,[2] and has three sisters.[3] Before becoming an actor, he started off as a dancer, studying modern, ballet, tap and street dance, which got him into musical theatre. After this, he studied at Arts Educational in London, where he finished his musical theatre degree in 2013.

Career

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From 2014 to 2016 Austin starred as the young Gordon Selfridge in ITV's Mr Selfridge,[4] a job he got even before finishing his theatre degree.[3] He also appeared as Rufus Barton in one episode of Law & Order: UK.[5]

In 2015 Austin appeared in the short film Into the Surf.

In 2016 Austin was cast in the BBC Three Doctor Who spin-off Class as Charlie Smith, an alien[6] who falls in love with his classmate Matteusz.[7] At first Austin didn't know his character was alien: when he read the script he presumed that Charlie was a bit socially inept and might have mild Asperger's syndrome, an interpretation that helped him to have a different way of looking at things and to get an alien perspective.[6]

In 2017, he starred in a popular Wrigley's chewing gum commercial and appeared in series 5 of ITV's Endeavour as Rufus Barton.

In 2018 and 2020 Austin reprised his role as Charlie in several audio plays by Big Finish.[8] He then appeared briefly as a "synth" in the Channel 4 series Humans.

In 2019, he had a guest lead role on Stephen Poliakoff's Summer of Rockets, which premiered on BBC2 on 22 May 2019.

In 2020, he played a lead role in Hunters, airing on Amazon Prime, as Travis Leich, a fanatical young Nazi enforcer.

Filmography

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TV series

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Year Title Role Notes
2014 Law & Order: UK Rufus Barton Guest role (1 episode)
2014–2016 Mr Selfridge Gordon Selfridge Main cast (30 episodes)
2016 Class Charlie Smith Main cast (8 episodes)
2018 Endeavour[9] Kit Hutchens/Rufus Barton Guest Role (2 episodes)
2018 Humans[10] Roland Guest role (1 episode)
2019 Summer of Rockets Anthony Shaw
2020–2023 Hunters Travis Leich Main cast (15 episodes)
2023 Wreck Joseph Murphy Season 2

Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2016 Backing Up Short film
2015 Into the Surf Sebastian Short film
2019 After the War Freddy

Audio

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Year Title Role Notes
2018–2023 Class Charlie Smith 8 episodes

References

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  1. ^ Traverso-Madden, Olivia (19 November 2016). "Stars of Doctor Who teen spin-off 'Class' discuss their popular onscreen relationship". Attitude. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  2. ^ Barbar, M (20 January 2016). "Greg Austin, Gordon Selfridge in ITV's Mr Selfridge, grew up in the Bournemouth area". Blackmorevale. Retrieved 21 January 2017.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ a b Stanton-Humphreys, Robyn (19 November 2016). "Greg Austin – Back in Class". 1883 Magazine. Archived from the original on 23 June 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  4. ^ Gill, James. "Who are the stars of new Doctor Who spin-off Class?". Radio Times. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  5. ^ "Actors – Greg Austin". Archived from the original on 17 October 2018. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  6. ^ a b Jeffery, Morgan (21 October 2016). "Exclusive: Class star Greg Austin says Peter Capaldi is a "genius madman" – and reveals his hopes for a series 2". Digital Spy. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  7. ^ Williams, Kathryn (21 October 2016). "It's a bit scary, a bit teen angst-y and it's got aliens: Here's what the writer of Class says about the Doctor Who spin-off". Wales Online. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  8. ^ "Axed Doctor Who spin-off Class to return for audio series". Radio Times.
  9. ^ "News - Jonathan Arun Group". jag-london.com.
  10. ^ Jeffery, Morgan (17 May 2018). "Humans' writer on season 3, episode 1's shock exit". Digital Spy.
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