Joseph Gilgun

**Joseph Gilgun** plays the character Vinnie O'Neil in the comedy series Brassic. He is known for roles such as Eli Dingle in ITV's Emmerdale, Jamie Armstrong in Coronation Street, Woody in the film This Is England (2006), Rudy Wade in E4's Misfits and the Irish vampire Cassidy in the AMC television adaptation of the Vertigo comic Preacher.

## Early life

Gilgun was born in Chorley, Lancashire, to Judith and Andrew Gilgun. He grew up in Rivington, Lancashire, as part of a working-class family with his two younger sisters, Jennie and Rosie. Gilgun attended Rivington VA Primary School and Southlands High School. He has dyslexia and ADHD, which he describes as the "biggest pain of [his] life" and in interviews has openly discussed depression and anxiety. He started drama workshops at the age of eight, following advice from an educational psychologist, and was described as having "exceptional talent". He also trained at the Laine Johnson Theatre School and the Oldham Theatre Workshop. When he was 10, he got his first TV acting role in *Coronation Street*. He stayed with the show until he was thirteen years old.

Gilgun studied A Levels at Runshaw College.Outside of odd jobs and a few roles in small theater productions, Gilgun worked as a plasterer until returning to acting full-time with *Emmerdale* in 2006.

## Career

### 1994–2006: Early career

As a child actor, Gilgun played little tearaway Jamie Armstrong in *Coronation Street* between 1994 and 1997. He left the soap when the actress playing his on-screen mother left the show. Gilgun revisited the set in an ITV special *The Kids from Coronation Street* in 2004. In 1998, when he was 14 years old, he presented a feature on *Wish You Were Here...?* where he visited Phantasialand, one of Germany's largest theme parks.

Gilgun took a break in his teens, acting part-time in local and national stage productions including the Salford-based *Hanky Park the Musical* at The Lowry. He played Charlie Millwall in a critically acclaimed tour of the stage play *Borstal Boy*, which ended at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Gilgun found the break from acting difficult, telling *The Guardian* in December 2011 that "[I] went off the fucking rails" and became confused about what to do with his life. He ended up working as a plasterer.

### 2006–2015: *This is England* franchise and *Misfits*

He returned to acting full-time in 2006, when he won the roles of both trouble-prone Eli Dingle in long-running soap opera *Emmerdale* and kind-hearted skinhead Woody in *This Is England*, his debut as a film actor. *This Is England* was released in the UK on 27 April 2007 and subsequently won several awards including a BAFTA for Best British Film in 2008.

In 2007, Gilgun starred alongside welterweight boxing champion Michael Jennings in a locally produced feature-length documentary entitled *Chorley: Where People Go to Fight*. All proceeds went to Derian House Children's Hospice, with Gilgun helping to present the cheque. Additionally, he appeared in a Dingle-centred episode of *Ghosthunting with...* hosted by Yvette Fielding.

Gilgun was granted time off from *Emmerdale* to shoot the 2009 British crime thriller *Harry Brown*, where he played drug dealer Kenny Soames. Gilgun announced he would quit *Emmerdale* on 10 November 2009, feeling the time was right to move on. His last appearance was on 30 April 2010. An Emmerdale representative said the programme had not ruled out a future return for the character. Gilgun later indicated he currently had no such plans.
Joe Gilgun on the set of *This Is England*.

Gilgun reprised the character of Woody for three Channel 4 TV spin-off series of *This Is England*, called *This Is England '86*. and *This is England '88* and *This Is England '90*, which aired in September 2010, December 2011 and 2015 respectively. In 2010, *This is England* writer-director Shane Meadows referred Gilgun to star in longtime collaborator Paul Fraser's music video for the song "Dead American Writers" by Tired Pony.[*citation needed*]

On 9 May 2011, it was announced that Gilgun had been cast as newcomer Rudy Wade in the third series of *Misfits* with Matt Stokoe. The character Rudy can manifest a clone of himself that roughly represents his conscience. He appeared in the first episode of the third series in late October 2011 with Matt Stokoe. He replaced as lead the character of Nathan following the departure of Robert Sheehan. An online short called *Vegas Baby* covered Nathan Young's exit and Rudy's arrival. Gilgun said that replacing Sheehan had "been frightening... You'd think that it'd be a total ballache, what with being new and stuff and Rob doing such a good job".

In the following years, Gilgun appeared in the 2012 American science fiction film *Lockout*, co-written and produced by Luc Besson and starring Guy Pearce, the 2013 BBC series *Ripper Street* as a Fagin-type character, Carmichael, as well as starring in the final two series of *Misfits*. He appears in the music video for "Tiny Legs" by Then Thickens, released in 2014. Having been friends with a few members of the band from growing up around Chorley, Joe agreed to star in the video. It involved him having makeup, flour and eggs applied to his face amongst other things and took several, messy takes to get right.

In 2015, Gilgun played Ellic in Breck Eisner's *The Last Witch Hunter* alongside Michael Caine, Vin Diesel, and Elijah Wood.

### 2015–Present: Continuing work with television

In March 2015 Gilgun earned the role of drug-addict vampire Cassidy, one of the main characters in the AMC series *Preacher*. Speaking of the casting of Gilgun, *Preacher* executive producer Seth Rogen said: "It's one of those things that happens only a few times throughout your career, where you just go 'Oh, it's you. You're the character that is written on the page'... You could tell Joe's lived like 100 lifetimes, and he's probably done some shit you do not want to hear about, but at the same time, he's one of the most fun, loving people you'll ever be around. And it was exactly what the character needed to be."

In Spring 2015, Gilgun both filmed the pilot episode of *Preacher*, as well as *The Infiltrator*, a 2016 crime film starring Bryan Cranston.

Gilgun was part of the main cast all four seasons of *Preacher* which premiered on May 22, 2016 and concluded on September 29, 2019. Additionally, Gilgun was also an executive producer of the show, producing half of its third season and all of its fourth.

In 2019, Gilgun created, executive produced, and starred in the Sky One comedy series *Brassic*. Gilgun stars as Vinnie, a working-class petty criminal living in Northern England. The six-episode series premiere on August 22, 2019. The series was well-reviewed and received a second season renewal before the first season had aired.

## Personal life

Gilgun has developed a close relationship with his co-stars from the *This Is England* stories, referring to them in interviews as "the gang". Gilgun also has a tattoo of the name Matt Stokoe across his hands in dedication to the actor he was closest to during filming of *Misfits*. He has opened up in podcasts and various media sources about his bipolar disorder and the effects that has had on his life. He currently lives in Manchester. He has stated that many of the stories within the show Brassic, are based upon his life.