In every generation, there is a TV show that authentically defines its youthful inhabitants, and Skins was that series for the later 2000s, early 2010s - especially in the United Kingdom. Created by the father-son duo of Bryan Elsey and Jamie Brittain, the refreshingly honest and witty series following a group of British teens (some played by a few future A-listers, including Kaya Scodelario and Nicholas Hoult) was met with such acclaim that it inspired a remake that aired in the U.S. on MTV in 2011.
However, fans and critics alike definitely prefer the original Skins cast, many of whom have gone on to some great achievements on the big and small screen. The following is a rundown of what they have been up to since, starting with one of the series’ most iconic leading characters.
Kaya Scodelario (Effy Stonem)
Kaya Scodelario had never acted before playing the troubled Effy Stonem on Skins. The show quickly propelled her to stardom before she appeared in big franchises like the Maze Runner movies or Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales from 2017.
After her acclaimed return to television on Netflix’s short-lived sports drama Spinning Out in 2020, the Crawl star continued to prove herself as a scream queen by leading the Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City cast the following year. In 2022, Scodelario will share screen with Pierce Brosnan and her real-life husband, Benjamin Walker, in The King’s Daughter, and her upcoming drama Don’t Make Me Go is now in post-production.
Nicholas Hoult (Tony Stonem)
Playing Effy’s selfish and manipulative older brother, Tony, is Nicholas Hoult. He had previously earned attention as the titular boy in 2002’s About a Boy and would also go on to star in some big franchises - most notably the X-Men movies as a young Beast, and 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road as the scene-stealing War Boy, Nux.
In 2021, he went bad for Taylor Sheridan’s Those Who Wish Me Dead and reprised his role as 18th-Century Russia’s despicable ruler in The Great cast for its second season on Hulu. Hoult has two horror-comedy movies in the works, called The Menu (also starring Anya Taylor-Joy) and Renfield (also starring Nicolas Cage as Dracula), as well as a sci-fi comedy called Alpha Gang.
April Pearson (Michelle Richardson)
Playing Tony’s girlfriend, Michelle, is April Pearson, who made her feature film debut in 2009’s Tormented. The film was actually described as a slasher for Skins fans by a few outlets (including Total Film) and even starred a fellow Skins cast member we will mention soon.
Horror movies would actually become a recurrence in Pearson’s career, such as the somewhat more comedic thriller, Sideshow, most recently. After the January 2022 release of her next film, The Kindred, she will appear in the latest of her several collaborations with versatile British filmmaker Jamie Patterson with the crime drama God’s Petting You, which is now in post-production.
Mike Bailey (Sid Jenkins)
Playing Sid (Tony’s hapless best friend who also has a crush on Michelle), we have Mike Bailey, who made his debut in the Skins cast. This actually led to a relatively short-lived acting career.
After starring on the medieval miniseries 1066: The Battle for Middle Earth and the 2013 teen dramedy, We Are the Freaks, he would return to acting four years later for the more mature, romantic, and unique TV dramedy, Hers and History, opposite Lindsay Shaw of Nickelodeon’s Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide fame. As of 2020, Bailey works as a school teacher, which The Sun discovered through a TikTok posted by one of his students.
Hannah Murray (Cassie Ainsworth)
Sid would eventually discover his true feelings for Michelle’s best friend, Cassie. The emotionally vulnerable character was played on Skins by Hannah Murray in her acting debut, years before she joined the Game of Thrones cast as Gilly.
She is also well-known on the big screen for her award-winning performance in Kathryn Bigelow’s riveting historical drama, Detroit, from 2017 and as the lead of the 2018 Manson Family drama Charlie Says. In 2020, Murray appeared on the Quibi original horror series The Expecting and lent her voice to the multi-platform video game, Shady Part of Me.
Joe Dempsie (Chris Miles)
Chris, a party animal with a crush on his college psychology teacher, is played on Skins by Joe Dempsie. The actor would also find fame on Game of Thrones as Gendry Baratheon, and he starred on Fox’s short-lived espionage series, Deep State, from 2018 to 2019.
Also in 2019, he reprised his role as the voice of Arbert in the Final Fantasy games, and starred on the miniseries Adult Material (which American audiences can stream on HBO Max) the next year. Following his role on Season 2 of the animated sci-fi anthology series Love, Death & Robots in 2021, Dempsie will star on another Netflix TV show called Pieces of Her, opposite Toni Collette, in 2022.
Larissa Wilson (Jal Fazer)
Chris would later start a relationship with Jal - played by Larissa Wilson. The actress would make her feature film debut alongside her onscreen best friend on Skins, April Pearson, in Tormented in 2009.
She later had a recurring role on the British fantasy series The Sparticle Mystery in 2011, played a shopper at the supermarket setting of the UK comedy Trollied for three episodes the following year, and appeared on Season 2 of the crime procedural Suspects in 2014. In 2020, she released her directorial debut - a short film called Shift.
Dev Patel (Anwar Kharral)
Anwar, a teen with a “pick-and-choose” approach to his Islamic faith, is played by Dev Patel. He would follow his acting debut on Skins in a big way as the lead of Slumdog Millionaire, which won Best Picture at the 2009 Academy Awards.
After receiving his own first Oscar nomination for 2017’s Lion, the actor continued to score lead roles in more acclaimed dramas, such as 2020’s The Personal History of David Copperfield as the title character, and the hero of the fantasy epic The Green Knight the following year. Also in 2021, Patel launched his own production company, Minor Realm, which will produce his upcoming feature-length directorial debut, Monkey Man, which is slated to premiere on Netflix in 2022.
Mitch Hewer (Maxxie Oliver)
As Anwar’s openly gay best friend, Maxxie, we have Mitch Hewer. He would follow his acting debut on Skins with another teen drama called Britannia High - which sounds kind of the British pre-cursor to Nickelodeon’s Victorious, considering its titular performing arts school setting.
After appearing in the 2014 rom-com Behaving Badly opposite Only Murders in the Building cast member Selena Gomez, and the found footage thriller Nightlight in 2015, he landed a recurring role on he long-running UK medical drama Casualty in 2017. In April 2019, Hewer explained in an Instagram post that his absence from the spotlight in more recent years was due to his own struggles with anxiety and depression.
Daniel Kaluuya (Posh Kenneth)
As secondary Skins character Posh Kenneth, we have Daniel Kaluuya. The actor actually wrote a few episodes of the series, as well, before gaining further notoriety in the UK as the lead of one of the best Black Mirror episodes in Season 1, among things.
These days, he is one of world’s most celebrated actors, thanks to films like 2015’s Sicario, the powerful romantic tragedy Queen & Slim from 2019, and the riveting historical drama Judas and the Black Messiah, for which he won a Best Actor Oscar. Next, Kaluuya will reunite with his Get Out director, Jordan Peele, for 2022’s Nope, is currently reprising his role as W’Kabi in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and is set to star in the sci-fi adventure The Upper World, which he is also producing.
Jack O’Connell (James Cook)
Another party animal in the Skins cast is Cook - played by Jack O’Connell. He was previously known in the UK for his award-winning debut feature This is England in 2006, and the 2008 thriller Eden Lake, which also stars Michael Fassbender and Yellowstone cast member Kelly Reilly.
A year after Skins ended in 2013, he starred in 300: Rise of an Empire and led Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken before appearing opposite George Clooney and Julia Roberts in the 2016 thriller Money Monster. Following his role alongside Colin Farrell in the historical miniseries The North Water, O’Connell will appear in another World War II-era project (the Stephen Knight-penned miniseries SAS: Rogue Heroes), and is currently filming the 2022 romance Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
Lily Loveless (Naomi Campbell)
Cook’s good friend Naomi is played by Lily Loveless, who has a few credits in common with fellow Skins cast veterans. She starred opposite Kathryn Prescott in the British horror series Bedlam, and Daniel Kaluuya on another British horror series, The Fades.
Since Skins ended, she would appear on the UK cop drama DCI Banks, star in the 2014 teen lesbian romance Fear of Water, and land a recurring role on the hit drama The Royals. In 2020, she starred in the Netflix miniseries The Stranger (based on the book by Harlan Coben), and her most recent acting credit as of late is the 2021 short fantasy film, The Cost of Living.
It is truly inspirational to see what the young cast of one of the most inspirational teen dramas on television has grown up to become. I actually would not mind seeing a reunion with the full cast now.
