JONATHAN STUART BAILEY, is an English actor known for his dramatic, comedic, and musical roles on stage and screen. His accolades include a Laurence Olivier Award and a Critics’ Choice Television Award as well as a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award.
Bailey began his career as a child actor in Royal Shakespeare Company productions and by eight was performing as Gavroche in a West End production of Les Misérables. He starred in contemporary plays such as The York Realist in 2018 and Cock in 2022; in classical plays like Othello in 2013 and Richard II in 2025; as well as in musicals, namely the London revival of The Last Five Years in 2016 and the West End gender-swapped revival of Company for which he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical in 2019.
On screen, Bailey starred in the action-adventure series Leonardo and the musical-comedy Groove High before becoming known for the crime drama Broadchurch and the comedy Crashing. He gained wider recognition for his roles in the Regency romance series Bridgerton and the political miniseries Fellow Travelers which won him a Critics’ Choice Television Award as well as a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His role as Fiyero in the musical fantasy film Wicked earned him a nomination for a SAG Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Bailey resides in Hove, East Sussex. An avid cyclist, he has also competed in marathons and triathlons in addition to being fond of paddleboarding and mountaineering. In 2018, he hiked the Everest Base Camp in Nepal; the following year, he participated in the National Three Peaks Challenge to raise money for the Scottish branch of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. In 2024, he ran the Hackney Half Marathon to benefit LGBTQ+ youth charity Just Like Us of which he is a patron.
Bailey privately came out to friends and family in his early 20s, but did not comment on it in public for another decade. He came out publicly in 2018. Although cautious of discussing his sexuality, which he sees as a personal matter that “becomes a commodity and a currency”, he is committed to visibility and representation saying: “If I can fill spaces that I didn’t have growing up then I feel like that’s a really brilliant thing.” He also called this “something [he’ll] always strive to do”.
In 2024, Bailey launched the charity The Shameless Fund that “aims to help members of the queer community across the world live freely and authentically” by raising money through celebrity and brand partnerships. The charity’s debut collaboration was with fashion brand Loewe’s “Drink Your Milk” collection.
Bailey has been described by the media as a sex symbol whose fans, according to the Los Angeles Times, span “all genders and orientations”. TIME magazine included Bailey in its annual class of Next Generation Leaders in 2022, writing that he is “redefining the ‘Hollywood Heartthrob'”.
We agree.