JULY 19th
BIOGRAPHY
Kit Harington (birth name: Christopher Catesby Harington) was born on December 26th 1986 to Deborah Jane Catesby, a former playwright and David Harington, a now former businessman in Acton, London and is the youngest of 2 children (brother John “Jack” was born January 7th, 1984. He is an IT Manager in Dubai for Abercrombie and Fitch). It has been widely speculated that Kit was named after Christopher Marlowe though he has always refuted those claims as mere speculation. “He recently checked with his mother, Deborah, a playwright, and it turns out “she just liked the name Kit.“ He attended Southfield Primary School in West London from 1992-1998 until his family moved to Worcester, England when he was 11. He then attended Chantry High School in Martley until 2003. When he was 14 he became interested in drama after watching a play called ‘Waiting for Gadot’ and thus went on to star in several school productions including Death By Pizza, written by former member of staff, John Townsend.
He always had a flair for drama and a determination. He was inspiring. He is quite down-to-earth, quite straightforward, just a really nice chap. I would like to think that he got his first insight into what drama could be like from the drama lessons. I do like to think it all started here. Sue Rickman, Head of Drama at Chantry High School
Despite also showing interest in being a War Correspondent or Journalist, after finishing school he went on to Worcester Sixth Form College where he studied Drama and Theatre Studies from 2003-2005. He moved back to London when he was 18 and a year later began to study at the Central School of Speech and Drama after being inspired by a performance by Ben Wishaw as Hamlet. “I think he literally was the reason I wanted to act.” During his time at Drama school he was part of several performances including Loves Labours Lost (The King), Orpheus Descending (Val), Pillars of the Community (Olaf), Three Sisters (Solyony) and Titus Andronicus (Young Lucius). He graduated in 2008 with a BA (hons) in Acting.
At 21 years old whilst still at Central he was cast in War Horse directed by Marianne Elliott & Tom Morris as Albert Naracott which went on to become a huge West End hit. He played Albert at the National Theatre and New Theatre in London from September 2008 – September 2009. “It was unheard of, really, being that young and being the lead on stage at the National. I mean, you work up to that, you earn that. I could never have expected it.” In 2010 he was cast in Posh playing Ed Montgomery alongside James Norton and Tom Mison at The Royal Court Theatre, London in a production by Laura Wade and directed by Lyndsey Turner.
Whilst preparing to star in Posh, Kit was sent a script for a straight to series show by HBO called Game of Thrones based on a series of books by George R.R. Martin. After auditioning and securing the role of Jon Snow, he filmed the pilot but received word that the show may not go any further than that. After it was almost scrapped it was given another chance and has went on to become a worldwide hit with audiences of all ages.
Due to this big break he has went on to star in a number of films alongside many big name actors. In 2012 he was offered a role alongside his first on screen father, Sean Bean and Adelaide Clemens in Silent Hill Revelation which was adapted to screen based on the Japanese horror video game. His first lead role in film came in 2014 in the form of Pompeii which also starred Kiefer Sutherland and Emily Browning. For the role he had to undertake a strict diet and exercise regime to achieve a Gladiator type physique. Despite the film receiving mixed reviews and just managing to break even with regards to box office revenue Kit maintains his defense of the film “I enjoyed making it, I thought it was incredible. And I was proud of it, I’m always proud of everything I do, no matter if it’s critically acclaimed, I have to sit back and look at my body of work and try not to be too negative about it.”
During the Game of Thrones six monthly hiatus Kit has amassed several credits, including loaning his voice to Dreamworks production of How To Train Your Dragon 2 for the character Eret, son of Eret and a small cameo role alongside Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore in Seventh Son. More recently he has traded Longclaw (his sword in Game of Thrones) for a gun in Spooks: The Greater Good adapted from the BBC hit series. He played former MI:5 agent Will Holloway bought in to find Harry Pearce, the man in charge when the CIA’s most wanted manages to escape custody. In several interviews Kit has said how much he enjoyed the opportunity to be part of a genre of film based in the 21st century.
In December 2014 Deadline reported that Kit had joined Xavier Dolans first English screen adaption The Death and Life of John F Donovan as the titular role alongside the previously announced Jessica Chastain. Shortly afterwards Natalie Portman, Susan Sarandon and Michael Gambon et al were announced to be joining the cast. After several delays in production, filming began in Quebec, Canada in June 2016 through September ending in New York after a 2 day shoot. The film is slated for a 2018 release. On June 24th 2015 just over a week after filming commenced, it was announced that Kit had replaced Robert Pattinson in Brimstone directed by Martin Koolhoven. The film was released in 2017 in several countries after premiering at a number of film festivals the previous year. It also stars Dakota Fanning, Guy Pearce and Carice van Houten.
In 2016, Kit returned to the West End stage in Dr Faustus written by Christopher Marlowe and adapted to stage by Colin Teevan as the titular character. It was directed by the Jamie Lloyd Company and ran at the Duke of Yorks Theatre, London from April 9th 2016 – June 25th 2016 after it was extended due to popular demand. Due to the Game of Thrones 6 monthly hiatus, Kit has branched out by working within a wide variety of projects. In July 2014 he was announced as the new face of the Jimmy Choo AW14 collection which continued through to the SS15 campaign. It wasn’t until July 2016 that his next advertisement campaign was announced when he began fronting the Infiniti Q60 which saw him feature in two advertisements ‘Tyger Tyger’ and ‘Emotions per Millisecond’. 2016 also saw him venture into the gaming world where he was approached to appear in Infinite Warfare which is part of the Call of Duty franchise. He played Admiral Salen Kotch and it was released on November 4th. More recently in March 2017 he was announced as the face of Dolce and Gabbanas fragrance line for men.
Projects close to home also paid a part of what Kit has been involved in outside of his career. In 2016 he became a patron for Longlands Care Farm and an ambassador for the charity Mencap which supports his cousin due to his learning difficulties. Kit has said on a number of occasions that he is proud to be an ambassador for the charity and hoped that by loaning his name to it due to the success of Game of Thrones that it would mean that more people would be aware of the organisation and the work that they do. “Mencap is an amazing organisation. I got involved with it because my cousin was growing up with Downs Syndrome. I had to think, is it something, with the success of Game of Thrones, I could bring a bit of attention to? When I spoke to my Aunt, she told me Mencap had done so much good by allowing my cousin to do these things. It really is amazing.”
Next up for Kit after months of unofficial rumours is a mini-series called Gunpowder which is he producing with his friend Dan West, partner of their company Thriker Films alongside Kudos Film and Television. He will also be playing his ancestor Robert Catesby who was the mastermind behind the Gunpowder plot. It also stars Liv Tyler, Mark Gatiss and Peter Mullan respectively. The BBC owns the distributing rights and filming is currently taking place in and around Yorkshire.
PHOTO CREDITS: Matt Sayles