John King

Education

About me

I started my film career 8 years ago after sneaking onto a Mission Impossible film set and joining in as an extra. By the time I was discovered it was too late to get rid of me and I stayed the entire night shoot and loved every moment of being shot at and throwing myself into a wall on a cold and wet London street for hours.

It was the beginning of a wonderful progression into acting. Learning first about film sets and becoming completely comfortable in front of the camera, then over the years learning more and more about the craft itself. I’ve not learned by going to acting classes, I’ve learned by being in hundreds of film and television productions and training in the job, learning directly from the process and from the greatest actors and directors in the world.

Now after acting full time for film and television for many years, and four years of experience as a Stand-In for other actors, I’ve been through a steady and progressive learning curve culminating in a very good awareness of what is needed to be a good actor on a film set. Also of what it’s like for film crew, how to work with the crew and to hold confidence in the space and be comfortable in the process of making a picture. Through my featured roles and as a stand in I am constantly learning directly and personally from the greatest actors and directors of our time. Working directly with them has been the highest learning process and honour I as an actor could ask for.

I believe a little humility goes a long way and film making is the epitome of team work. Being both an actor and a stand in I have the unusual benefit of understanding what it is like to be both crew and cast, and know fundamentally the importance of working as a team to create the art, and respecting the role everybody has to play on a production.

Working exclusively in this job full time, I’ve been numerous featured characters in all sorts of productions from Eastenders to Marvel, from Breitling commercials to a BT national poster campaign, and I ALWAYS love my work.

My competency has been validated to me by awe inspiring professionals in the industry; such as being given the honour to be the UK Stand-In for Ryan Reynolds for example, and being cast to play featured characters directly with the main cast, such as, for example, for The Crown, Captain Marvel 2, Top Boy, Sky Atlantic’s ‘Guerrilla’, King Lear…

I’m also comfortable with on-set nudity I realised after being a ‘bum double’ a couple of times, and since then was happy to bare it again as my character in House of The Dragon. I have also had the honour of playing a featured character in wonderful tailored prosthetics over the course of a few months and have my patience put to the test with 5 hour early morning prosthetics.
I’m lucky to have a job I love, that is always a wonderful challenge I comfortably throw myself into, and always learn more about myself, the craft and the beautiful process of film making every time I get to work.

License & Passport

Skills

Languages Spoken	English
Accents/Dialects	Boston, Cornish, English - England South East (Oxford, Sussex), English - Essex, English - General, English - Gloucester, English - London, English - Received Pronunciation, English - Southwest England, English - Yorkshire & Humber, French (Standard International), Irish, Polish, Scottish - Central, Upper-class American, US South (Deep South, Dixie, Delta), US West Coast (California, Portland)
Vocal Types	Bass, Tenor
Singing Styles	Adult Contemporary, Choral, Country, Folk, Indie, Pop/Rock
Additional Skills	Acting, Hosting/Presenting, Modeling, Public Speaking, Puppetry, Singing
Athletics	Badminton, Baseball, Billiards, Body Building, Bowling, Cricket, Cycling, Frisbee, Golf, Hackey Sack, Martial Arts, Ping Pong, Rowing, Running, Skiing, Squash, Stage Combat, Swimming, Tennis, Track and Field, Weightlifting, Yoga
Organisations / Memberships	BECTU (UK), Equity (UK)