Joe Locke

Joe Locke is a British-Manx actor born on 24 September 2003 in Douglas, Isle of Man, where he attended Ballakermeen High School. While still a student, he studied politics, history, and English, and joined three classmates in submitting a petition to government officials to examine the feasibility of resettling Syrian refugees on the Isle of Man.

Locke began his performing career through youth theater, participating in the 2020 National Theatre Connections, productions at the Gaiety Theatre, and work with the Kensington Art Centre's youth group. His professional screen debut came in 2022, when he was cast as Charlie Spring in the Netflix coming-of-age series Heartstopper, an adaptation of Alice Oseman's webcomic and graphic novel. He was selected from an open casting call that drew approximately 10,000 candidates. Locke was 17 years old during filming and portrayed a 15-to-16-year-old pupil at an English boys' grammar school. His performance earned him two Children's and Family Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Performance, one of which he won.

In 2024, Locke joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the Disney+ miniseries Agatha All Along, a spin-off of WandaVision. He played a character initially identified only as "Teen," who is ultimately revealed to be William Kaplan, also known as Billy Maximoff. That same year, Locke made his Broadway debut in a revival of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, taking on the role of Tobias Ragg.

Beyond his Broadway appearance, Locke has continued to expand his stage work. He is set to make his London West End debut in the fall of 2025, playing Jake in the UK premiere of Clarkston, a play by Samuel D. Hunter, with his first performance scheduled for 17 September 2025. He is also attached to Heartstopper Forever, a feature-length film serving as the series finale of Heartstopper, on which he will additionally serve as an executive producer. In January 2026, it was announced that Locke would appear alongside Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman in Ian Charleson's upcoming film Elsinore.

Locke came out as gay on Instagram at age 12, though he deleted the post shortly after. He came out again at 15 and has spoken publicly about his experiences as a young gay man from the Isle of Man and the ways those experiences parallel Charlie Spring's story in Heartstopper. In August 2022, Isle of Man Health Minister Lawrie Hooper announced a change to the island's blanket ban on blood donations by gay men, following a video message Locke delivered at the island's annual pride celebration calling for the policy to be revised.