Kit Connor

Kit Connor is an English actor born on 8 March 2004 in the London Borough of Croydon. He grew up in Purley and attended Hayes Primary School in Kenley before completing his A Levels in drama, English literature, and history at Whitgift School in South Croydon. His parents, Richard and Caroline, work in advertising, and he has an older sister and an older brother.

Connor began his onscreen career at age eight with minor appearances in the Sky One series Chickens, the television film An Adventure in Space and Time, and the soap opera Casualty. His first substantial screen role came in 2014, when he played Tom Anderson in the holiday comedy Get Santa and took on the recurring role of Archie Beckles in the CBBC series Rocket's Island, a part he continued through 2015. He also appeared in the miniseries War & Peace as young Petya Rostov and played Bob Sheehan in the miniseries SS-GB. His stage debut came at Donmar Warehouse in Welcome Home, Captain Fox!, and he later starred as Alexander in the Old Vic Theatre production of Fanny & Alexander.

In 2018, Connor appeared in several film and television projects, including The Mercy, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Slaughterhouse Rulez, and the BBC One television film Grandpa's Great Escape. The following year he portrayed a teenage Elton John in the musical film Rocketman and played Joe Woodard in the drama Little Joe. Also in 2019, he began voicing Pantalaimon in the BBC One and HBO fantasy series His Dark Materials, a role he continued through 2022.

Connor rose to wide recognition beginning in 2022 through his starring role as Nick Nelson in the Netflix series Heartstopper, an adaptation of Alice Oseman's webcomic and graphic novel. He had originally auditioned for the role of Charlie before being cast as Nick opposite Joe Locke. The performance earned him the inaugural Children's and Family Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Performance, and he received an additional nomination for the third season. In April 2025, it was announced that Connor will reprise the role in a feature-length film serving as the series conclusion, on which he will also serve as executive producer.

In 2024, Connor provided a voice role in DreamWorks Animation's The Wild Robot, an adaptation of Peter Brown's novel, earning an Annie Award nomination for the performance. That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing Romeo opposite Rachel Zegler's Juliet in a production of Romeo + Juliet directed by Sam Gold with music by Jack Antonoff. The performance earned him a Theatre World Award in 2025, as well as nominations for a Drama League Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award. Also in 2024, Connor was included on Forbes' 30 Under 30 Europe list in the Entertainment category, appeared in Variety's Young Hollywood Impact Report, and was named to The Hollywood Reporter's Next Gen Talent list.

In 2025, Connor appeared in Warfare, an A24 war film written and directed by Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza, for which he won a British Independent Film Award. Upcoming projects include the medieval zombie horror film Rapture alongside Will Poulter and Manu Rios, Andrew Haigh's A Long Winter with Fred Hechinger and D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, a film adaptation of Laura Taylor Namey's novel A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, and the mystery-horror film One of Us, which is set to have its world premiere at the Manchester Film Festival in March 2026.

Connor came out as bisexual in October 2022 via a post on Twitter, stating that fans had been forcing him to out himself and had missed the point of Heartstopper. He has been named in the top 20 of the UK Pride Power Lists for 2023, 2024, and 2025.