Where are the original Skins cast ten years later?

When it comes to UK teen series, few have been as popular or become as iconic as the series Skins, which ran for some seven years and as many seasons. Premiering ten years ago this week, the first series in particular remains the most acclaimed of the run, with a cast who have gone on to be some of the most popular British faces both on TV and in film.

Here’s a look back at the nine main characters from the first series, and a taste of where you can see them today… some you’ll know very well and others you may be asking yourself: where are they now?

Nicholas Hoult as Tony Stonem

Unlike the rest of the cast on Skins, his appearance in the series marked a continuation for the actor’s established career, rather than its origins – most having already known the young actor from his starring role in About a Boy in 2002. In many ways, Nicholas’ character of Tony was the centrepiece of the first series – and certainly one of its most memorable characters.

Since his arch across the first two series of Skins, Hoult has continued his successful career, playing Hank McCoy / Beast in the X-Men films from 2011, starring in the 2013 blockbuster Jack the Giant Slayer, indie zombie favourite Warm Bodies the same year and featuring as the memorable Nux in Mad Max: Fury Road.

Coming up this year you can catch Hoult in no less than five films, playing the iconic J. D. Salinger in Rebel in the Rye, Nikola Tesla in The Current War (a character once played by David Bowie, in The Prestige), and the films Newness, Collide and Sand Castle. He’s also a voice in the new Watership Down series which premieres on Netflix later this year in a BBC One co-production.

Suffice it to say, Hoult’s star has only continued to rise.

April Pearson as Michelle Richardson

Playing Tony’s love interest in the show, April hasn’t enjoyed the same level of success as her counterpart, but has been an active actress across the last decade all the same, appearing in dozens of films, TV shows and shorts. You may have also seen her in the music video for The Wombat’s “Greek Tragedy”. You’ll see her soon in a horror film called Caught, and playing Amy in the film The Dealer.

Mike Bailey as Sid Jenkins

Ah, Sid. It’s hard to forget that lovable, beanie and glasses combo wearing character. This year you’ll see Mike in a new British series called Hers and History, which is sort of like Scrotal Recall – except no one gave anyone chlamydia – in that it sees a new couple recount their past sexual adventures to one and other. It’s his first major role since 2013’s We Are the Freaks.

Hannah Murray as Cassie Ainsworth

Wow. Cassie was a character who you either loved or couldn’t stand – but in either reception, it was impossible to deny the brilliance of actress Hannah Murray. And she’s enjoyed a slew of great roles since departing from the set of Skins nine years ago. Most notably, she plays Gilly in Game of Thrones, and she’s also appeared in films like God Help The Girl (where she played a character named Cassie), The Numbers Station and Lily & Kat (where she played titular character Kat). In addition to new episodes of Game of Thrones still to come, you’ll soon see her in the film The Chosen as well as acclaimed director Kathryn Bigelow’s new film, proving that her career is only just getting started.

Larissa Wilson as Jal Fazer

Though she had a small role in the film Tormented in 2009, Larissa has primarily stayed active on the small screen, appearing in shows like Kingdom, Sparticle Mystery, The Town and most recently, in 2014, Suspects. She’s been pretty much off the radar since then, and you’re not going to find her on social media – so it’s hard to say what she’s doing these days, but we certainly hope she’s doing well.

Joseph Dempsie as Chris Miles

Post traumatic Skins death, Joseph has gone on to have the most flourishing and consistent television careers of all the cast members, appearing in dozens of TV shows – from playing Gendry in Game of Thrones, to Rob Elliot in One of Us, Higgy in This is England ’86 and ’90, plus brief jaunts in Doctor Who, Merlin and just about any other show you can think of. He’s got a couple of shorts on their way, and don’t be surprised if Gendry makes a return in Season 7 of Thrones. We would love to see that – and please don’t kill him off this time?

Dev Patel as Anwar Kharral

As successful a career as Nicholas Hoult has had, only one Skins cast member has enjoyed an Oscar nomination – and that’s Dev Patel, who played Anwar in the series. Just this week the actor – who had no prior experience when he landed to Skins role – received an Oscar nomination for playing the role of Saroo Brierley in Lion, having donned a pretty decent Australian accent for the part.

When it comes to an acclaimed performance for the actor, the role has pretty big competition from his 2008 turn as Jamal Malik in the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire. He also played a much loved role in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and its sequel, Deon in Chappie, the lead in The Man Who Knew Infinity and will next be seen in Hotel Mumbai, about the terrorist attacks in the city of the same name in 2008. The Australian-American co-production has already filmed in Adelaide as well as India, and is expected to be released later this year.

Also, Meryl Streep totally knows who he is and really, isn’t that the best praise of all?

Dev’s priceless reaction when Meryl Street talks about him on stage. Yes, THE Meryl Streep. Photo Credit: NBC / Golden Globes / HFPA

Mitch Hewer as Maxxie Oliver

Mitch Hewer’s character Maxxie became something of a gay icon when the show first aired, appearing on covers of magazines like Attitude and even going nude for Cosmopolitan. He followed Skins by starring in the short lived music drama series Britannia High, and made some waves this week by seeing a run of digital publications like OMG GAY! post articles along the lines of – You won’t believe what Maxxie looks like now!. So this is what he looks like now:

It seems he’s kept busy acting, in a couple of roles here and there – on stage and screen – while these photos seem to indicate he’s kept in pretty great shape and may/may not be a Calvin Klein model.

Kaya Scodelario as Effy Stonem

And finally we end with the longest running character in the Skins universe, who made her first appearance in the first season of the series, and stuck around for the second generation of the cast, helping serve as a bridge between seasons two and three. She even came back for a special feature length episode in the seventh and final season, as did Cassie.

Effy was the younger sister of Tony, and though she lived in his shadow in the series, she has enjoyed a flourishing career post-Skins, from her role in Moon while she was still a cast member, through to appearing in Clash of the Titans alongside Hoult, Wuthering Heights, The Truth About Emanuel and more.

She was also cast as Teresa Agnes in The Maze Runner series and will return for the film’s 2018 sequel, The Death Cure. She’ll also be seen in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales later this year, and The King’s Daughter, which was filmed 2014 between Paris and Melbourne, Australia. No specific word on its release (it seems to be in a bit of post-production limbo), but it’s safe to say that we’ll be seeing Kaya on the screen for many years to come, with a flourishing career that indicates she’s just getting starting.

And I think we can say the same for just about all of the cast from one of the most iconic British series of all time..

The complete UK series of Skins streams on Netflix and is available on DVD.

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Larry Heath

Founding Editor and Publisher of the AU review. Currently based in Toronto, Canada. You can follow him on Twitter @larry_heath or on Instagram @larryheath.