Packing a punch: award-winning actor Johnny Harris speaks to Goji

Best known for his roles in The Fades and This Is England ‘86, BAFTA-nominated Johnny Harris is no stranger to hardman roles, but it’s his ability to create unique characters that makes him such a talent.

Goji caught up with Johnny and found out how he tackles challenging roles, why he values social media and how he used to keep an ear out for his critics.

Having played a sadistic pimp, an abusive father, a medieval fighter and a grizzled space marine, award-winning British actor Johnny Harris may seem to have cornered the market in violent maniacs. “I'm not sure why,” he says. “I don't take it personally, but I hope it continues!” His recent role as a gritty angelic warrior in BBC Three’s supernatural drama The Fades is no less hardcore, but it’s Johnny’s ability to bring depth to his roles that recently brought him to the attention of the BAFTA board, specifically for his controversial role as a monstrous father in TV drama series This Is England ’86 (the next season of which, This Is England ’88, is out on DVD and Blu-ray on 5 March 2012).

When Goji caught up with Johnny, he’d just finished filming big budget fairy tale feature Snow White And The Huntsman, in which he plays one of seven badass dwarves. Laid back and talkative, this former amateur boxing champion from south London radiates the discipline and tenacity of a seasoned athlete, qualities that have served him well throughout his career. Since 2000, Johnny has worked his way up through jobbing roles in the likes of The Bill, Eastenders and Holby City, as well as feature films including Atonement, RocknRolla and, most recently, War Horse. His breakout role was that of Derek, the menacing pimp in stylish crime drama London To Brighton. “London To Brighton opened some doors for me in 2006, but despite the critical acclaim I was still fighting to get seen,” says Johnny. “I was working in a café when I got the call to go to Nottingham to audition for This Is England '86.”

The series is a spin-off from This Is England, Shane Meadows’ critically acclaimed film about skinhead subculture in the early 1980s. In ’86’, Johnny tackled a particularly challenging role, that of an abusive father whose more graphic scenes many viewers found difficult to watch. “With a lot of TV work you don't get rehearsal or prep time and with This Is England '86 we had a few weeks,” says Johnny. “So even though what we were exploring was difficult and emotional, I was aware that something very special was happening to me as an actor and us as a team.”

Having previously won a Best Performance Award at the Brest European Short Film Festival for Leaving (2008), an honour he shared with co-star Kierston Wareing, Johnny’s talent was more recently recognised in the form of a BAFTA and Royal Television Society nomination for his role in This Is England '86. Johnny’s co-star Vicky McClure – who won a ‘Best Actress’ BAFTA for her role in the same show – described Johnny as “the best actor I've worked with in my life”.

Johnny believes there’s a terrible appeal in the often repulsive characters he plays. “The seven sins are a part of every human being and so we can't help but relate to those characters,” he says. “It's then interesting to watch what happens to these characters as a result of his actions, or abuse of these instincts. I guess watching or listening to stories is a safe way for us to explore what could happen to us if we abuse our own instincts.”

Perhaps it’s Johnny’s willingness to build a rapport between himself and his audience that helps in creating characters that really get under the viewer’s skin. During his days working in fringe theatre, Johnny’s keenness to hear what his audience thought of his performance prompted him to hide in the gents' toilets for hours at a time. “I was advised by an older actor that if I wanted a true reaction to the play and performance I should go hide in the theatre toilet cubicle and listen to the audience immediately after the play,” he laughs. “So I'd dash around to the loo straight after the curtain call and get myself comfy. It wasn't always easy listening, but I learned a lot.”

Today, Johnny continues to gauge his audience’s response and appreciates the value of social media. He enjoys a strong following on Twitter, which allowed him to receive an immediate response when The Fades recently premièred on BBC America. “The beauty of social media is that you can see the public response as it happens now,” he says. “[It's] an immediate reaction directly from the viewing public, which is an interesting alternative to a journalist's opinion.”

For Johnny, the word on the street can be as valuable as that of any seasoned critic. “I follow a few good journalists that I like,” he says. “There's a lot to be said for editorial journalism, but it was lovely to see the immediate reaction of the public for both This Is England '86 and '88, and The Fades, because they really seemed to be pulled in by the stories and characters.”

The immediate future will see Johnny continue to intersperse lavish projects like Snow White, in which he stars alongside such heavyweight acting talents as Ian McShane, Ray Winston and Bob Hoskins, with smaller street-level movies. This September, he’ll star alongside James McAvoy and Mark Strong in Brit-crime thriller Welcome To The Punch, the script for which has already made it onto the Brit List 2010, compiled by the UK and Irish film community in recognition of some of the best screenplays written by British talent. Johnny Harris is an actor who clearly knows how to pick his targets. And we at Goji can’t wait to see the projects he’ll take down next.

Snow White And The Huntsman is released in cinemas 1 June 2012
Welcome To The Punch is released in cinemas 7 September 2012
The Fades and This Is England ‘88 are available now on DVD and Blu-ray