Adolescence star Owen Cooper’s teachers say he’s an “absolute natural,” and believe his ability to “keep it going even if it goes wrong” helped bag him his breakthrough TV role.
Speaking about meeting him as a student for the first time, Cooper’s drama teacher Helen Thorpe told Sky News: “It was clear he was an absolute natural. He had such an energy about him and a willingness to join in”.
Esther Morgan, who co-founded Drama MOB where Cooper trained, said he was: “Funny, popular with his classmates and really good at improvising”.
With each episode of the hit drama shot in just one take, Ms Morgan said Cooper’s skill of “getting up there and giving it a go… and keep it going even if it goes wrong” helped win him the role that has seen him go from an unknown to one of the UK’s most talked-about actors.
On Sunday, Cooper became the youngest male to win an outstanding supporting actor Emmy, with Netflix drama Adolescence sweeping the board and taking home six awards.
The 15-year-old from Warrington was just 14 when he was cast as Jamie Miller, a 13-year-old boy arrested for the murder of a classmate, and the role was his first professional job.
Co-written by actor Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne, praise was heaped on Cooper for his naturalistic performance.
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Cooper had attended weekly acting classes run by Drama MOB in Didsbury, Manchester for two years, auditioning for ITV’s Coronation Street and several BBC shows ahead of winning the Netflix role.
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Set up by Coronation Street actress Tina O’Brien and former primary teacher Esther Morgan in 2013, the school also has its own casting agency.
Ms Morgan said: “Owen has got massive talent and had massive talent when he came to us, but I think we were able to work with him, improve those skills, and we can see that in his performance”.
Ms Morgan, who admitted she’d stayed up to watch the Emmy’s and not yet been to sleep, said: “To see his mum and dad in the audience, to see how proud they are. They are such a lovely family. That’s so grounded. They’re so down to earth. He’s a Northern boy. He’s local to us. He’s trained with us. To see him collect an Emmy was just incredible.”
Ms Thorpe called Cooper’s performance “unbelievable,” particularly praising his relationship with his on-screen dad Graham, which she said “was just so touching and as a parent drives home that this could be anybody”.
As for Cooper’s future, Ms Morgan said “I think he will go on to do great things. I have no doubt,” but first “he’ll be going back to school to do his GCSEs”.
Ms Thorpe added, “I think he might pop in [to the drama school] at some point… He’s a very grounded, local lad. We hope to see him again”.
The four-part mini-series sparked a national conversation on misogyny and online safety, while also drawing attention for its technical brilliance, with each episode shot in a single, tension-ramping continuous shot.
Despite not being an easy watch, it topped Netflix‘s charts around the world.
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It also had real real-world impact, with Prime Minister Kier Starmer – who said he watched it with his own family – supporting a campaign for it to be shown in parliament and schools.
Adolescence also scooped two gongs at this year’s National Television Awards (NTAs) including the new drama award and best drama performance for Cooper.
