SONNY WALKER
Liverpool-born actor Sonny Walker’s extraordinary performances are a force to be reckoned with. Having only made his screen debut in Doctor Who in 2021, Sonny has not only explored another side of the creative industry, signing with a modelling agency and even working around London Fashion Week, but has continued to nurture his passion for acting through local workshops with his brother growing up. Since then, Sonny has appeared alongside Martin Freeman in the gritty police drama The Responder, before stepping into the role of Adam in The Gathering, a performance that earned him a BAFTA nomination for Supporting Actor. From there came Ellis and the undercover crime drama Legends, while the short film Before You Go where he played a leading role, received two nominations at Raindance Film Festival.Through each role, there is a sincerity and passion in the way he inhabits each character, and with A Town in Nova Scotia, Amazing Grace and Four Phone Calls coming up, there seems to be so much more of Sonny’s crafts that we’re all yet to discover.
5ELEVEN sat down with Sonny Walker to chat about his voracious enthusiasm for acting, which is utterly infectious, the roles he holds close to his heart, the people and places from his Liverpool roots that continue to inspire him, and what keeps drawing him back to the craft. We also talked about what it feels like to be living out a career he once dreamed of, how he’s jokingly ticking names off from his This Is England checklist along the way, and the seemingly endless roles he still dreams of stepping into.
Words by Kristania Gunawan.
Photographed by Massimiliano Giorgeschi. Styled by Millie Cullum. Grooming by Sandra Hahnel at Caren using Shiseido. Creative Director Laurie TB, Photographer's assistant Ashland Blue Taylor, Stylist's assisted by Helena Chelchowska. Sonny Walker appears courtesy of Curtis Brown.
You have spoken about watching This Is England when you were younger and being completely convinced by Stephen Graham’s phenomenal performance. What was it about the movie and his performance that captivated you?
Yeah! I remember watching it and I think I must have been about nine or ten. I was way too young to watch it, but I thought it was like a documentary of some sort. Not even just Stephen Graham's performance really, everybody's performance was so real and captivating that I was just so engrossed in it!
So then when I got older and found the series, hearing another Liverpool accent on the TV, something kind of clicked and It made me feel like, “Maybe I can do this.” Besides that, I also loved how real and relatable the story of This Is England was within each character.
Was that the first time a fictional performance felt so real that you could genuinely picture yourself pursuing acting?
I think it was just knowing that it was possible to hear somebody like Stephen Graham, because back then I never heard anybody with the same accent as me on TV. Since This Is England was also something so ingrained in my mind, and the story was something I also wanted to do, it kinda made me decide to take it up.
It must have been so surreal for you.
Yeah, it definitely was and even still to this day when I watch Stephen Graham, I'm like, “Wow.” I also remember watching him years ago and he's always producing such great work, even now I'm still motivated by that.
I do have a role in a feature film with Stephen's wife, Hannah Walters, who is absolutely amazing. That's called Amazing Grace. But I hope I get to work with Stephen Graham soon. Fingers crossed.
You were already going to local acting workshops with your brother Shane while boxing and later modelling. What part of acting were you particularly attracted to, and what kept pulling you back to it even before you pursued it professionally?
For me, acting felt kind of separate from everything else I was doing, it’s like an environment where I could express myself properly. I also went to quite a rough all-boys school and I used to go to boxing three times a week, which was kind of the thing all my friends thought I was pursuing. But I was going to drama classes and that was where I felt like I could let my hair down and be my authentic self. Over time, things just kind of evolved and I got better at it. My brother does it too. It’s just been our lives ever since, me and my brother have a connection with acting and a bond through it too- we've just always had each other’s support. At the same time, we’re always trying to get better at it and give each other pointers.
There was also such a physical side to Adam through the parkour, and you’ve also shared how boxing gave you confidence and discipline. Is this a big part of what propelled your interest in action roles and parkour?
Absolutely, I've always been kind of physical, even outside boxing. I was always either exercising at the gym, running, or doing calisthenics and then, when we started filming for The Gathering, I picked up free-running. The two have kind of always just goes hand in hand and I'd love to bring the physical side of me to a role, which is why I’d love to play in a role such as an action movie, free-runner role or something physical like Marvel or DC
Is there any dream role in particular, especially in DC Marvel?
Nothing in particular because I’d love to do it all, but perhaps Spiderman, because I've always wanted to be one since I was a little boy, and the dream never went away.”
Your first screen role was in Doctor Who in 2021. After years of wanting to act, what was it actually like walking onto that set for the first time? Did you expect anything beforehand, if yes, was it just like how you had expected it to be from the workshops or how you’d imagined?
It was quite different, to be honest. Because I had been auditioning for years and years and Doctor Who was the first thing that came through, so there was kind of a feeling of relief that, ‘okay, now it's going. Now it's working out.’ And when I got to the set, it was so much bigger than I imagined- there were all of these other actors in costumes and prosthetic makeup, and it looked so real. It just felt like a fever dream. Everyone was also super lovely and I was so nervous but they kind of helped set the tone and the environment. After I came home from the Doctor Who job, I was like, “Okay, when's the next job?” It really was amazing. Then seeing the finished product on TV with all the effects and things were insane.
Since The Responder was one of the first times acting started to feel like a real job for you, was that your first time working alongside actors you’d previously only seen on screen?
Well, on Doctor Who, I worked with Craig Parkinson, but becauseI wasn't very aware of Craig's work, I wasn't super scared in that kind of way compared to when I was on the set of The Responder I'd known Martin Freeman's work for years. I was definitely scared, but he was so lovely and so nice and generous, he even gave me advice. I got to see him do his thing and see his process, which was really surreal. I just kind of soaked it all up. Afterwards, I went home and played through it all in my mind and thought, “Is there anything I can take away from that into the next job that I do?”
Did being on that set, especially in such a supportive environment, make acting feel like somewhere you belonged and something you wanted to do for real?
100%. It definitely felt like home for me. There are endless possibilities to acting and there are so many roles and so many accents you can do. You know when you’re small, one minute you want to be a fireman, the next minute you want to be an astronaut, and in a way it's like I'm still keeping that childlike dream alive that I can play absolutely anything. Especially doing it with my brother now, we always say, “This is us. This is what we're doing forever now.” So there's also that side of it too that’s really a personal connection to acting, a passion.
You found out about your BAFTA nomination while filming Legends. What was that moment like?
I was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award at first whilst I was filming. Then I was actually on the set of Legends when I found out about the BAFTA nomination. I was actually in my trailer about five minutes before we were going off to set and I had trouble connecting to the Wi-Fi. I managed to get on and my phone was just blowing up with messages. I looked and saw the BAFTA account had tagged me, which was crazy because I didn't expect it. It's not that I didn't think it was possible, I just didn't think it would happen this early in my career. It also felt like two things were happening at once since I was also on the set of Legends. But It was really nice because I got to celebrate with everyone, especially the cast of Legends.
You were working alongside actors like Steve Coogan, Tom Burke and Johnny Harris at the time. What was that experience like, especially given you’d watched and looked up to Johnny’s performance in This Is England when you were younger?
Unfortunately, I didn't come across Steve Coogan much at all since I was mainly working with Tom Hughes and Johnny Harris, who are absolutely amazing actors, for the Liverpool side of the story. And especially for Johnny Harris, who I watched on This Is England when I was younger, I've got so much love and respect for him, not only as an actor but as a person.
What has it been like going from watching actors you admire to sharing a set with them? Has seeing them work up close changed how you think about acting?
Totally, because when you watch something, you're taking in the character and the story, you're taking in those circumstances. But when you see the person for who they are outside of the characters they play, you really get to humanise them and you see real similarities from you within them sometimes. Its then that you realise this is a craft and they're working hard at it, which is how they're able to do such amazing work. So it's really inspiring to see them work up close and get to see that whole process before it gets edited and put out there.
After the BAFTA nomination and those other nominations, did you feel more confident in yourself as an actor, or did they bring a new kind of pressure too?
To an extent I definitely believe I can do more and I really do hope the nominations continue in the future, but at the same time, it also added a little bit of pressure in a weird kind of way because it’s so early in my career that I got them; it made me feel like I want to do more now, but there's only so much that's in my control, which is the only downside.
If I could, I would love to get on those massive sets out in America and work on the likes of Dune and those kinds of films, but until I can get out there and until the casting directors see what I can do, then that time's yet to come. So it is an amazing achievement and I'm very appreciative of it, but It's definitely added a little bit of pressure in my mind.
It’s also quite surreal that a role you had to compete against other actors for became the one that brought you a BAFTA nomination. Looking back, does that make Adam feel even more significant to you now?
For me, I think in a way. I also think that if I wasn't right for the role, I wouldn't have got it. I have a lot of trust in the casting directors and I know that I was given the Adam role for the right reasons. The gathering was also very realistic and relatable, so it was kind of easy to bring an element of truth and real life to the film because I felt like I really understood Adam.
You’ve said Adam carries pieces of people you grew up around in Liverpool. Who or what did you draw on when you were finding his character?
With Adam in particular, I could relate to a couple of the things he's gone through in the friendships and relationships. Naturally, I drew a lot from myself and my own life, as well as people I've gone to school with and people I've grown up with. I was like, “Who's got a little bit more swag than me that I know?” and kind of took that into the role as well as a little bit of cheekiness. “I know this person, he would maybe say things like that.” So its a combination of a lot of different people I know.
Were there any particular experiences that you notice in people that you carry forward into that character?
I think the energy and the cheekiness and the boldness. That's one thing I've seen a lot which I thought would be perfect. We had a couple of funny lines, a couple of funny things he'd come out with, and I kind of took that approach to those lines with inspiration. I'd say a lot of different things mainly came from school because I'm playing a 19-year-old as Adam, so I had to think back a lot, “Okay, when I was 19, what experiences had I gone through?”
With Before You Go, Matt Kennard reportedly saw you in The Gathering and immediately thought of you for Callum. The film also received two nominations at Raindance, for Best UK Short and Best Live Action Short. What was it like stepping into a leading role and then seeing the film receive that kind of recognition?
Oh, it's amazing. Even now it's gone on to be nominated at Worcester Film Festival for Best Screenplay and New Renaissance Film Festival for Best Drama and the Humanity Award, which is just crazy because each festival it's gone to, it's been nominated.
I definitely didn't expect it, but I was more than ready and prepared for that role as Callum in Before You Go. It's such a hard-hitting film, and such a real emotional journey that Callum's going through- I definitely felt ready to take that on. Matt, who's been an actor before, understands a lot of these things and his writing's amazing, so getting to work with him, I was allowed to kind of take control of the role in that way within the world Matt's created.
There, I also got to work with Matt's wife, Laura Aikman, who's a phenomenal actress. Overall, being in that environment kind of makes the job easier in a lot of ways because you’re under the watchful eye of such professionals and people you admire. So it was really brilliant and so different to anything I've done before.
After Before You Go, would you want to take on more roles that explore similar themes?
Definitely. I absolutely love stories with social realism and stories that reflect real everyday struggles of working-class people or highlight social injustice because I feel like those are the stories I can really take to and relate to in a lot of ways. So I kind of have the confidence that I can give a very realistic portrayal of what it's like to go through a lot of these things. I just feel really passionate about them, like I had been for Before You Go, which has been on the topic of mental health.
You’re playing Danny in Amazing Grace, which seems to explore isolation, addiction and human connection in quite a sensitive way. What drew you to that story, and what can you tell us about Danny without giving too much away?
What I can tell is that Danny is the opposite of Callum in Before You Go. Danny is actually a mental health worker, and I was drawn to the movie, Amazing Grace, not only because Daniel P. Lewis, who's a friend of mine and the one writing the story - he writes great scripts and naturally, after I read it, I thought, “Yeah, I definitely would love to be a part of it” , but there was also such an amazing cast on board. I even got to work with Stephen's wife, Hannah, who's a phenomenal actress and another one who I've seen on This Is England. Which means I'm checking off the This Is England checklist. I've got a couple more to go!
What do you hope audiences and your fans get to see from you next?
I hope they get to see more work that they enjoy, more stories, more characters and I hope they get to see me play different people and that they like the work. In the meantime, I'll always continue to put my heart and soul into every role.
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