Thomas Brodie-Sangster: From Love Actually to The Queen’s Gambit
Thomas Brodie-Sangster, that cute kid from Love Actually, is all grown up and still acting.
Thomas Brodie-Sangster’s most recent acting credit is as Benny Watts in the Netflix original miniseries, The Queen’s Gambit. When his character first showed up in episode 3, “Doubled Pawns,” I was all, “Why does he look familiar? Where have I seen him before?” Then it dawned on me, “Wait…is that the boy from Love Actually?
Sure is. Or, as Today put it, “the Love Actually boy is now 30 but looks exactly the same.”
Well, not exactly the same of course. He has retained his baby face good looks, but he is older and wiser as he demonstrates in The Queen’s Gambit. His character, Benny Watts, is a tall, lanky, mustachioed, knife-carrying confident cowboy-type who’s a master chess player. A role he absolutely owns and might prove to be the breakout role of his adult career.
But how did he go from the love-struck drummer boy in Love Actually to his part in The Queen’s Gambit and what has been doing in between?
Thomas Brodie-Sangster’s career (brief overview)
Love Actually was Thomas Brodie-Sangster’s first feature film in 2003. (By the way, back then he was billed as just Thomas Sangster.) However, while his role as Liam Neeson’s character’s son, Sam, may have been his breakout role, it wasn’t his first.
His first role was in 2001 as “Henry” in a TV movie called Station Jim. He appeared in a couple of other TV movies and series before landing his role as Sam. He’s been acting ever since in a variety of genres and formats.
Thomas Brodie-Sangster’s notable movies
Not all of his roles have been in movies, but he has been in several.
Most notably, he played “Simon” in Nanny McPhee, “young Tristan” in Tristan & Isolde, “First Order Officer” in Star Wars: Episode VII and “Newt” in the trilogy of The Maze Runner movies.
Thomas Brodie-Sangster’s TV shows and voices
When he’s not appearing in movies, Thomas Brodie-Sangster has a healthy TV series career which has included voicing Phineas and Ferb‘s Ferb Fletcher and a few of the characters in Thunderbirds Are Go.
And Game of Thrones fans might recognize him from one of the 10 episodes he appeared in as “Jojen Reed” during seasons 3 and 4.
Thomas Brodie-Sangster’s personal life
Thomas Brodie-Sangster appears to be one of those stars who doesn’t seek the limelight and chooses to fly under the radar.
As noted by Today, he only joined social media this year when he created an Instagram account in April. He hasn’t posted much since then, but his first post speaks volumes and tells us still waters run deep within him. (Perhaps much like his Queen’s Gambit character, Benny Watts.)
So while he might have a babyface, don’t let that fool you. It seems he’s an old soul with a kind heart and quite the acting talent. It’ll be interesting to see what he does next.