Jonathan Bailey
Born: 25 April 1988
Age:
Years Active: 1995–present
Genre/s: Musical Theatre / Show Tunes, Orchestral / Film Score, Contemporary Musical / Rock-Opera, Jazz / Latin Influence
Label/s: Republic, Verve, Warner Classics, Concord, Universal, Island
Member of: The Shameless Fund, Royal Shakespeare Company
Jonathan Stuart Bailey (born 25 April 1988) is an English actor known for his dramatic, comedic, and musical roles on stage and screen. His accolades include a Laurence Olivier Award and a Critics' Choice Television Award as well as a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award and four Actor Awards. He was included by Time magazine in their Time 100 Next list of the world's most influential artists and was named as People's Sexiest Man Alive in 2025.
Bailey began his career as a child actor in Royal Shakespeare Company productions and by eight was performing as Gavroche in a West End production of Les Misérables. He starred in contemporary plays such as The York Realist in 2018 and Cock in 2022; in classical plays like Othello in 2013 and Richard II in 2025; as well as in musicals, namely the London revival of The Last Five Years in 2016 and the West End gender-swapped revival of Company for which he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical in 2019.
On screen, Bailey starred in the action-adventure series Leonardo (2011–2012) and the musical-comedy Groove High (2012–2013) before becoming known for the crime drama Broadchurch (2013–2015) and the comedy Crashing (2016). He gained wider recognition for his roles in the Regency romance series Bridgerton (2020–present) and the political miniseries Fellow Travelers (2023) which earned him a Critics' Choice Television Award as well as a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor. For his role as Fiyero Tigelaar / The Scarecrow in the musical fantasy film Wicked (2024), he was nominated for an Actor Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role; he reprised his role in the sequel Wicked: For Good (2025). Bailey also starred in the science fiction thriller film Jurassic World Rebirth (2025).
Outside acting, Bailey is involved in philanthropic activities with particular focus on the queer community. In 2024, he founded the LGBTQ+ charity The Shameless Fund.