By Isabelle Casey
Copyright hellomagazine
He has joined the likes of James Norton and Louis Partridge in the latest Netflix hit House of Guiness but before actor Anthony Boyle took on the role of Arthur Guinness in the exciting new show, the 31-year-old actor had a rather controversial upbringing. An Olivier award winner, Anthony has had many spectacular roles and previously starred as local heartthrob Luke in Derry Girls. But while his role kept him away from the fictional walls of Our Lady Immaculate, in real life, Anthony, like Dylan Llewellyn’s character James, actually attended an all-girls school after being expelled from his school in Belfast.
“I got expelled from a boy’s school in Belfast and the only one that would take me was an all-girls’ school called St Louise’s,” he told RTÉ’s The Late Late Show. “There were 2,000 girls and ten boys it worked out alright. It was such a mad experience. You know, you’re 16 and there’s 2,000 girls.But it seems the move did lots for his penchant for the dramatic, as it had a thriving drama department, allowing the Netflix actor to: “act every day.” He explained: “I got to actually do what I loved every day… They needed males for the parts, so I got to play a lot of different things for three years… it was good craic.”‘
The actor also previously opened up about having “behavioural problems” something he said may have been a result of having dyslexia. He previously told Backstage: “Maybe it was something to do with being frustrated by my dyslexia, which I didn’t know I had until later. ‘I’ve never really liked authority, so I didn’t respond to that in a positive way. I ended up going to an all-girls school in Belfast, which was an experiment where they invited 15 of the worst-behaved local lads to attend. Luckily, they had an amazing drama department, and I would just spend all day there. My ‘dance first’ energy was celebrated, and I loved it.”
He also addressed having Perthes disease as a child. “It meant I couldn’t walk for a number of years, and I couldn’t play sports like the rest of my family,’ Anthony explained.”So I spent a lot of time observing people. I’d watch their physicality and how they behaved around others.I spent so much time not being able to be involved that when I could walk again and join in, I became the first to volunteer for anything. Since then, I’ve never been a wallflower.”
Following his school days, Anthony went on to study at one of the UK’s leading drama schools Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, before originating the role of Scorpius Malfoy in both, the West End production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and on Broadway. The role won him the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.
