Kit Harington
Christopher Catesby Harington, known professionally as Kit Harington, is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Jon Snow in the HBO fantasy television series Game of Thrones, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination and two nominations for Primetime Emmy Awards and Critics' Choice Television Awards.
A graduate of the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama, Harington made his professional acting debut in 2009 with the lead role of Albert Narracott in the West End play War Horse. He has since returned to the West End taking roles in productions of The Children's Monologues, The Vote, Doctor Faustus, and True West. He portrayed the titular role in the revival of William Shakespeare's Henry V. He starred in the London transfer of the Jeremy O. Harris play Slave Play.
He developed, produced, and starred as Robert Catesby in the 2017 BBC drama series Gunpowder. He has also acted in the Amazon Prime Video romantic comedy anthology series Modern Love, the Apple TV+ anthology series Extrapolations, and the HBO/BBC One drama series Industry. He has acted in films such as the historical action drama Pompeii, the period drama Testament of Youth, and the drama The Death & Life of John F. Donovan. He portrayed Dane Whitman in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Eternals, and voiced Eret in the How to Train Your Dragon animated film series.
Early life and ancestry
Christopher Catesby Harington was born on 26 December 1986 in Acton, west London. His mother named him after Christopher Marlowe, whose first name was shortened to Kit, a name Harington prefers. He did not learn what his full name was until age eleven. His parents are Sir David Harington, 15th Bt, a businessman and baronet, and former playwright Deborah Jane Catesby. Through his father, Harington is related to Scottish politician Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville. Harington is related to men who were involved on opposite sides of the Gunpowder Plot. He claims a family connection with the leader of the plot, Robert Catesby, on his mother's side, while through his father's side, he is related to King James I, the target of the assassination attempt, and to Lord Harington of Exton, who was in the Houses of Parliament that Catesby and his co-conspirators tried to blow up.Harington was educated at Southfield Primary School from 1992 to 1998. When he was eleven, the family moved to Worcestershire and he attended Chantry High School in Martley until 2003. He became interested in acting after seeing a production of Waiting for Godot when he was fourteen, and he performed in several school productions. He attended Worcester Sixth Form College, where he studied Drama and Theatre. When he was seventeen, he was inspired to attend a drama school after seeing a performance by Ben Whishaw as Hamlet in 2004. Harington moved back to London in 2005 at the age of 18 after completing Sixth Form and, later that year, enrolled at the Central School of Speech and Drama, where he graduated in 2008.
Career
2008–2010: Early work in theatre
Before acting, Harington originally wanted to become a journalist. While still at drama school, he landed the role of Albert in the National Theatre's adaptation of War Horse. The play won two Olivier Awards and gained Harington a great deal of recognition. He was later cast in his second play Posh, a dark ensemble comedy about upper-class men attending Oxford University.2011–2019: Breakthrough with ''Game of Thrones''
After War Horse, Harington auditioned for and landed his first television role as Jon Snow in the series Game of Thrones. The show debuted in 2011 to great critical acclaim and was quickly picked up by the network for a second season. Game of Thrones takes place on the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos and chronicles the power struggles among noble families as they fight for control of the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms. Jon Snow is introduced as the illegitimate son of Ned Stark, the honourable lord of Winterfell, an ancient fortress in the North of the fictional continent of Westeros. Harington's role was largely filmed in Iceland and Northern Ireland. The series concluded its run with its eighth season in April 2019.Harington received critical praise for his portrayal of Snow. In 2012, he was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor on Television for the role. In 2016, Harington was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, as well as a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2019. In 2017, Harington had reportedly become one of the highest-paid actors on television, earning £2 million per episode of Game of Thrones.
Harington made his feature film debut in 2012 as Vincent in Silent Hill: Revelation. The horror film was based on the survival horror video game Silent Hill 3, and was a sequel to the film Silent Hill. He was honoured with Actor of the Year at the Young Hollywood Awards 2013, which celebrates the best emerging young talent in film, music and television. Harington's first major lead role in a feature film occurred when he starred in Paul W. S. Anderson's Pompeii. Production for the film commenced in 2013 and took place in and around Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Some scenes were also shot in the actual city of Pompeii itself. Harington chose to undergo intensive body transformation under the guidance of a personal trainer, who grew concerned of the actor's growing body dysmorphia. The film received generally mixed to negative responses from critics and met with modest box office success. That year, Harington also voiced Eret in the DreamWorks Animation film How to Train Your Dragon 2, which was a critically acclaimed box office success, won the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film and received an Academy Award nomination. He later reprised the role in the 2019 film How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, which also was a critical and commercial success and also received Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations.
File:Kit Harington at HBOs "Game Of Thrones" Season 3 Seattle Premiere at Cinerama .jpg|thumb|left|Harington at the season three premiere of Game of Thrones in 2013
In 2014, Harington also appeared alongside Jeff Bridges in the film Seventh Son, a poorly received fantasy–adventure film. Harington played Billy Bradley, Bridges' first apprentice killed early in the film by a character played by Julianne Moore. Ben Barnes, Alicia Vikander and Emily Watson also star. The film was released in wide distribution in the UK on 16 January 2015. Its world premiere was in The Centrepiece Gala, supported by the Mayor of London, at the British Film Institute London Film Festival in October 2014. In December 2014, it was announced that he would star in Xavier Dolan's upcoming film The Death and Life of John F. Donovan. On 1 August 2018, it was announced that the film would have its world premiere at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. The film received poor reviews.
He starred in the 2015 HBO comedy 7 Days in Hell, a short film about a seven-day tennis match. In June 2015, it was confirmed that Harington would star in Martin Koolhoven's upcoming western thriller film Brimstone, replacing Robert Pattinson. In 2016, Harington starred as Salen Kotch, the main villain in the first-person shooter video game Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. That same year he starred in a West End production of Doctor Faustus. The production, as well as his performance, received unfavourable critical reviews.
In February 2017, it was reported that Harington would write, star in and executive produce Gunpowder, a three-part historical drama for BBC based on the real story of the Gunpowder Plot. He played the role of his ancestor Robert Catesby alongside actors Mark Gatiss, Liv Tyler and Peter Mullan. In June 2018, it was announced that Harington would star in the West End upcoming stage play True West, written by Sam Shepard and directed by Matthew Dunster. The play premiered in November 2018 at the Vaudeville Theatre in London and closed in February 2019. That same year he hosted the NBC sketch show Saturday Night Live with musical guest Sara Bareilles. His Game of Thrones cast mates Rose Leslie and Emilia Clarke made appearances during the opening monologue.
2020–present: Career expansion
In 2020, Harington took part in a virtual performance of an extract from the play Burn by playwright Chris Thompson. In September 2020, it was announced that he would appear in the second season of the Netflix anthology series Criminal: UK. The series premiered on 16 September to positive reviews. In August 2019, Harington joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in an undisclosed role. The role was later revealed to be Dane Whitman in Chloé Zhao's Eternals acting opposite Richard Madden, Gemma Chan, Kumail Nanjiani, Brian Tyree Henry, and Angelina Jolie. The film was released in November 2021 and received mixed reviews from critics, while grossing over $402 million worldwide. That same year he was cast in the second season of the Amazon Prime Video anthology series Modern Love acting opposite Lucy Boynton in the satirical romantic comedy episode "Strangers on a Train".In March 2022, Harrington played the titular role in Donmar Warehouse's run of Henry V. In May, it was announced that Harington would star in Mary’s Monster, a film about author Mary Shelley's mental struggle to write her 1818 novel Frankenstein. That same month, he also joined Scoot McNairy and Josh Lucas in the action thriller Blood for Dust. In June 2022, A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin revealed that a Jon Snow spin-off series was in early development, and that it was Harington who first brought the idea for the project. Harington later revealed that the show was no longer in development, stating that the team "couldn't find the right story to tell" and that the project was "off the table for the foreseeable future."
In March 2023, Harington featured in the Apple TV+ series Extrapolations as Nicholas Bilton. Harington is producing a TV thriller, Empire of Dirt described as "a very British Western" about a maven who discovers his family is running a drugs racket. In 2024 he was cast in the West End transfer of the Jeremy O. Harris play Slave Play at the Noël Coward Theatre in 2024. That same year he was cast in a main role in the third season of the HBO/BBC One series Industry where he played Henry Muck, a CEO of a green tech energy company.
In September 2025, Harington was cast as Sydney Carton in the upcoming BBC One miniseries A Tale of Two Cities, adapted from the novel of the same name by Charles Dickens. Harington is also an executive producer on the miniseries.