Ed Speleers

Edward John Speleers (born 7 April 1988) is an English actor and producer. He is known for playing the title role in the 2006 film Eragon, antagonist Stephen Bonnet in the TV series Outlander, and Jimmy Kent in the TV series Downton Abbey. He recently appeared as Jack Crusher in the third season of Star Trek: Picard (2023) and Rhys Montrose in the fourth season of You (2023). Early life Speleers was born at St Richard's Hospital, Chichester, West Sussex, England. He is of Belgian descent. His parents divorced when he was three, with his mother residing in Spain and his father in London. He has two older half brothers. While still in school, Speleers performed in school productions such as A Midsummer Night's Dream and Richard III. In addition to acting, Speleers wrote a play, entitled Retribution, that was performed at Eastbourne College, in Sussex, where he attended. Extraordinarily controversial, Retribution dealt with the subject of paedophilia and was met with stunned reactions. Speleers completed his education in 2006. Career 2006–2011 Speleers' first professional role in 2006 was the lead in 20th Century Fox's screen version of Christopher Paolini's hit book Eragon. His next role, in 2008, was Jimmy Penwarden on the British prime time series Echo Beach. He also appeared in the comedy Moving Wallpaper and an episode of Moving Wallpaper: The Mole, which many saw as a parody of Echo Beach.