It’s Thomas Brodie- Sangster’s birthday! You may remember him as the Jojen Reed actor from HBO’s Game of Thrones. At age 26, the British actor has accomplished a lot in Hollywood and continues to pursue his dreams. Thomas Brodie-Sangster’s movies and TV shows are loved by fans everywhere, so in honor of his birthday, here are some facts about Thomas Brodie-Sangster.
Music
Brodie-Sangster is passionate about music and even sings in the band Winnet with his sister, Ava Sangster. He learned to play the drums for his role in Love, Actually and then later had to learn to play left-handed guitar for his role in Nowhere Boy—he normally only plays right-handed. Both his parents are musicians and also sing in Winnet with his sister. Acting and singing seems to be a family tradition!
Hugh Grant
The Game of Thrones actor is actually a distant cousin of Hugh Grant—a second cousin, once removed to be exact. While most people don’t really know how the whole cousin thing works, it works for us and is a cool story for a Hollywood party. Grant also starred alongside Brodie-Sangster in the film Love, Actually and got along just fine—not a bad family reunion. Speaking of love, Brodie-Sangster has a girlfriend, Isabella Melling, and the two have been seen together everywhere on movie sets. Good news for him, bad news for the legions of fans.
Film Company
When only 16, the young actor started his own independent film company called Brodie Films with the help of his mom. Pretty impressive since most kids that age usually decide to work at McDonald’s, but we all know that Sangster loves the arts.
Game of Thrones
Before landing the coveted role of Jojen Reed on HBO’s hit fantasy drama, Game of Thrones, Brodie-Sangster had no idea what the show really was prior to the audition.
“I didn’t really know about it,” said Brodie-Sangster to Interview magazine. “I’d heard the name and that was about it. It was one of those, ‘They need to audition you tomorrow.’ So, I learned the scene: ‘Okay, it’s an American HBO TV show with swords. Fine.’ I quickly went in and did it—in, out, done.”
Brodie-Sangster’s friends were excited at the fact that he even got an audition and were more excited than he was before he starred on the show. He later watched season one and two when he got the part and realized that he would become part of something huge. Sadly, his character died, but that’s nothing new at all for Game of Thrones. (They need a disclaimer, stating not to get emotionally attached to characters.)
Drama
This will probably come as a shock but, Brodie-Sangster failed drama in school! Luckily, that’s not the same as failing medical school and becoming a doctor. Brodie-Sansgter was expected to act on cue because people knew he was an actor, but it’s not like turning on the lights. His drama teachers had to fail him, but he was fine with it.