Daryl McCormack possesses a résumé that would have most young actors green with envy.
In 2019, the Irish star had a recurring role in the Cillian Murphy-led Peaky Blinders as Shelby gang member Isaiah Jesus. Stephen Knight’s smoky, Birmingham-set period drama was a bona fide hit. McCormack had other various successes up until this point, including a part in A Very English Scandal with Hugh Grant and Barnaby Thompson’s comedy thriller Pixie, but his undoubtable charm and humility were yet to land him a major leading role.
Then Emma Thompson needed a male sex worker for her Nancy Stokes in the 2022 dramedy Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, and McCormack had liftoff. “Doing that film with Emma, being able to hold a film like that with someone like Emma,” he says to The Hollywood Reporter over Zoom in November, “it’s the most scared I’ve ever felt as an actor, and yet it’s led to the [biggest] breakthrough in my career thus far.”
It’s safe to say McCormack is now reaping the rewards of his downright lovely performance in Leo Grande. He tells THR that it’s the film most often mentioned when meeting with some of the industry’s top directors, who hope to have McCormack’s acting prowess for themselves.
