Stephen Graham (born August 3, 1973) is an English actor. He was best known for his roles as Tommy in the film Snatch, Andrew "Combo" Gascoigne in This Is England as well as its television sequels, This Is England '86 and This Is England '88, Danny Ferguson in Occupation, Billy Bremner in The Damned United, notorious bank robber Baby Face Nelson in Public Enemies, and Al Capone in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire. Stephen Graham portrayed Scrum in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
Biography
Early life and career
Stephen Graham was born in the Southdene part of Kirkby, Merseyside, to a paediatric nurse mother and a social worker father. His paternal grandfather was Jamaican and one of his grandmothers was Swedish.
In his later life, Stephen Graham had been in many films, his best known early role as Tommy in the movie Snatch. Graham had been on a roll since his critically acclaimed performance in the BAFTA best-picture winner This Is England, directed by Shane Meadows. He received rave reviews as Al Capone opposite Steve Buscemi in HBO's Boardwalk Empire, produced by Martin Scorsese. Graham also co-starred in The Fields opposite Sam Worthington and opposite Keira Knightley and Colin Farrell in London Boulevard.
Graham appeared in the role of gangster Baby Face Nelson opposite Johnny Depp and Christian Bale in Michael Mann's Public Enemies and was seen with Nicolas Cage in Dominic Sena's Season of the Witch. In the United Kingdom, Graham has starred in the miniseries The Occupation for the BBC, and his depiction of an alcoholic in Jimmy McGovern’s The Street garnered rave reviews.
Pirates of the Caribbean
In his second collaboration with Johnny Depp, the first being in Michael Mann's Public Enemies, Stephen Graham portrayed the scrappy Scrum in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. "My character was originally from the Greenwich area of London," notes Graham, "a true sailor who's been out to sea since he was a kid. I kind of think of Scrum as being like the Artful Dodger of the pirate world, always looking for something to do, always with his hand in something. He's always looking for another way to make more money, or go on another adventure. Scrum is a great, fun character to play, and after playing a few psychos lately, it’s great to be able to let all that go and just really enjoy myself."[1]
Throughout his portrayal as Scrum, which was said to be based on English comedian Les Dawson and the Artful Dodger[2][3], Stephen Graham done things he never did before. One of which was during the scene of a moonlit dance between Jack Sparrow and Angelica, choreographed by Executive Producer John DeLuca, in which Stephen Graham as Scrum played the mandola. (Graham actually learned how to play the mandola for his role with several pre-production lessons.)[1]
A Fifth Pirates
When asked if he would come back for a Pirates 5, Stephen Graham said, "Yeah, I'm still alive! I was playing the mandola on the ship in the last bit, so hopefully yeah. We’ll see what happens."[4]
