Jonathan Bailey, the rising star redefining the Hollywood stereotype

Jonathan Bailey’s professional life could easily be divided into two acts. On one hand, all the roles he took on after his acting debut at age seven in the play A Christmas Carol; on the other, those that came after playing Anthony Bridgerton in Bridgerton, the project that catapulted him to stardom.

“It’s hard to express how surprised I was every step of the way,” he explained in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter about the success he’s been experiencing in recent years, thanks in part to the hit Netflix series.

Raised in a large family, Bailey is the youngest and only boy among four siblings. From a young age, he knew what path he wanted to follow: “From outside, I could see my sister’s ballet lessons through the window. I wanted to be in there with them. I’d go and wait at the back of their class in my Velcro trainers. I was obsessed and loved it. Dancing and singing felt like a vocation,” he recalled in an interview with The Guardian published in February, explaining that he soon enrolled in classes.

It was precisely during that time that he had his first contact with cinema and with the project that is now making headlines in Hollywood trade media as one of the stars of Jurassic World: Rebirth, in which he shares the screen — and red carpet kisses — with Scarlett Johansson. “I saw the original Jurassic Park with my family, aged six, at the cinema. It was the first time we all went together to something like that. It was seminal, but so rare for us," he told The Guardian.

His parents never stood in the way of his early acting career. “I was really protected by them, but they gave me this opportunity. By 13, I’d done three productions for the RSC [Royal Shakespeare Company, and a stint in the West End,” he explained to The Guardian. Bailey knew he wanted to pursue acting, but he didn’t train formally for it: “There was a common belief that if you hadn’t, you wouldn’t be able to do classical texts, or perform in the big theaters. There are all these stories we are born into that we have to unpick. For me, one of those was how limited I felt.”

During his teenage years, he stepped away from show business for a while: “I got self-conscious in my teens that [dancing] was signalling something else,” he said. “I probably just knew it was better to be playing rugby than dancing. I became really self-conscious. There weren’t other dudes dancing.”

As he told the British newspaper, one of his teachers called him a “fairy” in front of the entire class: “In your teenage years it’s so raw,” he said. “And there are certain things in life that allow people to think they know something about you, and those assumptions mean you stop doing something you love. You curb or you police yourself.”

After taking time away, he returned to acting and, during his twenties, faced rejection after rejection: “My memory and my experience of it was that there was never a moment where I was going to play a leading male part,” he confessed in an interview with GQ. But he was wrong, and soon came the most important opportunity of his career — one that would mark a turning point forever.

In 2018, while immersed in the musical Company, he received the script for a period series Netflix was preparing. He almost didn’t attend the audition — “At that time, I was really done. I just needed to go and experience the world,” he explained in The Hollywood Reporter — but he went and ended up dedicating the next several years of his life to the production of Bridgerton.

Actors like Regé-Jean Page and Phoebe Dynevor decided to leave the show after the boom that propelled them to stardom. He did not, despite receiving numerous offers. “I’ve never been someone who’s like, ‘Thanks, bye.’ It’s not in my nature,” he also told the magazine. And all this happened even though, as the seasons progressed — each one focusing on a different Bridgerton sibling — his role gradually lost prominence, becoming a secondary character in the storyline.

Bailey has been a leading figure in the LGBTQ+ community for years, but early in his career, he was made to believe it was better to hide his sexual orientation from the public. It was during one of his first film projects that a co-worker gave him advice that stayed with him forever: “There’s two things we don’t want to know: if you’re an alcoholic or if you’re gay.” “Of course I thought that in order to be happy I needed to be straight. I reached a point where I thought, Fuck this, I’d much prefer to hold my boyfriend’s hand in public or be able to put my own face picture on Tinder and not be so concerned about that than getting a part,” he revealed in a 2022 interview with GQ. And he added in a more recent interview with the same magazine: “I remember at primary school being really clear and then it sort of gets murky as you get older, which is such a shame, especially when it’s to do with sexuality.”

Those early fears about talking openly about his sexual orientation soon disappeared. “I’m who I am and always will be. It’s an extraordinary thing to see and hear the word ‘gay’ next to your name all the time. It’s something I’m incredibly proud of, but it’s also not something anyone else would be defined by,” he told The Guardian.

He is a clear example that being open about your sexuality doesn’t have to close doors. “Being an out gay actor, historically, meant that you wouldn’t be able to play straight and there weren’t any gay parts to play, anyway. That’s obviously changed, massively,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. "Any sort of sense of prejudice against sexuality is something to fight against, and what better way to do that than to go and play any kind of character."

But during this time, he has preferred to keep the details of his love life private. In 2023, he confirmed he was dating a “lovely man”: “It’s not a secret, but it’s private. Having a private life is, for me, completely critical. I don’t know if I would be able to be as confident to speak out on other things if I felt that my whole life was up for grabs,” he said in an interview with Evening Standard.

And while he hasn’t spoken about it since, Bailey has shared his desire to become a father: “It’s such a privilege for a man. But I can’t bring children into my lifestyle now,” he told Vogue in December 2024. “I want to make sure I’m going to be present. I’m reading books on adoption. I might coparent with a woman, but I’m thinking it will be with a man.”

Bailey’s name is everywhere, especially after playing Fiyero in the acclaimed Wicked, which will also premiere its second part in November. “I’d come from set, sleep on a flight, go straight to a Bridgerton ball, then the next day be dancing with Ari [Ariana Grande] and Cynthia [Erivo]. Everyone else for Wicked had three months of rehearsal. I had three days,” he told The Guardian about how tough the filming months were, juggling the movie, the Netflix series, and theater.

Thanks to his role in Jurassic World: Rebirth, his face and name are again front and center on magazine covers worldwide. He is one of the most talked-about actors right now, and his co-stars shower him with praise: “He’s so twinkly. He’s very alive in the moment. I think sometimes when you say that somebody has a positive outlook it can seem to diminish the fact they’re also deep, because it can appear superficial. But he’s a deep thinker and also incredibly compassionate,” Scarlett Johansson, his costar in Jurassic World: Rebirth, told GQ.

The two have developed a close friendship that’s now visible on red carpets during the film’s promotion. “If you can’t kiss your friends ... life’s too short not to,” Bailey told Entertainment Tonight, in reference to his viral kiss with Johansson.

The actor knows he now has a platform to speak on various issues and help raise awareness. In 2024, Bailey founded a charity called The Shameless Fund, which partners with artists and brands to support nonprofit LGBTQ+ organizations.

He represents a new generation of actors who challenge traditional ideas of what it means to be a Hollywood star and connect with audiences in a different way. He says this is the best moment of his career, but that it won’t last long.

Still, he has already planned to take a few months off after the release of this upcoming film and before the promotion of Wicked’s second part. He’s riding the momentum but prioritizing himself and carefully choosing what to do with a career that promises to keep making an impact, quietly but steadily. Bailey has capitalized on his fame while staying true to what launched him, as shown by his continued role in Bridgerton.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition