Who Is Brian Vernel and Where Is The Star Wars Star From?

Brian Vernel is a Scottish actor who is fast inking his name into the fabrics of the entertainment industry with a resume that boasts over a decade of acting experience. The Scotland native’s career portfolio shows a wide variety of roles – proof of his versatility to perform across multiple genres. He is as competent on the small screen as he is on the big screen and he has that extra creativity that can get viewers glued to their screen all day long.

Depicting the character of Bala-Tik in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) was an incredible performance that has remained his best-known role to date. Besides, he also gained remarkable popularity on the sets of the television show, The Last Kingdom as Odda the Younger in 2015, Doctor Who as Lucius in 2017, and the 2020 movie Gangs of London as Billy Wallace. No doubt, Brian is poised for a greater future as we expect more impressive roles from the Scotland native.

Brian Vernel was born and raised in Glasgow, United Kingdom

Born in Glasgow, United Kingdom, Brian Vernel is Scottish by nationality and of the white ethnicity. The movie and television actor has his date of birth recorded as the 29th of December 1990 but nothing is known about his growing up years. In the same vein, information about his parents has never made it to the public space, thus, it is difficult to say who they are and what they do for a living. Also, the actor’s siblings are not known.

The entertainer’s academic records show that he passed through St Mungo’s Academy, Bridgeton following which he joined the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now known as the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland). The school boasts a long list of famous alumni, including the likes of James McAvoy, Alan Cumming, and David Tennant. The movie actor was also at Glasgow University where he did a general art foundation course for one year, concluding his formal training as an actor.

His acting portfolio covers the stage, small screen, and big screen

Brian Vernel’s first contact with the performing arts was during his days in high school, however, he never viewed acting as his future career then. After he left high school, the movie star began to consider it seriously. When he eventually moved into acting, Brian acted under a different moniker. Going by what we could gather from his IMDB page he was known as Tom Vernel and all his initial acting credits can be found under the name at the initial stage of his acting career.

Apart from his on-screen resume which is quite remarkable, very few people know that Brian has a lot of experience in theater roles. He has appeared in over 12 stage productions and a few of them were at the National Theatre, like Certain Young Men – Queer Theatre.

He started with the television series

Brian in Star Wars image source

Brian Vernel’s first-ever on-screen role was accomplished on the set of the television series, The Field of Blood where he breathed life into the character of Darren Naismith / Kevin McCorkhill in three episodes. His big-screen career was launched in 2012 as part of the cast of Offender, playing the role of Genghis. The year 2014 was a good one for the Scottish native as he scored three roles – in the movie, Let Us Prey, depicting the character of Caesar Sargison and in two television series, Prey and Grantchester as Dale Lomax and Tam respectively; he appeared in three episodes of each.

2015 was equally good for Brian as that was when he joined the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens which he considers to be a dream come true. For one, the actor has always been a diehard fan of Star Wars, and being featured as part of the legendary franchise was a very big opportunity that helped in propelling him forward. 2015 also heralded two more roles for the actor on the small screen, The Casual Vacancy miniseries as Stuart ‘Fats’ Wall and in seven episodes of The Last Kingdom as Odda the Younger.

He recorded only one role in 2016, playing Young Adam Gettrick in a single episode of The Missing. Perhaps the actor’s most prolific year so far is 2017 when he appeared in a total of four productions – Two movies Dunkirk as Highlander 1 and Papillion as Guittou, and two TV series – Doctor Who in one episode as Lucius and The Tunnel in two episodes as Anton Stokes.

His later roles were all in the television series – in 2018, Brian Vernel breathed life into the character of Mikey Gowans in Collateral and played the role of Billy Wallace on the set of the Gangs of London in 2020. He also became part of the cast of Kill.

Summary of Brian Vernel’s movies and TV shows

Movies

• Offender as Genghis – 2012
• Let Us Prey as Caesar Sargison – 2014
• Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens as Bala-Tik – 2015
• Dunkirk as Highlander 1 – 2017
• Papillion as Guittou – 2017

Television series

• The Field of Blood as Darren Naismith / Kevin McCorkhill – 2011
• Prey as Dale Lomax – 2014
• Grantchester as Tam – 2014
• The Casual Vacancy as Stuart ‘Fats’ Wall – 2015
• The Last Kingdom as Odda the Younger – 2015
• The Missing as Young Adam Gettrick – 2016
• Doctor Who as Lucius – 2017
• The Tunnel as Anton Stokes – 2017
• Collateral as Mikey Gowans – 2018
• Gangs of London as Billy Wallace – 2020

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Trivial deets about the movie star

Even though he is a Scottish man of white ethnicity, Brian has proved to be one white dude who is completely devoid of racial bias. During the worldwide Black Lives Matter Movement, the actor was on hand to show his support for the black community all over the world by voicing out against the incessant killings of unarmed Black people by the police who are supposed to protect them.

On the 2nd of June 2020, he showed his full solidarity in a virtual show called Blackout Tuesday where people went online to upload a black square on the internet space showing that they support the fight against racism and want it to end.