Nico Mirallegro

Mirallegro was born on 26 January 1991 in Heywood, Greater Manchester. His Italian father is from Sicily, and his Irish mother, Maureen McLaughlin, is from Malin Head.{{cite web|url=http://www.theirishworld.com/playing-for-the-other-team|title=Playing for the Other Team|publisher=theirishworld.com|date=14 January 2014|access-date=18 March 2016}} He briefly attended a boarding school outside the UK, at where he was lonely and felt out of place.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/mar/30/nico-mirallegro-the-ark|title=The Ark's Nico Mirallegro: 'I was a bit of a nuisance'|work=The Guardian|date=30 March 2015|access-date=6 February 2016}} He also attended Siddal Moor Sports College in Heywood and the Manchester School of Acting.{{cite web|url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/nico-mirallegro-nominated-role-tv-6994620|title=Heywood actor in line for Bafta|publisher=ManchesterEveningNews.co.uk|date=16 April 2014}} His parents are separated, and his father lives in Spain, with Mirallegro having moved there as a teenager to live with him for a time. He is conversational in Italian and Spanish.{{cite web|url=http://sueterryvoices.com/profile/nico-mirallegro/|title=Sue Terry Voice Over Agency|access-date=11 March 2016}}

Mirallegro says that he "fell into" acting in his mid-teens after following his sister Claudia to improv classes. At one of his first acting classes, he was "so scared [he] had to get one of the other lads to say [his] lines".{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/jun/16/why-were-watching-nico-mirallegro|title=Why we are watching… Nico Mirallegro|work=The Guardian|date=16 June 2013|access-date=12 March 2016}}

Mirallegro's first professional acting role came in 2007, after he was cast as emo teenager Newt in the long-running British soap opera Hollyoaks. Although he voluntarily left Hollyoaks after two years at age 18 to follow other acting projects,{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s13/hollyoaks/news/a208944/kym-marsh-hollyoaks-is-in-poor-shape.html|title=Kym Marsh: 'Hollyoaks is in poor shape' – Hollyoaks News – Soaps|publisher=Digital Spy|date=16 March 2010|access-date=13 November 2012}} he was grateful for the opportunity to appear on the show: "Hollyoaks is where I learnt a lot of the craft, being in front of a camera six days a week. That's certainly an experience you don't get in drama school."{{cite web|url=http://metro.co.uk/2013/04/24/actor-nico-mirallegro-im-a-lot-more-normal-in-real-life-3663863|title=The Village actor Nico Mirallegro: 'I'm a lot more normal in real life'|publisher=metro.co.uk|date=24 April 2013|access-date=8 March 2016}}

When filming for Hollyoaks, Mirallegro was also playing Cam Spencer in LOL, a web series which explored sex, drugs, and relationships.{{cite web|url=http://www.lolseries.com/cast_cam.htm|title=LOL Cast – Nico Mirallegro as Cam Spencer|publisher=Lolseries.com|access-date=13 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218222924/http://www.lolseries.com/cast_cam.htm|archive-date=18 February 2012|url-status=dead}} In 2010, Mirallegro appeared in an episode of the BBC drama series Moving On as a gay youngster who suffers bullying in school because of his sexuality.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w0b50|title=BBC One – Moving On, Series 2, Losing My Religion|publisher=BBC|date=19 August 2011|access-date=13 November 2012}} Beginning 2010, he appeared as an Italian foreign exchange student in nine episodes of the regular BBC series Doctors.{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s16/doctors/news/a223978/ex-hollyoaks-actor-to-guest-in-doctors.html|title=Ex-'Hollyoaks' actor to guest in 'Doctors' – Doctors News – Soaps|publisher=Digital Spy|date=7 June 2010|access-date=13 November 2012}}

In December 2010, Mirallegro was in series one of the BBC One 1930s-period remake of Upstairs Downstairs. He portrayed a young footman called Johnny Proude, who took up a position in service to escape the poverty of the northern mining town where he was born. The BBC re-commissioned the production for a second series,{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2011/02_february/10/upstairs.shtml|title=Press Office – Upstairs Downstairs recommissioned for BBC One|publisher=BBC|date=10 February 2011|access-date=13 November 2012}} in which he appeared again as Johnny. In the second series, his character appeared in a boxing tournament, requiring Mirallegro to take boxing lessons for the role. In 2011, Mirallegro appeared in the BBC's three-part psychological thriller Exile,{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0110cpy|title=BBC One – Exile|publisher=BBC|date=28 March 2012|access-date=13 November 2012}} playing the teenage version of leading character Tom Ronstadt. Later that year, he played Sam, a gay heroin addict in the BBC drama The Body Farm.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0153z3m|title=BBC One – The Body Farm, Episode 2|publisher=BBC |date=27 September 2011|access-date=13 November 2012}}

In 2013, he began playing Finn Nelson, the love interest of the main female character in E4's teen comedy-drama series My Mad Fat Diary.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/character/ch0251544/|title=My Mad Fat Diary|website=IMDb |access-date=6 May 2016}} That same year, he also played the role of Joe Middleton in the BBC drama The Village.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/character/ch0379869/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_9|title=The Village|website=IMDb |access-date=6 May 2016}} In 2014, Mirallegro portrayed a teenager prosecuted for murder under the Joint Enterprise law in the controversial BBC One production Common, written by Jimmy McGovern.{{cite web|url=http://www.whatsontv.co.uk/hollyoaks/news/nico-mirallegro-it-was-hard-to-leave-hollyoaks-but-i-m-glad-i-did|title=Nico Mirallegro: 'It was hard to leave Hollyoaks, but I'm glad I did'|work=What's on TV|date=1 July 2014}} Called "a bleak, powerful drama thick with political intent", a review started that Mirallegro "continues to prove himself as the best actor ever to graduate from Hollyoaks".{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/jul/07/common-tv-review-jimmy-mcgovern|title=Common review – a bleak, powerful drama thick with political intent|work=The Guardian|date=7 July 2014|access-date=8 March 2016}}

The 2015 television film The Ark told the story of Noah, along with elements from Islamic tradition. Mirallegro portrayed Kenan,{{efn|According to the Quran (Hud v. 42–43), Noah had an unnamed son who refused to come aboard the Ark, instead preferring to climb a mountain, where he drowned. Some later Islamic commentators give his name as either Yam or Kan'an. This drama interprets his name as Kenan.}} Noah's youngest (and extrabiblical) son, whose wish to follow a path different from his father and brothers results in his being swept away in the Great Flood.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3700882|title=The Ark (TV Movie 2015)|website=IMDb |access-date=21 March 2016}} Mirallegro also starred in HBO's Virtuoso, directed and partially written by Alan Ball. Set in the 18th century, Mirallegro played a self-taught violin prodigy who travels to Vienna to learn with other young musicians.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4406218|title=Virtuoso (TV Movie 2015)|website=IMDb |access-date=21 March 2016}}

In June 2017, Mirallegro acted in the BBC's BAFTA winning real-life drama Murdered for Being Different, about the murder of Sophie Lancaster in 2007. In 2019, it was confirmed he would be cast as an army soldier in the new series of the long-running BBC One drama Our Girl.

In November 2023, it was announced by Paramount+ that Mirallegro would star in a new original drama series Stags, filming on location in Tenerife and due to be released in 2024.

Mirallegro's first film, the short film Six Minutes of Freedom, was shot in 2009.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SZppiXi_wY |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/8SZppiXi_wY| archive-date=12 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=Six Minutes of Freedom Trailer|via=YouTube|access-date=13 November 2012}}{{cbignore}} He starred as a troubled teenager training to be a boxer while his father is in prison. The film was entered into four film festivals, and it won Best New Wave Short Film at the Yellow Fever Independent Film Festival.{{cite web|url=http://theyfiff.wix.com/theyfiff#!awards/chrj|title=Yellow Fever Indie Film Festival|access-date=21 March 2016}}

In the summer of 2010, Mirallegro finished filming for his role in McQueen the Movie. He played Sam, a Jewish boy who is one of the story's two protagonists. The film is set in suburbia in the North of England in the 1990s.

Mirallegro portrayed a teenage lead guitarist in a full-length film set in the 1990s about the Manchester-formed rock band The Stone Roses. The film, Spike Island, was released in 2012.{{cite web|last=Wright|first=Jade|url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/in-the-mix/2012/03/26/new-film-to-relive-the-stone-roses-spike-island-gig-100252-30622394/|title=New film to relive The Stone Roses' classic gig at Spike Island in Widnes – In The Mix Today – News|publisher=Liverpool Echo|date=26 March 2012|access-date=13 November 2012}}{{cite web|url=http://www.whatsontv.co.uk/drama/upstairs-downstairs/interviews/nico-mirallegro-from-hollyoaks-to-upstairs/15684|title=Nico Mirallegro: From Hollyoaks to Upstairs | Interviews | Upstairs Downstairs | UK Drama | What's on TV|publisher=Whatsontv.co.uk|access-date=13 November 2012}} He called his time making Spike Island "six weeks of pure bliss."{{cite web|url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/weekend/actor-nico-mirallegro-i-was-ready-for-a-new-chapter-31315914.html|title=Actor Nico Mirallegro: 'I was ready for a new chapter'|publisher=belfasttelegraph.co.uk|date=20 June 2015|access-date=5 March 2016}}

Shooting for Socrates is a 2014 football drama telling "the underdog story of a Northern Ireland team who kick off their world cup against football giants Brazil. The game is a baptism of fire for [Mirallegro's] character, David Campbell, who makes his Northern Ireland debut in front of 50,000 people the day before his 21st birthday".{{cite web|url=http://www.theirishworld.com/playing-for-the-other-team|title=Playing for the other team|publisher=theirishworld.com|date=14 January 2014|access-date=18 March 2016}} The film's cast was recognized as talented, but reviews of the script were less positive.{{efn|"Shooting for Socrates is a "narrative that . . . sells its talented cast short – and that's not merely troublesome. It's fatal. . . . Fine actor though John Hannah is, his Billy Bingham is a blank slate with the wrong accent, and Nico Mirallegro fares little better, despite his best efforts."{{cite web|url=http://sis-sightsandsounds.blogspot.com/2015/06/film-review-shooting-for-socrates.html|title="Film Review: Shooting For Socrates. This "football film" tries to be topical and timely but sells its cast terribly short"|publisher=sis-sightsandsounds.blogspot.com|date=24 June 2015|access-date=18 March 2016}}}}

In January 2014, Mirallegro appeared at London's Royal Court Theatre in the drama The Pass,{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/jan/19/the-pass-review|title=The Pass, Review|work=The Guardian|date=19 January 2014|access-date=10 March 2016}} in which Russell Tovey plays a football player coming to terms with his homosexuality.{{cite web|url=http://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/reviews/01-2014/the-pass-royal-court_33204.html?cid=homepage_news|title=The Pass – Royal Court Theatre|work=What's on Stage|date=20 January 2014}} Mirallegro reprised his comic role as a hotel bellboy in an "irrepressible performance"{{cite web|url=http://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-pass-review/5101585.article|title='The Pass': Review|publisher=screendaily.com|date=16 March 2016|access-date=21 March 2016}} in a 2016 film adaptation of the work, which premiered at the BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival.

Since 2014, Mirallegro has performed in several BBC Radio 4 dramas, including playing the eponymous male character in Orpheus and Eurydice. For this role, he was nominated for Best Actor at the BBC Audio Drama Awards in 2016. He was later cast as the protagonist in 79 Birthdays (2016) and as the son in Over Here, Over There (2016).{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06tvhnj|publisher=BBC|title=79 Birthdays|date=7 January 2016|access-date=10 March 2016}} The latter is a radio drama inspired by the plight of asylum seekers in the UK.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06z0yc0|title=Over Here, Over There|publisher=BBC|date=31 January 2016|access-date=10 March 2016}}

Mirallegro plays in celebrity football matches for charities such as Help For Heroes and Once Upon a Smile.{{cite web|url=http://www.footballforcharity.com/once-upon-a-smile-charity-match---april-14th.html|title=Once Upon a Smile Charity Match|work=FootballforCharity.com}}

Mirallegro was born and raised in Heywood, Greater Manchester. He attended Siddal Moor Sports College (since renamed Newhouse Academy) and is a supporter of Manchester United FC.{{cite web|url=http://www.manutd.com/en/Fanzone/News-And-Blogs/2010/Dec/Celebrity-Red-Glen-Wallace.aspx|title=Fanzone News & Blogs|publisher=Manchester United|date=24 December 2010|access-date=7 February 2016}}

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• {{IMDb name|2813963}}
• {{twitter|NicoMirallegro}}
• [https://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no2012159401/ Works by or about Nico Mirallegro] in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

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Category:Living people

Category:1991 births

Category:21st-century English male actors

Category:English male film actors

Category:English male radio actors

Category:English male soap opera actors

Category:English people of Irish descent

Category:English people of Sicilian descent

Category:English male child actors

Category:English male stage actors

Category:English male voice actors

Category:Male actors from Greater Manchester

Category:English male television actors

Category:Actors from Heywood, Greater Manchester