Micheal Ward has not had nearly enough
sleep. “Six hours?” he says optimistically.
That would be the total for the most recent weekend.
When we meet, he has just won the BAFTA’s Rising
Star award in London, the biggest prize British film
can give a new face—alumni include Kristen Stewart,
Tom Hardy, and Daniel Kaluuya—and ever since,
between the adrenaline and the well-wishers, sleep
has been hard to come by.
This time two years ago, Ward, 22, was working in
a bookie shop, stealing minutes to learn lines for
auditions. His breakthrough came when he was cast
in a Drake-backed 2019 Netflix revival of the cult
London crime series Top Boy (originally released in
2011), in which he gave a powerful performance
as an ambitious young gang lord. He had been such
a fan of the original run, he once messaged actor and
rapper Ashley Walters on social media to ask for an audition.
Now Ward stars opposite him, showcasing a presence equal
parts charisma, craft, and unmistakable realism. A week after
Top Boy wrapped, he started shooting his first film—a lead
role in the British sleeper hit Blue Story (out this spring in the
U.S.), playing one half of a childhood best friendship torn
apart by violence in hard-bitten south London. The movie in
particular has given him a likable self-confidence. “I don’t
need to be a version of me people think I should be; I’m just
going to be me. And if you don’t get me, I’m not going to
hate you, but”—he bursts into laughter—“shame on you!”
Despite the recent excitement, life off-camera seems designed
to keep him grounded. Home is Romford, the east London
suburb where he still lives with his mother and two of his three
sisters. “There’s always been female energy around me,” he
TALENT
says, grinning. As with many
apparent overnight sensations,
success actually comes with a
complex backstory. Ward was
born in Spanish Town, Jamaica,
and his father died when he was
two. The family migrated to
London’s bustling, multicultural
Hackney. Another relocation in
his teens brought him to Romford.
In high school, his talent appeared to be soccer—enough
for everyone to assume he would turn professional, him
included. “Then I thought, Do I really love it? In fact, I loved
acting.” What the two pursuits shared was the need for endless
self-improvement. Ward has not formally trained as an actor
beyond a few college courses, but he has applied the hustle he
learned early to acting: “My journey has been mad unorthodox,
but it’s always been about working.” At 17, he won a modeling
contest, then moved into short films before eventually earning a
part in the Netflix teen series The A List. He kept his day job
at the bookmakers until Top Boy. “I want to be a role model,”
Ward says, “to show people who grew up like me that... there
are people from the same place as you, up onscreen,” he says.
The months to come will be busier still. Among his new
projects will be Small Axe, the hotly anticipated BBC/Amazon
miniseries about West Indian migration to London, from
director Steve McQueen. “He’s a legend, but when I read it
I didn’t even know he was directing—I just knew it was
perfect. I was like, ‘I’m Jamaican. I need to be in this!’ ” And
now he wants to get back to a stack of scripts, and eventually,
he might even grab some sleep. “Tonight, man!” he smiles.
“I promise!”—da n n y leigh
WELL SUITED
“MY JOURNEY HAS BEEN
MAD UNORTHODOX, BUT
IT’S ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT
WORKING,” WARD SAYS.
LANVIN JACKET AND
JUMPSUIT. DETAILS, SEE IN
THIS ISSUE. PHOTOGRAPHED
BY OLIVER HADLEE PEARCH.
FASHION EDITOR: CARLOS
NAZARIO. BELOW: A SCENE
FROM TO P B OY.
From bookie to BAFTA R ising Star,
Micheal Ward has had a very
eventful year. Up next: a star turn in
Steve McQueen’s new series.
All In
VLIFE
78 APRIL 2020 VOGUE.COM
TOP: HAIR, CYNDIA HARVEY; MAKEUP, LYNSEY ALEXANDER. PRODUCED BY HOLMES PRODUCTION; MOVEMENT DIRECTION, PAT BOGUSLAWSKI. BOTTOM: CHRIS HARRIS/NETFLIX.
