Jack Lowden

Jack Andrew Lowden is a Scottish actor born on 2 June 1990. After beginning his career on stage, he achieved widespread screen recognition through major roles in television miniseries and feature films. He is well known for starring as River Cartwright in the Apple TV drama series Slow Horses, a role that earned him nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award.

Lowden was born in Essex to Scottish parents and grew up in the village of Oxton, Scotland. He initially took dance classes as a child before switching his focus to acting. At age ten, he joined the Scottish Youth Theatre in Edinburgh, and he later performed in local theatrical productions while attending Earlston High School. He attended summer courses at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London and earned a Bachelor of Arts in acting from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow in 2011.

His professional acting career began with television appearances and stage performances, including playing the lead role of Cammy in the National Theatre of Scotland's touring production of Black Watch from 2010 to 2011. In 2012, he starred as runner Eric Liddell in the West End stage adaptation of Chariots of Fire. Lowden earned critical acclaim for his performance as Oswald in a 2013 adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts, winning an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role as well as an Ian Charleson Award.

Lowden transitioned into leading television and film roles, starring in the 2014 World War I drama series The Passing Bells and securing a major international breakthrough as Nikolai Rostov in the 2016 BBC miniseries War & Peace. He subsequently appeared in prominent feature films, portraying golfing legend Tom Morris Jr. in Tommy's Honour, an RAF fighter pilot in Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk, and singer Morrissey in the biopic England Is Mine. For his leading role in the 2018 Scottish thriller Calibre, he won the British Academy Scotland Award for Best Film Actor.

His additional credits include playing Lord Darnley in Mary Queen of Scots, a plantation owner in the miniseries The Long Song, wrestler Zak Bevis in Fighting with My Family, and poet Siegfried Sassoon in the biopic Benediction. In 2019, Lowden established his own production company, Reiver Pictures, which produced the psychological thriller Kindred. Alongside his continuing work on Slow Horses, his upcoming projects include the film Rogue Trooper and television adaptations of Pride and Prejudice and Berlin Noir.

Lowden married his Mary Queen of Scots co-star, Irish actress Saoirse Ronan, in 2024, and the couple welcomed their first child in 2025. He supports Scottish independence and is a follower of Broxburn Athletic Football Club.