Billy Barratt is a young actor born on June 16, 2007 as Billy Ace Barratt in Brixton, London, England, UK.
He is represented by Sylvia Young Theatre School. He is the grandson of Shakin’ Stevens. His mother is actress and presenter Carolyn Owlett who was a former member of UK band The 411
The role of Ralph Selfridge (the grandson of Harry Selfridge in Mr Selfridge (2013)) was Billy’s first TV role. Billy said ”working alongside Jeremy Piven has been an amazing experience”. Piven said “Billy has a true talent, it has been an honor to work with him”.
In 2016 played Prince Arthur in The White Princess (2017) on U.S network Starz alongside Michelle Fairley, his screen grandmother and Jodie Comer, his screen mother. During this production Billy became firm friends with his screen bother, played by fellow young actor Woody Norman.
In 2017 Billy featured as “Little Gil’ in Sharknado 5: Global Swarming (2017) alongside Tara Reid and Ian Ziering. Reid said “He’s a star, you can’t deny it”. Billy said ‘the film is really silly, but it was so much fun to make and I got to do my own stunts’.
The same year he Billy played the BOY in the West End stage musical Big Fish alongside Kelsey Grammer and filmed the role of Teddy Roosevelt in The Alienist (2018) however most scenes involving Roosevelt’s family were cut at edit stages. of Ralph Selfridge
Billy filmed scenes for Disney’s Mary Poppin’s Returns starring Emily Blunt and Lin Manuel Miranda and Meryl Streep. The role of the thieving urchin was created for Billy after he was seen multiple times during the audition process and for both male Banks child roles. Director Rob Marshall could not cast Billy as a Banks child however bowled over by his talent and gracious nature during the process, created the role for him.
In 2018 he won the role of Young Matt in Gurinda Chadha’s 80’s inspired feature based on Safraz Manzoor’s account of falling in love with the music of Bruce Springsteen Blinded by the Light (2019) The film was a smash with critics and audiences around the world.
Shortly after Billy secured a lead role in feature movie The Islander, sharing the role of Neb with Vikings (2013) actor, Marco Ilsø alongside James Cosmo and Caroline Goodall. They spent the summer filming in Croatia and Serbia. James Cosmo said “He reminds me of young Christian Bale – he’s very, very good”.
In early 2019, Billy won a role as Niazi in The Other Me, exec produced by David Lynch. The film, shot in Georgia, stars Jim Sturgess, Andreja Pejic, Orla Brady and Antonia Campbell- Hughes. With a complex story line and heart wrenching scenes of physical abuse, Billy ‘s performance impressed his fellow cast and crew. Director Giga Aglidaze said ‘5 minutes on screen and the boy just stole the show’.
This performance was shortly followed by the role Young Scrooge in FX Network x BBC One’s spooky adaptation of A Christmas Carol scheduled for release on 21st December 2019. Starring Guy Pearce, Andy Serkis and Kayvan Novak, the show is produced by the team behind Peaky Blinders and Taboo with Tom Hardy and Ridley Scott credited as exec producers.
Also scheduled for release in December 2019 is BBC2 x Kudos feature-drama Responsible Child. The film explores the age of criminal consent with Billy taking the title role of Ray alongside Michelle Fairley, Stephen Campbell – Moore, Tom Burke and Owen Doyle. The 90 minute drama is Billy’s largest role to date. First look reviews by The Times and Radio Times declared Billy’s portrayal of troubled character Ray to be ‘extraordinary’ and ‘astonishingly mature’ .
