Joe Locke has gained recognition for his portrayal of high school student Charlie Spring on the Netflix series Heartstopper (2022–present). He has been nominated for the first-ever Children’s and Family Emmy Award for his outstanding lead performance.
Early Life & Education
Joseph William Locke was born on 24 September 2003. He was raised in Douglas, Isle of Man. He completed his education at Ballakermeen High School and revealed on ITV’s This Morning in April 2022 that he was preparing for A-level examinations in politics, history, and English.
During their time in high school, Locke and three other students filed a request to government authorities to look into the possibility of allowing Syrian refugees to relocate to the Isle of Man.
Career
Joe Locke also took part in shows at the Gaiety Theatre and with the youth group at Kensington Art Centre. He was also a part of the 2020 National Theatre Connections.
In April 2021, it was announced that Locke would play Charlie Spring, the main character, in his first TV role for the upcoming Netflix show Heartstopper. This series, set to premiere in 2022, is based on the popular webcomic and graphic novel by Alice Oseman.
From a pool of 10,000 aspiring actors who had auditioned, he was selected for the role via an open casting call. Despite being 17 years old during filming, he portrays a 14-15-year-old student at an English boys’ grammar school.
Joe Locke was revealed to have been chosen for the part of Agatha All Along in Marvel Studios’ WandaVision spin-off show, which will be available on Disney+, in November 2022. On January 31, 2024, Locke made their debut as Tobias Ragg in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street on Broadway.
Personal Life
At the age of 12, Joe Locke announced on Instagram that he was gay to his mother. However, he later decided that he was not ready to publicly come out and removed the post. It wasn’t until he was 15 that he came out once more.
Locke has shared his journey as a young homosexual man from the Isle of Man and how it relates to Charlie’s narrative in the Heartstopper comics.
In August 2022, Lawrie Hooper, the health minister of the Isle of Man, declared that the government would revise its outright prohibition on blood donations from gay men, following Locke’s plea to end the “outdated” regulation through a video broadcast at the annual pride event on the island.
Net Worth
According to Celeb Wiki Corner, Joe Locke’s net worth is estimated to be between $200,000 and $600,000 (approx.) as of 2024. His earnings from Netflix’s Heartstopper are currently undisclosed.
