Alfie Allen

In 2011, Alfie Allen became one of a bevy of relatively unknown British and Irish actors to set the genre entertainment spheres afire as denizens of a sprawling virtual world of swords and sorcery on HBO's groundbreaking series, "Game of Thrones" (2011). The scion of a U.K. show-business family, Allen began picking up small youth roles in the first decade of the 21st century before landing the high-profile lead as a disturbed boy in a touring revival of "Equus" in 2008. He landed his first major television job as a troubled youth in an arc of the BBC's "Casualty 1900s" (2006-09), then a sequence of youth roles in a string of indie films such as "Powder" (2010), "Soulboy" (2010) and "The Kid" (2010).

In 2010, he landed on one of the boldest new shows coming out of the U.S., winning the role of Theon Greyjoy, the mercurial, conflicted prince torn between two great noble houses in conflict on "Game of Thrones." Allen, like any number of his castmates, would be tabbed as one of the freshest new talents to come out of the British Isles.

He was born Alfie Evan Allen on born Sept. 12, 1986, in Hammersmith, London, U.K., into a family with a conspicuous entertainment pedigree. His father, Keith Allen, worked as a comedian, screenwriter and actor; his mother, Alison Owen, a movie producer; and his uncle, Kevin Allen, an actor and film and television director. Alfie's older sister, Lily Allen, would go on to a enjoy a successful recording career.

Alfie naturally followed the family business, landing his first featured role at age 12 opposite his father in the comedic short film "You Are Here" for Channel 4. He did his secondary education at St. John's College in Portsmouth, and went on to hone his dramatic skills at Fine Arts College in Hampstead, North London. He took a small part in the Hollywood youth adventure "Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London" (2004), which his uncle directed.

Allen's ensuing roles would be minor parts in auspicious features such as the Brian Jones biopic "Stoned" (2005), the Oscar-winning drama "Atonement" (2007), the Henry VIII historical drama "The Other Boleyn Girl" (2008), and the somber Daniel Craig-starring indie "Flashbacks of a Fool" (2008).

In early 2008, he landed a major stage credit, replacing "Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe in the central role of a disturbed young man obsessed with horses in a U.K.-wide tour of the stage classic "Equus." Allen's first significant television role would come that year in a three-episode arc of "Casualty 1900s," a century-removed period spin-off the BBC's long-running medical drama "Casualty," on which Allen played a young street tough battling cirrhosis at the tender age of 15.

After a small part in the all-star satire of the high art scene, "Boogie Woogie" (2009), he began landing meatier roles in 2010, including the dark send-up of the U.K. music scene, "Powder," in which he played a member of the up-and-coming band; the musically-tinged, coming-of-age love triangle "Soulboy;" and the adaptation of Kevin Lewis' stark tale of growing up amid poverty and violence, "The Kid," which featured the actor as a bully making Lewis' early life hell.

That same year, Allen joined an estimable ensemble of Brit and Irish thespians cast in a much-anticipated HBO series that would change his life. Based on George R.R. Martin's series of novels under the rubric A Song of Ice and Fire,

the epic fantasy adventure "Game of Thrones" chronicled the power struggle for the eponymous Iron Throne, the seat of power on the mythical continent of Westeros. Comprised of various fiefdoms and family dynasties, the players in the multi-sided gambit of violence and political intrigue were the usurping Baratheons, the wealthy Lannisters, the island-dwelling Greyjoys, and the noble Starks, a clan from the rugged northern region of Westeros.

Allen won the key role of Theon Greyjoy, the headstrong, randy presumable heir to the lordship of the Iron Islands, whose arc would be a dark one as he threw aside his better nature amid the roil of renewed war and shifting alliances. The show debuted in the spring of 2011 to rave reviews, developing a tsunami of pop cultural buzz and seeing ratings climb throughout the season to reach an impressive-for-cable three million-plus viewers on initial airing.

The show earned 13 Emmy nominations in the summer of 2011 and made Allen and his many fellow cast members much-in-demand for interviews in fanatical sci-fi/fantasy circles. Season two's premiere drew nearly 4 million viewers, signaling that "Thrones" would be his primary job for the foreseeable future.

By Matthew Grimm