“Acting is standing up naked and turning around very, very slowly,” says Emmett J Scanlan. “It’s an incredibly exposing and vulnerable art. You’re putting yourself out there. You’re putting yourself on this pedestal to be poked, prodded, praised and ridiculed. And I find it an incredibly vulnerable place to be.”
And yet he loves it. He loves every single aspect of his craft. The Irishman has spent the past 30 years in perpetual rotation, ever since he played the butler in a school production of Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. There have been bad times to endure and good times to celebrate, and still he keeps stripping off and turning round. “You’re not saving lives when you’re making this stuff,” says Scanlan with characteristic candour.
“But on a good day you can make someone’s life feel a little bit better.” As a kid that someone was him. He often played alone, inhabiting his own imagination. Movies offered an escape to a different world. He fell in love with Rocky, shadowboxing behind the sofa. Sylvester Stallone remains his ultimate hero. Now aged 46, Scanlan has become one of the most in-demand actors in the industry. His latest project is an action thriller named A Working Man, its screenplay written by none other than Sylvester Stallone.
Imagine telling that shadowboxing kid the wondrous life that awaited him when he grew up. Imagine telling him that growing up would never be an issue. “I call acting the Neverland syndrome, the Never Grow Up syndrome, the Peter Pan syndrome. We get to live inside our fucking imaginations. And if we’re clever enough, and lucky enough, we get paid for it. I find that an extraordinary thing.”
I interview Scanlan over coffee at The Marylebone Hotel on a sunny Thursday morning. He’s quite literally just checked in – to the extent he arrives with a large suitcase that must be left with the porter, his room not yet ready. He’s spent the past two nights at Soho Farmhouse while filming scenes with Tom Hardy for the upcoming Guy Ritchie series MobLand.
“I’m staying here, how long?” he asks the front desk. Until Saturday, apparently. He’s presenting a Brit Award that night and will subsequently retire to another hotel, perhaps via an afterparty or two. On Sunday, he will return home to Chester and the family that are his world.
SHOP THE LOOK: Suit: The Kooples; shirt: Mr P at Net-A-Porter; scarf: Neem London; watch: Orient
Photography by Lee Malone | Styling by Stevie B Shindler | Grooming by Brooke Simons | Location: The WB Yeats
There is an energy to Scanlan that befits a man who rises at half past five every morning for an icebath. He is a joy to interview – raconteur, philosopher, and motivational speaker rolled into one. The instruction ‘Be Fucking Nice’ runs down the front of his sweater. His Irish accent could turn whisky sweet and his immaculately groomed beard would make a Shoreditch barber weep for joy.
His career has exploded the last couple of years. Notable roles include a bookmaker in Peaky Blinders, a gangster in Irish crime drama Kin and a former soldier in Netflix thriller Fool Me Once. A Working Man and MobLand both release at the end of March, while another Ritchie film In The Grey should also be out this year. This abundance is very good news for Scanlan, and the champagne industry as a whole.
You see, our man has a tradition. “I keep a bottle of champagne in the fridge to celebrate the good news that’s coming, the good news that’s already here. And every time I open that fridge door and I see that bottle of champagne, it reminds me to be grateful.” On receiving good news, the champagne is drunk and another bottle immediately replaces it. He likes to toast his Instagram followers, ending every caption with the mantra: “Whatever your poison my friends, keep her chilled, keep on poppin and always, ALWAYS, restockin.”
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“I don’t remember,” says Scanlan when I ask how the tradition originated. “I have no concept of time or memory but it’s been going on for years. I don’t even know when I first catalogued it on Instagram.” Nonetheless he has cultivated a group of likeminded drinkers who frequently message him photos of champagne bottles when toasting their own good news. His beloved sister broke one open the day before our meeting to celebrate landing a permanent teaching job in Switzerland.
The Scanlans are a small, close family. His mother Denise was a Montessori teacher, his father Rory worked in property and gave motivational speeches to businesses. His office was covered in illustrated quotes. You know the type: “Look towards the sunshine so you cannot see the shadows” and there’s a picture of the sun breaking through a dark forest. “It had no effect on me,” says Scanlan of his dad’s determination to see the sunshine. “I was the opposite. I rebelled against that optimism.”
He grew up watching pirated Disney videos a man would bring to the house. His dad bought whatever was available. The Jungle Book was Emmett’s favourite. The VHS cut off halfway through the film and for years he thought the final scene was the great monkey singalong, ‘I Wanna Be Like You’. Only in adulthood did he discover Mowgli must eventually leave the jungle and return to humankind. “I was like, ‘You fucking prick! This is terrible! I don’t like this cartoon at all. I much prefer the pirate version.’”
SHOP THE LOOK: Trousers: Thom Sweeney; watch: Orient; boots: Will’s Vegan Shoes; Rings: Serge DeNimes and Azza Fahmy; bracelet: Azza Fahmy
The school production of Joseph was Scanlan’s first acting gig. He still remembers the lines he sang as a 14-year-old: “There I was standing in front of a vine, I picked some grapes, and I crushed them to wine. I gave them to Pharaoh…” He sings them to me and cackles. “I can’t even remember my lines from yesterday!”
In his early twenties, he fathered his first child – Kayla now works in the film industry as an AD. “She’s killing it,” says her proud father. He met his wife, Claire, on the set of Hollyoaks and they now have two young children whom their parents dote upon, Ocean-Torin and Fiáin-Luna. He keeps a gratitude journal he writes in every morning. Filling the pages isn’t a problem.
“Gratitude is one of the secrets to life,” he says. “You got to be grateful for the big things, the little things, the small things, the ordinary things – especially the fucking ordinary things. You got to be grateful to the coffee in your cup, the clothes on your back, the food in your belly, the heating in your room, the air in your sexy fucking lungs. You’ve got to be grateful. Constantly fucking grateful.”
He’s one of those rare people willing to give entirely of themself – to friends, family, random journalists he’s known for less than a week. Marylebone is actually our second attempt at undertaking this interview. The first occurred the previous Saturday when we attended the England vs Scotland Six Nations match at Twickenham. Not a typical location for an interview but he isn’t a typical interviewee.
Scanlan’s schedule is chaotic. He’s offered a lot and tries to accept as much as possible because you never know where an experience might lead, the corks it may ultimately pop. On the proposed week of our initial interview, he’s filming MobLand in St Albans, returning to Chester on Thursday night and potentially heading to Twickenham on Saturday. It’s suggested I either visit Chester or join him at the rugby. Chester sounds like a lovely city seeped in history – a Norman cathedral, the largest Roman amphitheatre in Britain – but hitting hospitality is too fun to pass up.
We meet outside the ground, Scanlan impeccably cool in a designer taupe jacket and tinted sunglasses. There’s a minor issue with his backpack – empty aside from a book and a packet of Hula Hoops yet still too large for security – but access is eventually gained. As we pass through the turnstiles, he raises his hand for a high five. “Man, how great is this?” He brought the book for the train – a New Year’s resolution was to spend less time on his phone. Why the Hula Hoops? He’s big into fasting, and limits himself to one meal a day. Sometimes a man needs a snack to tide him over.
He has history with rugby. For the 2024 Six Nations, Scanlan recorded a promotional film that screened on ITV. He stares down the camera in an empty bar and delivers a stirring monologue in his trademark Irish growl, dialled up to 11 for the occasion. “Now this, my friends, is a story. A story 141 years in the making…” You’ll have seen plenty such promos, typically delivered by an actor with a deep voice and copious facial hair. Throwaway stuff in the grand scheme but it only works if the speaker has the requisite gravitas. Try delivering one to the bathroom mirror and see if you can pull it off.
We head to the Green Room, the Twickenham hospitality experience. My bad, it’s more than hospitality. According to the website, it’s a “once in a lifetime event that will be the envy of your friends and colleagues”. The food is excellent – including a vegan option for Scanlan – and the guest speakers all earn their corn. There’s a genuinely moving moment when former Scottish international Rory Lawson reminisces about his grandfather, “my papa”, the legendary commentator Bill McLaren, and fellow panelist Sir Clive Woodward reveals he still has a boiled sweet given to him by McLaren in his playing days. (McLaren always carried a bag of Hawick Balls to dispense.)
Only when we’re seated at our table – next to DJ Trevor Nelson – do I discover Scanlan would have politely turned down the rugby in favour of a day with his family if he hadn’t known I was a fan. It’s a six-hour roundtrip but he says he was touched by my willingness to visit Chester and wanted to provide a counteroffer. Do good things for people, and good things will come back to you. I’m obviously biased but it strikes me as an incredibly generous gesture.
SHOP THE LOOK: Cardigan and trousers: Thom Sweeney; T-shirt: P&Co; necklace: Azza Fahmy
There is one slightly awkward moment when the host announces the birthday of an attendee who happens to be a former soldier. (Birthdays are a common theme in the Green Room; most tables have at least one.) “Ladies and gentlemen,” he says, “I’m sure you’ll all agree that nothing puts the ‘great’ in Great Britain more than our splendid armed forces!” A proud Irishman, I suspect Scanlan mightn’t be quite so enamoured with the British army but his only reaction is a wry smile.
Twickenham hospitality isn’t really his scene but he likes to embrace discomfort. Without discomfort there can be no improvement. I ask him the biggest discomfort he’s ever embraced. “My kids,” he replies after a moment’s consideration.
The first request for a photo comes a few minutes after we’ve sat down. A friendly middle-aged man whose wife apparently spotted Scanlan from across the room. Over the course of the afternoon, more than a dozen people come over to say hello and take a selfie. (While giving me thoughtful glances as they try to discern if I’m also famous.) Everyone is incredibly polite and treated with genuine warmth by Scanlan. “People are always great, man,” he says of these encounters.
The show mentioned most frequently is Kin, the crime drama depicting a family of Irish gangsters caught up in a bloody feud. “One of the best TV shows I’ve ever seen,” says a man who vaguely resembles Rod Stewart – an opinion proffered more than once. The first two series are available on BBC iPlayer for the uninitiated. ]
I get talking with the neighbour on my other side. He’s a very nice chap named Rory, head of partnership development for E1 Series – essentially, electric powerboat racing where the teams are owned by celebrities. (Tom Brady, Will Smith and Rafael Nadal to name but three.) Rory is keen to get Scanlan out to watch a race, potentially one of the European races over the summer. There’s Monaco but he’s already going to Monaco for Formula 1. I begin to understand the chaos of his schedule.
Unfortunately I must encroach on it further – because while it’s possible to conduct an interview in all sorts of interesting places, a rugby stadium packed with 82,000 well-lubricated fans is proving beyond our capabilities. The mythical quiet room that we’d hoped to locate appears not to exist. No matter, says Scanlan, we’ll catch up in London next week. He sends his rep a video. “Hey, SJ! We meant to do the interview here but we got drunk instead.”
SHOP THE LOOK: Cardigan and trousers: Thom Sweeney; T-shirt: P&Co; layered bracelets: Giovanni Raspini; necklace and bracelet: Azza Fahmy
Today you will struggle to find someone with a more ferociously positive life outlook than Scanlan. Yet he spent most of his twenties “being horrible to himself” and even after he found success in Hollyoaks he struggled to cope with the attention he didn’t feel like he truly deserved. Two random encounters, several years apart, fundamentally changed the way he interacted with himself and the world. One with a book, the other a complete stranger he hasn’t seen since.
The book happened first. In his mid-twenties, Scanlan was struggling. “I was in a low place. I’d just broken up with my ex-girlfriend. My daughter moved out. It was a testing time for me. And I remember sitting in a car park by myself, thinking, staring into space, engine running.”
Something red caught his eye in the rearview mirror. A book cover, lying on his car’s backseat as though waiting to be noticed. Somebody must have given it to him and he’d chucked it back there and forgot about it. The book was written by American motivational speaker Jack Canfield and marketing strategist Janet Switzer. It had the unwieldy but alluring title, The Success Principles: How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be.
Scanlan reached back and picked it up. He started to read. The book would change his entire mentality. “I embraced that ethos of positive mental attitude, optimism, trying to carve out little pockets of happiness, curate little moments of gratitude.”
He made a simple but monumental adjustment: “I decided to start saying yes to everything. It didn’t matter what it was, I would say yes. And it took me to crazy places. A few weeks later, I was bungee jumping over the Swiss Alps – just because I said yes to a series of events.”
SHOP THE LOOK: Full look by Orlebar Brown
Spool forward a few years to Christmas 2014. He’s recently left Hollyoaks after 349 episodes playing Brendan Brady, a hardman struggling with his repressed homosexuality. He’s dating Claire. The show has changed his life but the old unhappiness still lingers. “I didn’t have a lot of self-love and I didn’t have a lot of care for myself.” People frequently approach him in the street. He’s always polite but he doesn’t believe he deserves the recognition. “I felt very uncomfortable with the accolades. I felt very uncomfortable with the praise.”
He had a quip ready for any stranger who professed a love of his work. “I wish you had better taste.” It would invariably get a laugh but every time he said those words – and he said them a lot – he was performing a small act of self-harm. He already struggled with internal validation; now he was rejecting the validation offered by other people. “I was horrible towards myself,” he says. “I don’t know where that shame came from. I don’t know. I’d probably have to sit down and analyse it.”
One afternoon he was standing outside Boots, staring at the sky through his sunglasses, waiting for Claire to emerge. A young man approached, maybe in his early twenties. In no mood for a chat, he tried to ignore the initial greeting but the young man persevered. Reluctantly, Scanlan removed a headphone. “What’s up, man?”
The young man said something that would change the actor’s life. He told Scanlan that his storyline as Brendan Brady had encouraged him to come out to his own father. “I just wanted to say ‘Thank you very much.’ I won’t bother you again. Just thank you, thank you, thank you.”
SHOP THE LOOK: Suit: The Kooples; shirt: Mr P at Net-A-Porter; scarf: Neem London; watch: Orient
“He walked away without saying another word,” recalls Scanlan. “I’m not even sure if I said anything in turn. All I remember is staring at him as he disappeared into the distance.” He remembered a lonely Irish boy who shadowboxed to Rocky and was inspired by his hero Sylvester Stallone. “I was like, ‘Fuck man.’ I forgot why I loved this game in the first place. I was too busy hiding.”
Not long after, a girl asked Scanlan for a photo. “Thank you,” he told her. “You have remarkable taste.” They both laughed. This became his new response whenever someone approached him. “I went from, ‘I wish you had better taste’ to ‘You have remarkable taste.’ Both garnered laughs but only one of them made me feel good.”
One day, Scanlan hopes to reencounter the young man whose words made such an impact. “I don’t remember his face, I don’t remember what he looks like. I just remember how he made me feel. He made me feel like that nine-year-old kid who shadowboxed behind the couch watching Rocky. He gave me back my love for acting and he started this journey of appreciation for what I do, a kindness towards myself.”
(Sadly his path didn’t cross with Stallone while filming A Working Man. However I’m optimistic – the man’s life is too touched by serendipity for a meeting not to happen.)
Our conversation turns to Claire. They first met when Scanlan auditioned to be her boyfriend on Hollyoaks. Apparently she recommended to the producers he be given the role but they thought otherwise. However, he must have made some kind of impression because they flew him back to read for Brandon Brady. He moved to Liverpool in May 2010.
SHOP THE LOOK: Tan vegan leather jacket: Will’s Vegan Store
In Liverpool, he cultivated a reputation as a bit of a party boy. “My nights out were my nights in,” says Scanlan of this period. His initial overtures to Claire were rebuffed. She had a nickname for her co-star, not to be shared in print; suffice to say, it wasn’t a nickname that marked its recipient as boyfriend material. By contrast he was smitten from the start.
He watched multiple Hollyoaks episodes before he started on the show, and even then she stood out. “I kind of fell in love with her talent and I thought she was beautiful. Obviously I thought she was beautiful. But I had a bit of a reputation.”
The party boy persevered. “I pursued her for a couple of months and she eventually relented and said yes. That was 15 years ago. Now we’ve got a house, we’ve got a home, two beautiful children. She’s my other half. She’s my soulmate. She’s a wonderful human being, so beautifully kind and generous to animals and an astonishing mother and an annoying wife at times.” He laughs. “But what can you do? She’s great.”
The pair got married in New York on New Year’s Eve. As Scanlan notes, NYE is always a shit night so you might as well do something to make it memorable. He is a man who runs towards the unknown; I ask if there was a moment when he knew it would work out with Claire. “I didn’t know it was going to work out,” he replies. “I just knew I was in love with her.”
Last year, Scanlan recorded a podcast with the mental health charity CALM. He discussed a broad range of subjects, including Claire experiencing a miscarriage in 2019 and his close friend, the Northern Irish radio DJ Stephen Clements, taking his own life a few months later. “He was the type of friend who would celebrate your wins and make excuses for your losses,” says Scanlan of Clements. Today isn’t the right time to ask him to relive such difficult subjects but I would highly recommend anyone reading this interview to watch the podcast below. It is an extraordinary and moving conversation.
We do discuss the importance of mental health. Scanlan’s message is simple: “Please, for the love of fucking God, be kind to yourself. Be good to yourself. Love yourself. Not in a conceited way but just be compassionate to yourself. It took me years to start doing that. And sometimes I still have trouble with it. But from that place of compassion, that place of self love, you’re able to be of service to other people – which is what life should be about, anyway.”
Of course it isn’t easy. He finds comfort in routine. “We all have bad habits,” says Scanlan. “But I’m trying to be a slave to the good habits – which enables me to enjoy one or two bad habits along the way.”
Every morning he wakes up at 5.30am to get a headstart on the kids. “My kids are made of 98% sugar – basically human hand grenades,” he grins. From 5.30am to 6.30am is what he calls his happy hour. He’ll do an ice bath, sauna, workout, meditate. Listen to a motivational podcast, write a gratitude list. (Sometimes the happy hour extends until 7am, God and the children willing.)
There’s one non-negotiable that he never skips. “Every morning that I wake up, I will play a song and I will dance to that song. Before my feet hit the floor, I’m playing it gently into my ear. Then I’m standing up and my eyes are still closed. I’m walking towards my kitchen and I can feel my face jingle because the elasticity has gone at the ripe old age of 46!”
He plays me his current wakeup song. It’s called ‘Every Trick In The Book’, a funky little number by Bristol duo The Allergies. “You know my baby makes me feel good. Oh, he knows how to turn me on…” As the tune shimmies from his phone, he stands up and starts dancing right there in The Marylebone Hotel, a massive grin on his face as he clicks his fingers to the beat. “Take that song please and dance to it tomorrow morning,” he says once he’s sat back down. “You’ll fucking love it.”
How better to end our conversation than watching Emmett J Scanlan dance? Unlike Mowgli, he decided to never leave the jungle. He lives in his imagination, surrounded by loved ones, running with arms outstretched towards whatever new experience life has to offer. May his future stay joyous and soaked in champagne.
A Working Man is currently in cinemas. MobLand is streaming on Paramount+.
