Nico Cristian Mirallegro ( ; born 26 January 1991) is an English actor and director. He is best known for his roles as Barry "Newt" Newton in the soap opera Hollyoaks (2007–2010), Finn Nelson in My Mad Fat Diary (2013–2015), Joe Middleton in The Village (2013), and Johnjo O'Shea in Common (2014). His feature film credits include Spike Island (2012), Anita B. (2014), The Pass (2016), and Peterloo (2018).
Recognised in 2012 by Screen International as one of its "Stars of Tomorrow", he has been lauded as one of the United Kingdom's "most promising young actors". Among his award nominations are those for Best Actor at the BBC Audio Drama Awards (2016, for Orpheus and Eurydice) and Best Supporting Actor at the BAFTA Awards (2014, for The Village).
Early life Mirallegro was born on 26 January 1991 in Heywood, Greater Manchester. His Italian father is from Sicily, and his Irish mother, Maureen McLaughlin, is from Malin Head. He briefly attended a boarding school outside the UK, at where he was lonely and felt out of place. He also attended Siddal Moor Sports College in Heywood and the Manchester School of Acting. His parents are separated, and his father lives in Spain, with Mirallegro having moved there as a teenager to live with him for a time. He is conversational in Italian and Spanish.
Mirallegro says that he "fell into" acting in his mid-teens after following his sister Claudia to improv classes. At one of his first acting classes, he was "so scared [he] had to get one of the other lads to say [his] lines".
Career
Television Mirallegro's first professional acting role came in 2007, after he was cast as emo teenager Newt in the long-running British soap opera Hollyoaks. Although he voluntarily left Hollyoaks after two years at age 18 to follow other acting projects, he was grateful for the opportunity to appear on the show: "Hollyoaks is where I learnt a lot of the craft, being in front of a camera six days a week. That's certainly an experience you don't get in drama school."
When filming for Hollyoaks, Mirallegro was also playing Cam Spencer in LOL, a web series which explored sex, drugs, and relationships. In 2010, Mirallegro appeared in an episode of the BBC drama series Moving On as a gay youngster who suffers bullying in school because of his sexuality. Beginning 2010, he appeared as an Italian foreign exchange student in nine episodes of the regular BBC series Doctors.
In December 2010, Mirallegro was in series one of the BBC One 1930s-period remake of Upstairs Downstairs. He portrayed a young footman called Johnny Proude, who took up a position in service to escape the poverty of the northern mining town where he was born. The BBC re-commissioned the production for a second series, in which he appeared again as Johnny. In the second series, his character appeared in a boxing tournament, requiring Mirallegro to take boxing lessons for the role. In 2011, Mirallegro appeared in the BBC's three-part psychological thriller Exile, playing the teenage version of leading character Tom Ronstadt. Later that year, he played Sam, a gay heroin addict in the BBC drama The Body Farm.
In 2013, he began playing Finn Nelson, the love interest of the main female character in E4's teen comedy-drama series My Mad Fat Diary. That same year, he also played the role of Joe Middleton in the BBC drama The Village. In 2014, Mirallegro portrayed a teenager prosecuted for murder under the Joint Enterprise law in the controversial BBC One production Common, written by Jimmy McGovern. Called "a bleak, powerful drama thick with political intent", a review started that Mirallegro "continues to prove himself as the best actor ever to graduate from Hollyoaks".
The 2015 television film The Ark told the story of Noah, along with elements from Islamic tradition. Mirallegro portrayed Kenan, Noah's youngest (and extrabiblical) son, whose wish to follow a path different from his father and brothers results in his being swept away in the Great Flood. Mirallegro also starred in HBO's Virtuoso, directed and partially written by Alan Ball. Set in the 18th century, Mirallegro played a self-taught violin prodigy who travels to Vienna to learn with other young musicians.
In June 2017, Mirallegro acted in the BBC's BAFTA winning real-life drama Murdered for Being Different, about the murder of Sophie Lancaster in 2007. In 2019, it was confirmed he would be cast as a British Army soldier in the new series of the long-running BBC One drama Our Girl.
In November 2023, it was announced by Paramount+ that Mirallegro would star in a new original drama series Stags, filming on location in Tenerife and due to be released in 2024.
Film Mirallegro's first film, the short film Six Minutes of Freedom, was shot in 2009. He starred as a troubled teenager training to be a boxer while his father is in prison. The film was entered into four film festivals, and it won Best New Wave Short Film at the Yellow Fever Independent Film Festival.
Mirallegro portrayed a teenage lead guitarist in a full-length film set in the 1990s about the Manchester-formed rock band The Stone Roses. The film, Spike Island, was released in 2012. He called his time making Spike Island "six weeks of pure bliss."
Shooting for Socrates is a 2014 football drama telling "the underdog story of a Northern Ireland team who kick off their world cup against football giants Brazil. The game is a baptism of fire for [Mirallegro's] character, David Campbell, who makes his Northern Ireland debut in front of 50,000 people the day before his 21st birthday". The film's cast was recognized as talented, but reviews of the script were less positive.
Stage In January 2014, Mirallegro appeared at London's Royal Court Theatre in the drama The Pass, in which Russell Tovey plays a football player coming to terms with his homosexuality. Mirallegro reprised his comic role as a hotel bellboy in an "irrepressible performance" in a 2016 film adaptation of the work, which premiered at the BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival.
In November 2025 he made his directorial debut with My Name is Sandra, by Andrea Orton at The Kings Arms theatre in Salford.
Radio Since 2014, Mirallegro has performed in several BBC Radio 4 dramas, including playing the eponymous male character in Orpheus and Eurydice. For this role, he was nominated for Best Actor at the BBC Audio Drama Awards in 2016. He was later cast as the protagonist in 79 Birthdays (2016) and as the son in Over Here, Over There (2016). The latter is a radio drama inspired by the plight of asylum seekers in the UK.
Charity work Mirallegro plays in celebrity football matches for charities such as Help For Heroes and Once Upon a Smile.
Personal life Mirallegro is a supporter of Manchester United FC.
Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes2010 Six Minutes of Freedom Chris Short film 2011 Wheels of Fortune Ben Short film 2012 Spike Island Dodge 2014 Anita B. David Cold Comfort Paul Short film Shooting for Socrates David Campbell A Gun Durwin Short film2016 The Pass Harry Cardboard Boy Mark Short film The Habit of Beauty Ian 2017 Murdered for Being Different Rob Maltby Come Out of the Woods Michael Short film 2018 Peterloo John Bagguley 2020 Re-displacement Leo Short film
+Key Denotes works that have not yet been released
Television Year Title Role Network Notes 2007–2010 Hollyoaks Barry "Newt" Newton Channel 4 Nominated – The British Soap Awards Best NewcomerNominated – The British Soap Awards Best On-Screen Partnership (shared with Marc Silcock)2010 Doctors Giovanni Mannasori BBC One 7 episodes Moving On Jamie Episode: "Losing My Religion" 2010–2012 Upstairs Downstairs Johnny Proude2011 Exile Teenage Tom The Body Farm Sam Villiers Episode 1.2 2012 Last Tango in Halifax Young Alan Episode 1.6 2013 The Village Joe Middleton Series 1Nominated – British Academy Television Awards for Best Supporting Actor 2013–2015 My Mad Fat Diary Finn Nelson E4 Series 1–3 2014 Common Johnjo O'Shea BBC One2015 The Ark Kenan Virtuoso Franz HBO 2016 Rillington Place Timothy Evans BBC One 3-part drama2020 Penance Jed Cousins Channel 5 3-part drama Our Girl "Prof" BBC One Season 42021 Moving On Ben Keane Episode: "Wedding Day" The Beast Must Die Nicky Toone BritBox 3 episodes2022 We Hunt Together Rober (Bob) Miller Alibi Recurring Ridley Callaghan Flannery ITV Episode 4 2023 Spy/Master John Miller Max 4 episodes 2024 Passenger Kane Jackson ITV 2024Stags Stu Paramount+ 6 episodes
Stage Year Title Role Venue Notes 2014 The Pass Harry Royal Court Theatre, London Role reprised in 2016 film adaptation
Music videos Year Title Role2014 The Charlatans – "Talking in Tones" Young Tim Burgess Tiny Ruins – "Carriages" Stag
Radio Year Title Role Notes 2014 My Dad Keith Young Jeff Written by Maxine Peake 2015 Orpheus and Eurydice Orpheus Nominated – BBC Audio Drama Awards for Best Actor2016 79 Birthdays Jimmy Over Here, Over There Son Innocence
Web series Year Title Role Notes 2008–2010 LOL Cam Spencer
Audio books Year Title Role Notes 2015 Nothing but Shadows Narrator 2022 Space Band Narrator 2023 Vulnerable Voices Narrator
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Work Result 2008The British Soap Awards Best Newcomer Hollyoaks Barry "Newt" Newton 2009 Best On-Screen Partnership (shared with Marc Silcock) Hollyoaks Barry "Newt" Newton 2014 British Academy Television Awards Best Supporting Actor The Village Joe Middleton 2016 BBC Audio Drama Awards Best Actor Orpheus and Eurydice Orpheus
Notes
References
External links
Works by or about Nico Mirallegro in libraries (WorldCat catalog)