Writer. Actor. Director.
Jack is an award-winning writer, actor and director.
He trained as an actor at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and has performed on stages across the UK — from Truro to Inverness, the RSC to the West End. He’s starred in tv and film for Amazon, Channel 4, BBC, ITV and BFI.
He was selected to take part in the Royal Court Introduction to Playwriting Course in 2014, and the Channel 4 Screenwriting Course in 2024.
His debut play, CRUISE, was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best New Play 2022. His follow-up, KENREX: A True Crime Thriller, co-written with Ed Stambollouian, premiered at Sheffield Theatres Autumn 2024 - and won Jack the UK Theatre Award for Best Performer in a Play. It returns to The Other Palace, London from December 3rd 2025 to February 1st 2026.
Jack’s adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst’s THE LINE OF BEAUTY, directed by Michael Grandage, opens at the Almeida Theatre on October 21st.
Jack is developing multiple stage and screen projects with a range of production companies. He has produced numerous short films and plays for which he wrote successful Arts Council England grant applications, script-edited, line produced, location scouted, 1st AD-ed, and a whole lot more…
Jack is represented by United Agents’ Lindy King and John Hyslop for his acting; Independent Talent’s Alec Drysdale for his writing; and United Voices for his voice over work.
KENREX
Written by Jack Holden and Ed Stambollouian
With music by John Patrick Elliott
Directed by Ed Stambollouian
Performed by Jack Holden and John Patrick Elliott
Sheffield Theatres 2024 | Southwark Playhouse 2025 | The Other Palace 2025
‘911, what's your emergency?’
‘My husband... they shot him... they all did.’
July 10th 1981. Skidmore, Missouri. A man is shot dead in broad daylight. There are sixty witnesses - but no one saw a thing.
Part True Crime, part Western, with a foot stomping live Americana soundtrack, KENREX is a gritty, gripping, one-man thrill ride from the creators of the Olivier-nominated Cruise.
WINNER: UK Theatre Awards Best Actor in a Play - Jack Holden
“Nothing short of phenomenal... A brilliantly theatrical, exhilarating and terrifying evocation of chaos”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Telegraph
“Spell-binding”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ WhatsOnStage
“Astonishing... demands to be seen”
★ ★ ★ ★ The Guardian
“Thrilling”
★ ★ ★ ★ The Stage
“Absolutely phenomenal theatre”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Musical Theatre Review
BOOK for KENREX at The Other Palace.
Dec 3rd 2025 - February 1st 2026.
photos by Manuel Harlan
The Line of Beauty
Based on the novel by Alan Hollinghurst
Adapted by Jack Holden
Directed by Michael Grandage
Almeida Theatre 2025
I can’t explain it. I can’t explain any of it to you.
The line of beauty which led me to him… to here.
London. Summer, 1983.
Nick Guest moves into the grand Notting Hill home of his university friend Toby — and into the dazzling world of Toby’s father Gerald, a newly elected Tory MP, his elegant wife Rachel, and their troubled daughter Cat. From private gardens to country estates, glittering parties to political dinners, Nick is swept up in a world of money, power and privilege. A world that promises everything — and exacts a cost.
As he pursues beauty in all its forms — aesthetic, erotic, aspirational — Nick finds himself caught between the freedoms of desire and the rigid boundaries of class, sexuality and public image in a rapidly changing Britain.
The Line of Beauty is a captivating portrait of Thatcher’s Britain at its most decadent and divisive, based on the Booker Prize-winning novel by “one of the greatest writers of our time” (The Guardian) Alan Hollinghurst. Olivier Award nominee Jack Holden’s (Cruise; Kenrex) new adaptation of this poignant book is directed by Tony Award winner Michael Grandage.
“Writer Jack Holden and director Michael Grandage have created a piece that is supremely polished”
★ ★ ★ ★★ Metro
“A captivating portrait of Thatcher’s Britain”
★ ★ ★ ★ Financial Times
“Hugely entertaining”
★ ★ ★ ★ Evening Standard
“Hard not to be seduced”
★ ★ ★ ★ Telegraph
“Deliciously witty”
★ ★ ★ ★ Independent
“Jack Holden has achieved something remarkable”
★ ★ ★ ★ WhatsOnStage
Photo by Nadav Kander
Cruise
Written and performed by Jack Holden
Music written and performed by John Patrick Elliott
Directed by Bronagh Lagan
Duchess Theatre 2021 | Apollo Theatre 2022 | HOME, Manchester 2023
The first new play to reopen the West End after the lockdown closures of 2020/21, CRUISE premiered at the Duchess Theatre to rave reviews, and a nomination for the Olivier Award for Best New Play and two Stage Debut Awards.
WINNER: Stage Debut Award for Best Sound Design/Composition - John Patrick Elliott
In 2022, it played a sell-out run at the Apollo Theatre.
It made its regional premiere at HOME Manchester in 2023, and has been performed in South Africa and Australia. The Mexican and Brazilian productions of CRUISE premiere in 2025.
‘Life affirming and as searingly honest as It’s A Sin... A tour de force, the toast of the town.’
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The Telegraph
‘A masterful display of physical and linguistic shapeshifting from Holden.’
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The Evening Standard
‘Stunningly funny, joyful and wholeheartedly life-grabbing. Holden is enchanting.’
★ ★ ★ ★ The Guardian
‘Cruise achieves so much it’s tricky to decide which standout feature to rave about first.’
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Gay Times
‘Validation of all theatre can do.’
★ ★ ★ ★ WhatsOnStage
Jack’s debut short film as writer-director, SAFARI tells the story of a chance meeting in a night club between two men - one who is on a new recreational drug, the other who isn’t…
Produced by My Accomplice, coming soon.
Josh: Eloka Ivo
Oscar: Alexander Holley
Grace: Lydia Larson
Producer: Sychelle-Kristina Yanda
Producer: Dorottya Székely
Executive Producer: Jamie Clark
Executive Producer: Aleksandra Bilić
Executive Producer: Cordell Campbell
1st Assistant Director: Ty Hack
Director Of Photography: Andreas Neo
1st AC: Kieran Poynter
Camera Operator: James Davis
Gaffer: Amarjeet Singh
Electrician: Mark Haley
DIT: Arthur Graham-Maw
Sound Recordist: Craig Cassie
Art Director: Shakeelah Archibald
Hair and Makeup Designer: Joe Darby
Script Supervisor: Terrie Aghaizu
Intimacy Co-Ordinator: Jamila Wingett
Editor: Stephen Ashwell
Colourist: Jax Harney
Sound Mix & Sound Design: Nigel Albermaniche
Composer: John Patrick Elliott
GFX Artist: Joe Phinikas at Bubble
Casting By Stafi Samaki and Ella Sky Laurie at Des Hamilton Casting
