Skins was a big hit when it burst onto our TV screens just over 14 years ago.
The British teen comedy-drama attracted a large adolescent audience when it first aired on Channel 4 back in 2007 and ran for a successful seven seasons.
It followed the lives of six sixth form teenagers from Bristol as they explored their sexuality, drink and drugs, as well as controversial storylines that tackled depression, dysfunctional families and bipolar disorder and eating disorders.
The popular show ran for three seasons with three different incarnations of the Skins alumni making their way in life.
But whatever happened to the original cast -and even some of the later generations of graduates?
Well, the show’s first leading actor went on to star in Hollywood in string of X-Men films, while two of the young cast starred in award-winning fantasy drama Game of Thrones.
One actress found success in the hugely-successful Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, while two of the later generations won BAFTA awards.
Nicholas Hoult
Nicholas Hoult played rebellious Tony Stonem (Image: Channel 4)
Remember the film About a Boy based on Nick Hornby’s novel? Remember the cute kid who stars alongside Hugh Grant? Well, this is Nicholas, who would later go to play the controversial lead character Tony Stonem in first and second series of Skins.
He famously dated fellow Hollywood star Jennifer Lawrence, but the 31-year-old actor has nevertheless established himself as a force to be reckoned with on the big screen.
Back in 2002, the budding 12-year-old actor made his big film debut with Hollywood heartthrob Grant.
But his major breakthrough role came when he was cast as big blue mutant Hank in the Marvel franchise.
Nicholas dated fellow X-Men star Jennifer Lawrence (Image: GETTY)
He starred in X-Men: First Class in 2011 and went on to star in two further films X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse and X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
He also played Nux in the 2015 action film “Mad Max: Fury Road.”
More recently, Wokingham-born Nicholas was commended for his role as Harley in Oscar-nominated and BAFTA award-winning The Favourite that grossed nearly $100 at the box office.
Nicholas has come a long way since his Skins days (Image: Getty Images)
And he was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Series Musical or Comedy in 2021 for his portrayal of Emperor Peter in hit comedy The Great.
He’s set to appear in Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible 7 later this year.
Kaya Scodelario
Kaya found fame in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise (Image: Getty Images for Paramount Pictu)
Kaya was instantly-recognisable in Skins as Tony’s enigmatic sister Effy Stonem.
The eye-catching English-Brazilian actress was just 14 when she made his first serious TV breakthrough in the show.
She starred for four seasons and graduated into one of the show’s leading characters.
But, respectively, there were bigger projects around the corner as she went on to make her big film breakthrough in the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales move in 2017.
Appearing alongside Hollywood icon Johnny Deep, Kaya played the character Carina Smyth.
Kaya as Effy Stonem in hit teen drama Skins (Image: Channel 4)
Prior to that box office success, Kaya twice starred as Teresa in Maze Runner and follow-up Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials.
Most recently, Scodelario appeared as Kat Baker on the Netflix TV series “Spinning Out.”
On her official Instagram account, which has 2.6million followers, she says she is always “obsessing over Dogs, fart jokes, pub beer gardens and the Obama scene in Fleabag”.
Kaya lives in New Zealand with her husband and son.
Joe Dempsie
Joe in his early years as Chris Miles in Skins (Image: Channel 4)
The Liverpool-born actor played Chris Miles in the hit show before finding fantasy fame in the award-winning Game of Thrones.
Joe played Gendry Baratheon the HBO hit from 2011-2019 and admitted it was an emotional wrench when he left the show, especially after the cast effectively became his family over those fun years.
When filming wrapped after the fifth series Joe posted to his 448k Instagram followers: “Being a part of this show has given me experiences I’ll never ever forget.
“But it’s the people I’ll miss the most. I’d just moved to London when we started season 1, didn’t have many mates there – and Game of Thrones changed all that.
Big time: Joe went on to find Hollywood fame in Game of Thrones (Image: GETTY)
“To the friends I’ve made in this amazing cast and crew, thank you.
“Playing Gendry over 5 seasons has been a joy, and I can’t thank you lot enough for taking him to your hearts – and being patient while he took 3 years to find his way round a set of oars.”
Prior to his role on Skins, 33-year-old Joe played Ben Campbell in Sweet Medicine, Humphrey ‘Bogie’ Locke on the series Born and Bred, and Danny on BBC medical series Doctors between 2001-2004.
Most recently he’s starring in the Fox cop show Deep State.
Hannah Murray
Hannah Murray went on to star in Game of Thrones (Image: PA)
Hannah played the troubled Cassie Ainsworth – and she too went to find fame in Game of Thrones.
The actress played Gilly from 2012-2019 and was nominated alongside her castmates for three Screen Actors Guild Awards.
But arguably the Bristol-born 31-year-old’s greatest success to date is winning a Best Actress Award at the Tribeca Film Festival for her role as Julie Ann Hysell in Kathryn Bigelow’s critically-acclaimed American period crime drama Detroit in 2017.
Hannah as fresh-faced Cassie Ainsworth in Skins (Image: Channel 4)
Hannah is set to appear on the TV show Emma later this year and also starred alongside Johnny Depp in film Dark Shadows.
And then there are some of the famous alumni from the later generation of Skins.
Dev Patel
He’s come far: Dev earned BAFTA fame ten years after Skins (Image: GETTY)
Played a baby-faced Anwar in the series, but Dev has since gone on to achieve meteoric success after he left the show.
He most famously starred as Jamal Malik in the highly-acclaimed hit Slumdog Millionaire.
Dev won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor and has never looked back since having taken Hollywood by storm.
All smiles: Dev Patel scoops the BAFTA Supporting Actor award for ‘Lion’ (Image: GETTY)
His other film credits include The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, the tear-jerker Lion and The Personal History of David Copperfield, the latter which saw him scoop the award for Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical at the Golden Globes.
Jack O’Connell
Jack O’Connell graduated from Skins to Hollywood fame (Image: GETTY)
Starred as the rebellious James Cook in Skins, often referred to as Cook.
Jack was part of the second generation of the series, but had appeared in the acclaimed This Is England before landing the role.
And, like Dev, the 30-year-old has gone to crack Hollywood.
The Derby-born actor won a BAFTA Rising Star Award for his heart-wrenching role in the film Unbroken in 2014, directed by Angelina Jolie.
Hero: Jack O’Connell plays Louis Zamperini in hit film Unbroken
He went on to star in movies Money Monster, The Man with the Iron Heart, Jungleland and Little Fish. And he also won plaudits for a prisoner in the harrowing crime drama Starred Up.
Jack also had cameos in well-known shows Doctors, The Bill, Waterloo Road and Holby City before the bright lights of Hollywood beckoned.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
