Johnny Flynn is a British musician, composer, actor and writer. He is also a keen campaigner on ecological and environmental issues.
Following a sold out run at the National Theatre, Johnny is playing in London’s West End until March 2024 in the lead role of Richard Burton in THE MOTIVE AND THE CUE directed by Sam Mendes. His previous stage credits include the West End productions of Sam Shepard’s TRUE WEST (2018) with Kit Harington (for which he also composed music); and JERUSALEM (2012) with Mark Rylance, for which Johnny was nominated for an Olivier Award. Film acting credits include the 2017 BAFTA winning BEAST, with Jessie Buckley, EMMA with Anya Taylor Joy (for which Johnny composed the closing song) and STARDUST (for which he won the Raindance Jury’s Best Actor Award in 2020 playing a young David Bowie).
With his band JOHNNY FLYNN & THE SUSSEX WIT he has released four studio and various
live albums and toured the world. He has scored and composed for numerous films (including the musical THE SCORE, in which he also appeared) TV (DETECTORISTS), Theatre and Radio projects. Together with Robert Hudson, he wrote an original radio musical, MAGNITSKY THE MUSICAL for the BBC which won best original drama at the BBC audio awards in 2021.
In 2020, when the Covid pandemic struck, Johnny and the writer Robert Macfarlane began collaborating on an album, LOST IN THE CEDAR WOOD (Transgressive Records) based on the ancient epic of Gilgamesh and the stories of its rediscovery. Together, they toured the UK and played in the candle-lit Sam Wanamaker playhouse at Shakespeare’s Globe – they are currently writing a full scale musical based on the album. Johnny and Robert also worked together on the Simon McBurney/Complicité/BBC radio adaptation of Susan Cooper’s THE DARK IS RISING and their latest collaborative album THE SUN ALSO RISES was released in November 2023. They will be on tour throughout the UK in May 2024.