Hollywood star John Bradley entertained a very different audience this week as he returned to his former high school to share his career successes with pupils.
The actor – who has starred in major roles opposite A-listers including Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson and Halle Berry – delivered an inspirational address to pupils, giving an insight into his career on the silver screen and offering his own life motto as advice on how you just have to ‘keep going’ to ensure success. He also reassured the youngsters, many of whom are preparing to sit their GCSEs, not to worry too much about right now and as things will usually work out alright in the end if they just try.
The Game of Thrones star, who played Sam Tarley in the blockbuster HBO series, was quizzed by two panels of teenagers on everything from acting and football to super powers and Christmas traditions.
John shared many heart-warming and comical anecdotes with the students at St Paul’s RC High School in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester, where he himself was a pupil until 2005. The school has this week dedicated the drama studio as ‘The John Bradley Studio’ in his honour installing a silver plaque and signage to commemorate his extraordinary achievements since leaving.
Asked how he felt after the event on Monday afternoon, John said, ‘I really loved it. Seeing some of my old teachers and having a look at the new school, it really made me feel reconnected with that part of my life. The questions from the kids were so much more insightful than I could ever have hoped for. I’m very proud of what the school has become in the 19 years since I left.’
John starred in all eight seasons of the hit show Game of Thrones as loveable bookworm Sam and was a firm fan favourite whose character killed a white walker, fell in love with a wildling and delivered the knock-out blow to end the relationship of dragon queen Daenerys Targaryen (played by Emilia Clarke) and Jon Snow (played by Kit Harrington) after revealing they were related. The show was one of the most successful ever to grace the small screen scooping 59 Emmy’s with 159 nominations and catapulted John to stardom.
John – who grew up in Wythenshawe and still lives in Manchester close to his family – has gone on to star in Hollywood hits Marry Me with Jennifer Lopez and Moonfall with Halle Berry in 2022. More recently he played the conductor in The Railway Children Return opposite original child star Jenny Agutter and also starred in Netflix sci-fi smash Three Body Problem, one of the most watched shows of 2024.
John spent four hours at the school and delivered two chat-show style sessions to audiences aged 11-16. He was also surprised by some of his former teachers who returned for the afternoon to see him and enjoyed lunch reminiscing about his younger days.
Assistant Headteacher, Laura Fannon, who organised the event, said, ‘We are truly grateful to John for giving up his time to come back to St Paul’s to share his invaluable life experiences with our pupils. He offered some sound advice and words of inspiration to boost their aspirations and also made us laugh.’
Headteacher Mr Whiteside said, ‘It was absolutely amazing to welcome back an ex-pupil who has achieved superstar status and see him return to his roots. What stood out even more was the warmth of his interactions, not just with the students but also with staff and former staff. He truly is a well-grounded and kind-hearted gentleman and it’s possible he’s just inspired the next generation of Hollywood stars. A heartfelt thank you to John – it was a day to remember!’
John signed autographs and posed for pictures with excited students and staff and ‘opened’ the newly dedicated drama studio.
Pupil panellist and aspiring actress Eva Martinelli, 14, said, ‘I thought it was a very cool experience to be able to speak to a really successful person who grew up in the same background as we did.’
Isaac Robinson, 14, said, ‘The opportunity was very exciting. Not a lot of people get to meet celebrities and the fact I met someone who participated in Game of Thrones is incredible.’
David Baddiah, 15, said, ‘It was fun and an amazing opportunity. We learned valuable lessons that we can use throughout our lives, not just related to the acting industry.’
Pupils were treated to highlights from John’s professional career including movie clips and celebrity photos with his GOT mates and favourite football team, Manchester United.
Students were stunned when he revealed his childhood idol David Beckham once asked him for a selfie as he was a huge GOT fan. He said ‘He’s one of those people that when he stands in front of you and you’re talking to him you can’t believe he’s there because you’re so used to seeing him in pictures and on TV and it’s like a real privilege and he’s a very nice bloke.’
Asked who is his biggest inspiration in life, John, named Reds’ legend Paul Scholes before also citing Oasis frontmen Noel and Liam Gallagher because they were so successful and ‘from round the corner’ from where he lived which made him ‘realise anything is possible.’
Pupils were shown footage of the multi-talented actor playing the drums live with Doll Nicole Sherzinger singing and John confessed that was the first time he had ever played to a live audience and, seconds before the spotlight turned on him, he was shaking with nerves thinking he could not do it.
John revealed he has been working hard performing his own stunts for his latest movie – a comedy in the vein of Zombie flick Shaun of the Dead – and enjoyed perfecting double-handed sword fighting, rolling over cars and ‘lawn-mowering someone’s face off’.
John, who has just wrapped on the project due out next year, admitted he is looking forward to a restful Christmas break with family saying, ‘If you can keep Christmas as it was when you were a kid that’s the only thing I want to do. I’ll be in Gatley with my sister playing board games until we stop talking to each other.’
| ADDITIONAL MATERIAL – some of John’s comments from the pupil interviews: |
Students watched a clip of John ‘Hurt You Badly’ Bradley playing dodgeball with a host of celebrities including Michelle Obama, Kate Hudson, Mila Kunis and Harry Styles and John admitted he kept everyone waiting as he was late from filming an interview for the Ellen Show. He added, ‘You’ve never felt more of a fool than keeping Michelle Obama waiting for 45 minutes while you drive across town.’
John attended St Paul’s from 2000-2005 and starred in school productions before enrolling at Loreto Sixth Form College and graduated from The Manchester School of Theatre in 2010 with a BA Hons. John admitted it has not all been plain sailing as rejection comes with the job and offered pupils some sage advice on how to handle ‘failures.’
Asked what advice he would give his teenager self, John shared an emotional moment telling students, ‘My 16-year-old self was somebody who wasn’t particularly happy with the way he was. There was so much about myself that I wanted to change. I was kind of overweight and not particularly happy about the way I sort of presented myself to the world and it turns out that the thing about myself that I wanted to change the most was going to be the secret to the success that I had because when they were casting GOT they were looking for an actor to play this role, an overweight actor who a had lot of pain and self-doubt about that so I was the perfect person in the world to play that part. If I’d have gotten to change the things about myself that I wanted to change I never would have gotten to play it. It’s about seeing that what you consider to be a failing about yourself might not be a failing at all; it might be something people want and find useful.’
Asked if there was a motto or way of thinking he lives by, John said, ‘Oh yeah, it’s just got to be ‘keep going.’ Any actor that you like, or you think they’re kind of top of the tree, they will be disappointed all the time because they haven’t got a certain part. When that happens you’ve just got to believe in yourself and keep going because imagine if you quit on the Wednesday and something awesome would have happened on the Thursday so you’ve just got to dust yourself off and keep going. If you don’t get used to dealing with rejection life’s going to be really hard.’
Speaking of why he became an actor, John said he grew up watching comedy shows like Only Fools and Horses and he felt that entertainment brought families together and is an important job. He said, ‘I remember watching them with my dad and both really laughing and I thinking I’d love to be able to make somebody else feel as happy as I’m feeling watching this. There’s a lot of sadness in the world and if you do something positive to entertain people I thought it was a really good way to spend your time on the planet and I’ve wanted to do it ever since.’
He added, ‘It’s when you have hardship and you need to take your mind off bad things or sad things you turn to entertainment and films and TV programmes so the fact that you get the chance to help people through bad times is a really nice thing to do.’
Asked by one pupil about how he feels about the advent of AI and its impact on potentially putting actors and writers out of jobs, John admitted this is a shame, saying, ‘I think when it comes to sport, and the arts and drama, it’s all about celebrating what human beings can do. You can see a film written by a computer and you can still enjoy it but if you see a film written by a human being you think I like that more because it’s a testament to what humans can do.’
John told the students he’d love to play Macbeth one day. He said, ‘I’ve not done Shakespeare yet and I think it’s one of those things where the older I get the more nervous I am about doing it. I think that’s the biggest challenge for an actor to do Shakespeare, to make that believable and create characters and tell a story with that language.’
John revealed he almost missed out on his most famous role of Sam Tarley, saying ‘Before I did Game of Thrones there was talk of me doing this other tiny little comedy thing for Channel 4 and I didn’t get it. At the time I was devastated but now I realise if I’d have got that I wouldn’t have got GOT because I wouldn’t have been available to do it. So it’s just about accepting the failure or the disappointment as it is at the time but knowing it could lead to even better things and just seeing your life as a whole journey where a set-back is just a tiny little part of that that something good could come out of.’
John says he has stayed grounded, despite his success, and still sees his old school friends and lives near home, ‘My life kind of stayed the same because I was sort of happy with it. I’ve changed my life in the ways that I wanted to. I think what kind of happens is a lot of people they get to a certain success in acting and they leave home and they live in LA or New York and they find that they cut off all of their old friends and the new friends that they’ve made, they don’t really want to know you unless you’re successful. If you have a bad time those friends are going to leave you and you can sort of find yourself completely without a friend in the world. So I’ve always believed in keeping my friends close.’
Citing The Royle Family as his favourite show, he said ‘The person who wrote it came from Wythenshawe and it’s set in Wythenshawe and it’s just like all of our families. What I love about it is the fact that in Manchester in the 90s we were the centre of the universe here because of Oasis and United being so successful and when I was growing up in Manchester it was like we’re awesome, we don’t need American shows or films or music, we’ve got our own thing. To have a show that’s set in the place where you grew up and everybody in it is like somebody you know, it makes you feel really proud of yourself and proud of where you come from.’