Who is Robert Aramayo? The actor who beat Timothee Chalamet at the Baftas

After a night full of surprise Bafta wins, British actor Robert Aramayo was, without a doubt, the standout star of the evening.

Both the biggest night in British film and one of the buzziest ceremonies during the awards season, a lot is riding on who scoops up a statue – especially for the Oscar hopefuls.

The night saw victories for Hamnet (including best actress for Jessie Buckley), Sinners (including best supporting actress and original score) and One Battle After Another (OBAA), which secured best film.

Although other movies like Marty Supreme were not so decorated. The Timothee Chalamet movie lost out on all 11 nominations (tied for the most losses ever at the Baftas).

On the night, 33-year-old screenstar Robert secured not one but two of the night’s biggest awards: the EE Rising Star award (which boasts a star-studded alumni) and best actor.

The latter victory saw him beat out tough competition, including frontrunners Leonardo DiCaprio for (OBAA) and Timothee for Marty Supereme – both of whom are hoping to land the coveted Oscar in a few weeks.

What film did Aramayo win the Bafta for?

Robert won both of his Bafta awards for his lead role in Scottish biographical drama, I Swear, where he plays Tourette’s campaigner, John Davidson MBE.

The two-hour movie documents John’s experience growing up with Tourette syndrome in the 1980s, the societal judgment and difficulties he faced and his eventual fight for public awareness around the condition.

John featured in a 1989 BBC documentary entitled John’s Not Mad.

As laid out by the NHS, Tourette syndrome is ‘a condition that causes you to make sudden, repetitive sounds or movements (tics).’

After expressing his pure shock, the breakout actor’s acceptance speech gave a nod to fellow nominee Ethan Hawke and acknowledged the man the story was based on, John.

Speaking through tears, Aramayo said: ‘I honestly cannot believe this’ and called John ‘the most amazing man I’ve ever met.’

John was in attendance at the ceremony, but it is reported that he left halfway through after an incident toward the beginning of the night in which he shouted the N-word while Sinners stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting an award.

Bafta host Alan Cumming and the BBC issued an apology for any offence caused, with Alan thanking everyone for their ‘understanding’.

Meanwhile, there has been a lot of discussion online about the moment and what more should have been done to protect the actors at the receiving end of the slur.

In the winner’s room after his second win, Robert called John’s condition ‘complicated and complex and it requires us to have grace’.

He continued: ‘It’s far more than – there’s lots of tics that people don’t see. There’s people who live with Tourette syndrome who you don’t know that they are because you think tics are a certain thing, but they’re not always like that. 

‘I think just for me, personally, what I learned straight away was that’s true and it then made me passionate about wanting to spread that with the work.’

What else has he starred in?

Aramayo started in the industry in 2012 as the character Hooligan in the short movie 18 actors, but his first major role was as a young Ned Stark in Game of Thrones in 2016.

Since then, he has starred in a series of TV shows and movies, including an episode of Netflix series Mindhunter in 2019 and the 2020 movie Antebellum.

In recent years, he has featured in Behind Her Eyes, where he played Rob, and notably as Elrond in The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power – Amazon Prime’s hit prequel series.

Last year, he starred in Palestine 36 and his now multi-Bafta-winning movie, I Swear.

Speaking to The Guardian, Robert shared his rocky start in the industry after he graduated. He landed a role in an HBO drama opposite Casey Affleck, which was ultimately scrapped.

‘I didn’t understand the fragility of it,’ he said, although he added: ‘I got Game of Thrones straight afterwards’

Where is he from?

Robert hails from Kingston upon Hull in Yorkshire, landing his first acting role in a production of Bugsy Malone, aged seven and by the time he was nine, he had joined  Hull Truck theatre’s youth programme.

In his adulthood, he studied at the prestigious New York-based performance school Juilliard, after which he started his onscreen career.

Acting is a family trade, with his older sister Laura Aramayo, 35, also joining the profession and starring in soap operas, Emmerdale and Coronation Street.

The real-life siblings both starred in the Netflix miniseries Behind Her Eyes.

In an interview with The Times discussing his son’s prestigious nomination, his father Mike said: ‘You get lost in the names of DiCaprio, Chalamet, Jordan and all of that. You realise just how talented you need to be to get there.

‘But Robert has worked his socks off all his life. Whether it’s a small part or a big part he [has] still put the same research in, the same effort and [given] it his best shot.’

He added he was ‘just from a normal, working-class family from Hull.’

Outside of acting Laura is a midwife and his other sister, Charleigh, 27, is doing a degree in social work.

After earning his place at Juilliard, his family realised they ‘couldn’t afford it’ and started raising money among friends, as his mum Lisa recounted. Eventually, his father’s circumstances changed, meaning he could contribute to the fee.

During his first Bafta speech, he also thanked his ‘amazing partner’, although little is publicly known about his girlfriend.

He is currently performing in a sold-out run of Luke Norris’ Guess How Much I Love You?

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