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Megan Shaw

Emmerdale Noah Dingle actor Jack Downham's life off air - from other soap role to surprising age

Emmerdale star Jack Downham is best known for his role as Noah Dingle on the long running ITV soap, a role he has held since 2009.

Noah Dingle has grown up on our screens after he was born to his mum, Charity Dingle, who was in prison at the time accused of murdering her former husband Chris Tate.

Baby Noah was born three months early, and had to have emergency surgery, Charity wasn’t sure who Noah’s dad was at first, it could have been her husband Chris Tate, or her cousins Cain Dingle or Marlon Dingle, as she’d slept with all three men at the right time.

READ MORE: Emmerdale pub shake-up as The Woolpack marks history with noticeable change

However, Debbie, Charity’s daughter, who was convinced her dad Cain was also Noah’s dad. She named her brother Enoch, the son of Cain in the Bible, but Charity didn’t like the name and called him Noah instead.

While tiny Noah was still recovering from his surgery, Zak Dingle decided to carry out a DNA test to find out if the baby was his new grandson.

When the results came back, everyone was surprised to discover that Chris Tate – Charity’s late husband – was the father.

Chris’s sister Zoe Tate bribed Charity to hand Noah over. She offered the desperate new mum £10,000 and the evidence she needed to get out of prison in exchange for custody of the tot.

Little Noah went to live with his aunt, who renamed him Christopher Francis Tate Jr, and banned Charity and Debbie from seeing him, later rekindling his relationship with his mum when she regained custody.

The youngster has seen a lot in his life, especially all his mum’s schemes and failed relationships, so it's not surprising his ideas of a healthy relationship are somewhat skewed.

Jack is currently taking on one of his biggest storylines to date, in recent scenes, the once sweet little boy has showed a more sinister side when he began stalking his ex-girlfriend Chloe Harris after developing an unhealthy obsession.

Thankfully, actor Jack's life off air is much less troubled than that of his on-screen counter, with his character taking a turn to the dark side we have taken a look at Jack's life away from the Dales.

Who is Noah Dingle star Jack Downham and how old is he?

Noah is played by Jack Downham, who has been in the soap since 2009.

Jack was born in Leeds on September 19, 2001, making him 20 years old. Noah has just turned 18 in the soap, meaning Jack is three years older than his counterpart.

The star is originally from Leeds in West Yorkshire, so he’s very familiar with the area the fictional village of Emmerdale is based in.

What did Jack star in before his Emmerdale debut?

Prior to being cast as Noah, Jack appeared in Emmerdale as a background extra. He has also appeared as Peter Morley on Heartbeat, he also played Young Robin in the 2010 version of Robin Hood.

The role of Noah Dingle wasn’t Jack’s first appearance on the soap as he previously worked as a background extra on Emmerdale before landing his most recognisable role.

How does Jack feel about his stalker storyline?

Actor Jack has recently opened up on his dark new storyline which has left viewers divided throughout the show.

The star's fictional character Noah Dingle has turned increasingly dark after his “creepy” obsession with Chloe Harris has grown.

Noah has gone as far as using a drone to track her to stealing her house keys, journal and even putting a tracker on her phone.

Things are about to get even worse as his mum Charity and Chloe discover his disturbing behaviour. In upcoming episodes, Chloe will discover Noah has been stalking her for weeks and will confront him over his actions.

Noah Dingle in Emmerdale (ITV)

Speaking to Digital Spy, actor Jack Downham, who plays Noah, discussed his character's behaviour and the consequences it will have for him. When asked if Noah understands that what he doing is wrong, Downham replied: "He doesn't see it at the time, like a lot of stalkers in real life when I've been researching, they don't see that what they're doing is wrong."

Downham added that Noah 'panics' when Chloe finds out the truth, with things set to go 'downhill' when Charity walks in on the tense situation.

Jack also revealed that he wasn't surprised at how his character had turned out - saying Charity's relationships as he grew up could have impacted his view of women and how to act around them.

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