After premiering on E4 back in 2007, coming-of-age comedy-drama series, Skins, rapidly become one of the most widely-adored and immensely-anticipated series' in British television history.
The gritty and controversial show, which centred on the lives of a group of teenagers in Bristol, is constantly still being watched, referenced and quoted daily by millions across the world.
What you may be surprised to know however, is that a number of Skins' starry-eyed youngsters actually went on to much bigger and often world-renowned projects after they graduated from Roundview College.
A handful became parents, some bagged Golden Globes and a number have even dropped acting altogether.
We investigated exactly what some of the show's best-loved characters are up to now, and you won't be disappointed at what we discovered...
Nicholas Hoult - Tony Stonem
The leading lad from the first two seasons of Skins has arguably become one of the most successful of the whole gang.
Nicholas Hoult, who you might be surprised to learn also played woolly-hatted, oddball youngster Marcus in legendary Hugh Grant comedy About A Boy when he was just 11, has seen his career go from strength-to-strength since his departure from the E4 hit show.
Since playing egocentric anti-hero, academically talented, handsome, womaniser Anthony "Tony" Stonem, Hoult has appeared in blockbusters such as Clash of the Titans, A Single Man (which earned him a BAFTA Rising Star nomination), Mad Max, Warm Bodies, Jack the Giant Slayer, Tolkein and many more both commercial and independent movies.
Most notably, Hoult, who has accumulated a wide range of impressive accolades, has recently starred in the X-Men franchise as Hank McCoy/Beast (during which he started a relationship with co-star Jennifer Lawrence), in critically-acclaimed period drama The Favourite and comedy-drama The Great as Peter III of Russia.
Kaya Scodelario - Effy Stonem
Tony's little sister Elizabeth 'Effy' Stonem is initially mute during her appearances in the first two series of the show, however by the time she appears as the central character in series 3 and 4, she is enigmatic and elusive.
She is played by Kaya Scodelario who, the same year she departed from the show back in 2009, made her film debut in the sci-fi movie Moon as well as in numerous lesser-known films before being cast as the female lead character Teresa in The Maze Runner franchise, which lent her several accolades, and as Carina Smyth Barbossa in Pirates of the Caribbean'
2019 then saw her cast in acclaimed movies such as Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile as Ted Bundy's wife Carole Ann Boone, as well as in crocodile-horror Crawl and Resident Evil.
She is now married to fellow actor Benjamin Walker, with whom she shares one baby and is currently pregnant with the second.
Mike Bailey - Sid Jenkins
Tony Stonem's 'nice guy' and unlucky-in-love best mate Sid was played by Bristol-born Mike Bailey. Following the grand finale of Series 2, Bailey then appeared in Channel 4 drama 1066: The Battle for Middle Earth as well as 2012 teen-comedy We Are The Freaks.
Five years later however, he gave up acting and decided to explore teaching, later telling the Radio Times, "I kind of thought ‘what the f*** am I doing with my life?’ and ended up getting in a conversation with the wife a couple of years ago and decided that those who can’t act teach. Ten years ago I never thought I’d still be talking about it, but [Sid] still does pop up every now and again."
The news of Bailey's change in career path surfaced after a student of his filmed a TikTok of the drama professor with the caption, "Sid from Skins (Mike Bailey) teaches in my school."
April Pearson - Michelle Richardson
Only true Skins fans will remember that both Tony and Sid went through phases of being in love with the most popular girl at Roundview College, Michelle Richardson, who was played by April Pearson.
Pearson's 'mean girl' character in the popular series seems to be far from the other roles she has since played, which have majorly been in horror/slasher film, including Tormented (2009), Fractured (2016), and Caught (2018), and has also married scary movie director Jamie Patterson, with whom is currently awaiting the birth of her first baby.
Pearson dabbled in the world of theatre, as well as in numerous British medical shows such as Casualty, before commencing with a casual podcast series in 2021 titled, Are you Michelle from Skins?
Hannah Murray - Cassie Ainsworth
Game of Thrones fans will have quickly recognised the adorable wildling Gilly in Hannah Murray, who before her HBO debut played up-in-the-clouds, mentally unstable Cassie Ainsworth in Skins, saying "wow", a LOT.
Following her success on the show, Murray, now 32, first embarked onto the West End to play Mia in the critically acclaimed play That Face, before appearing in popular black-comedy movie In Bruges as well as the ITV adaptation of Agatha Christie's Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
Murray later bagged her two awards for her contribution to the Game of Thrones ensemble before starring in a number of independent movies as well as landing a role in Kathryn Bigelow's multi award-winning 2017 drama, Detriot.
Joe Dempsie - Chris Miles
Another Skins alumni to later be cast in the G.o.T was Joe Dempsie, who after playing party-mad, drug-loving hedonist Chris Miles in the teen-dream hit went on to play Gendry Baratheon, the arguably 'rightful' heir to the Iron Throne.
During his on-screen career, he has also featured in TV shows such as Doctor Who, Merlin, This Is England, Harry and Paul and on Friday Night Project, as well as having starred in films like The Damned United.
The now 34-year-old Liverpool-born actor is soon set to make an appearance in the upcoming Netflix original thriller series, Pieces of Her, an adaptation of Karin Slaughter's novel of the same name.
Dev Patel - Anwar Kharral
You also might be surprised to know that two-time Golden Globe, three-time SAG award, and BAFTA award-winning actor Dev Patel began his acting career when he auditioned for Skins, later landing the role of selectively religious Anwar, who regularly struggles to balance his Islamic faith with his love for drugs, sex and alcohol.
The same year that he departed from the series however, he made his career breakthrough after being cast in the leading role of eight-time Golden Globe winning drama, Slumdog Millionaire which gave him bags and bags of accolades.
Patel has since appeared in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, as well as its sequel. These films, along with Hotel Mumbai, Lion and The Personal History of David Copperfield also earned him numerous further accolades.
He is now set make his directorial debut with the upcoming action thriller film Monkey Man, which is set to soon air on Netflix.
Daniel Kaluuya - 'Posh' Kenneth
Another Golden Globe winning star who first found fame in Skins was Daniel Kaluuya, who played the gang's close friend 'Posh' Kenneth, an eccentrically well-to-do character with a rapping alter ego, before also writing many episodes of the show's second series.
The actor then appeared as a guest star in many popular television series including Silent Witness, Doctor Who, Lewis, as fan favourite character Parking Pataweyo in the sketch show Harry and Paul and later in the anthology series, Black Mirror.
It was the latter performance that attracted the attention of US director Jordan Peele, who later cast him in the lead, and his breakthrough role, in critically acclaimed drama-horror Get Out. His 2021 appearance in biographical drama film Judas and the Black Messiah then bagged him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, making him the seventh-youngest winner of the award in history.
Last year, he was listed in Time magazine's Top 100 most influential people in the world and is also the godfather of his Skins co-star Kaya Scodelario's baby.
Aimee Ffion-Edwards - Sketch
Welsh actress and singer Aimee Ffion-Edwards made her on-screen debut as part of the Skins cast during the second series, where she played obsessive oddball Sketch who stalks Maxxie, even transforming her boyfriend Anwar to look like him.
Despite appearing in only six episodes - the least for any lead character in the history of the show - she has since appeared in a multitude of popular British series including Casualty, Being Human, Luther and Walking and Talking.
Her breakthrough acting role however, seems to have been of Esme, the wife of John Shelby, in the BBC smash-hit Peaky Blinders. More recently, she has appeared in Death in Paradise, Wolf Hall and The War of the Worlds.
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