The bizarre way Charlie Hunnam was discovered
Charlie Hunnam is an underrated face of the action, adventure and crime genre, appearing in film and TV as a motorcycle club member, an English monarch and an explorer. Hunnam’s most credible performance, however, is as Jackson ‘Jax’ Teller in the hit show Sons of Anarchy, created by Kurt Sutter.
In addition to his role on the hit FX series, Hunnam has received acclaim for his works in the movies such as Pacific Rim, Triple Frontier, The Gentlemen and more. He also earned praise for his titular role in Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, performing alongside Jude Law. Regarding other television work, the actor has succeeded on the Fox sitcom Undeclared and the Apple TV+ drama thriller series Shantaram.
Getting discovered is difficult for any actor, but it came as second nature to Hunnam, given that he has one of the more exciting discovery stories in industry history. All it took was one outing to one of his local stores for Hunnam to cross paths with the person who would help launch him into stardom.
The English actor was introduced to show business at just 17 when he was discovered during a last-minute Christmas shopping excursion. While under the influence, the star was looking for shoes in a JD Sports branch with his brother when he captured the attention of Andy Snelgrove, the Byker Grove production manager who was looking for faces to appear in his Newcastle-based teen drama. Hunnam was cast in his first role as Jason for three show episodes in the late 1990s.
Reflecting on this moment, Hunnam shared his early days of entertainment work when in conversation with GQ, discussing the changes in paths he made after his first try with modelling. “When I was a kid, probably 16 or 17, I got spotted by a model scout that wanted to represent me, and they sent me one modelling job for Wall’s ice cream,” the actor shared. “I did one job for them, and then a catwalk shoot for Kangol caps, and decided modelling was not for me.”
From this, Hunnam sought his true passion, performing with creative stories in front of a camera. He knew what to ask his agency for and how to ask it, resulting in a more successful line of work aligned with his skills and career vision. He added: “They had an acting division as part of this agency as well, and I said, ‘Well, I don’t want to model, but if you want to send me on some auditions, I’m in film school, I want to be an actor. So if you want to represent me, that would be great.’ And they, eh, weren’t really interested, and I just badgered and badgered and badgered them, and they finally sent me out. I ended up getting the first job that they sent me out on.”
From this, Hunnam appeared in his first significant role at 18, having been cast as 15-year-old schoolboy Nathan Maloney by Russell T. Davies in his Channel 4 drama Queer as Folk. The character is new to the gay scene but still manages to exert confidence and a rebellious nature. When asked about how he now controls his acting career, he told Chronicle Live: “Hollywood is run on perception, and if you stray off the path of what you want to do with your career, it’s suicide. I have 60 years to make the money, but the choices I make in the next five years are really going to define my career.”
