Writer & Actor.
Jack is an award-winning writer & actor.
He trained as an actor at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and has performed on stages across the UK — from Truro to Inverness, the RSC to the West End. He’s been in tv and film for Amazon, Channel 4, BBC, ITV and BFI.
He has taken part in the Royal Court Introduction to Playwriting Course and the Channel 4 Screenwriting Course. He was recently on attachment at the National Theatre Studio and his screenplay ‘REVOLTING’ was selected for the BRIT LIST 2025.
His debut play, CRUISE, was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best New Play 2022. His follow-up, KENREX: A True Crime Thriller, co-written with Ed Stambollouian, premiered at Sheffield Theatres Autumn 2024 - and won Jack the UK Theatre Award for Best Performer in a Play. It played at The Other Palace, London in Winter 2025/26- picking up six Olivier Award nominations - and runs at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, New York, from April 2026.
Jack’s adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst’s THE LINE OF BEAUTY, directed by Michael Grandage, opens at the Almeida Theatre on October 21st.
Jack is developing multiple stage and screen projects with a range of production companies.
Jack is represented by United Agents’ Lindy King and John Hyslop for his acting; Independent Talent’s Alec Drysdale for his writing; and United Voices for his voice over work.
KENREX
Written by Jack Holden and Ed Stambollouian
With music by John Patrick Elliott
Directed by Ed Stambollouian
Performed by Jack Holden and John Patrick Elliott
Lucille Lortel Theatre, New York, 2026 | The Other Palace 2025 | Southwark Playhouse 2025 | Sheffield Theatres 2024
‘911, what's your emergency?’
‘My husband... they shot him... they all did.’
July 10th 1981. Skidmore, Missouri. A man is shot dead in broad daylight. There are sixty witnesses - but no one saw a thing.
Part True Crime, part Western, with a foot stomping live Americana soundtrack, KENREX is a gritty, gripping, one-man thrill ride from the creators of the Olivier-nominated Cruise.
WINNER:
UK Theatre Awards Best Actor in a Play - Jack Holden
NOMINATIONS:
Olivier Awards 2026 - Best New Play, Best Actor, Best Director, Outstanding Musical contribution, Best Sound Design, Best Lighting Design
Critics Circle Theatre Award - Best New Play
Off West End Awards - Best Creation, Production, Performance, Design and Sound & Music
Whatsonstage Awards - Best Studio Show
“A masterclass in acting and storytelling” – ★★★★★ The Sunday Times
“Western swagger meets true crime in a five-star triumph” – ★★★★★ Financial Times
“Brilliantly theatrical, exhilarating and terrifying” – ★★★★★ Daily Telegraph
“An astonishing staging of a true-crime story” – ★★★★ Daily Mail
BOOK for KENREX at The Lucille Lortel Theatre, NY, April to June 2026.
photos by Manuel Harlan
The Line of Beauty
Based on the novel by Alan Hollinghurst
Adapted by Jack Holden
Directed by Michael Grandage
Almeida Theatre 2025
I can’t explain it. I can’t explain any of it to you.
The line of beauty which led me to him… to here.
London. Summer, 1983.
Nick Guest moves into the grand Notting Hill home of his university friend Toby — and into the dazzling world of Toby’s father Gerald, a newly elected Tory MP, his elegant wife Rachel, and their troubled daughter Cat. From private gardens to country estates, glittering parties to political dinners, Nick is swept up in a world of money, power and privilege. A world that promises everything — and exacts a cost.
As he pursues beauty in all its forms — aesthetic, erotic, aspirational — Nick finds himself caught between the freedoms of desire and the rigid boundaries of class, sexuality and public image in a rapidly changing Britain.
The Line of Beauty is a captivating portrait of Thatcher’s Britain at its most decadent and divisive, based on the Booker Prize-winning novel by “one of the greatest writers of our time” (The Guardian) Alan Hollinghurst. Olivier Award nominee Jack Holden’s (Cruise; Kenrex) new adaptation of this poignant book is directed by Tony Award winner Michael Grandage.
“Writer Jack Holden and director Michael Grandage have created a piece that is supremely polished”
★ ★ ★ ★★ Metro
“A captivating portrait of Thatcher’s Britain”
★ ★ ★ ★ Financial Times
“Hugely entertaining”
★ ★ ★ ★ Evening Standard
“Hard not to be seduced”
★ ★ ★ ★ Telegraph
“Deliciously witty”
★ ★ ★ ★ Independent
“Jack Holden has achieved something remarkable”
★ ★ ★ ★ WhatsOnStage
Photo by Nadav Kander
Cruise
Written and performed by Jack Holden
Music written and performed by John Patrick Elliott
Directed by Bronagh Lagan
Duchess Theatre 2021 | Apollo Theatre 2022 | HOME, Manchester 2023
South Africa 2024 | Australia 2025 | Mexico 2025
Soho, London. 1980. Michael arrives in the bright lights of London and begins an odyssey through the pubs and clubs of Soho where he finds friends, foes and lovers. But as the clouds of the AIDS crisis gather, Michael’s life—and community—is turned upside down. Handed a death sentence by a nurse, Michael faces a choice: fade away quietly or go out with a bang. A life-affirming story of love, loss and dancing in the face of terror.
WINNER: Stage Debut Award for Best Sound Design/Composition - John Patrick Elliott
NOMINATION: Olivier Award - Best New Play
Cruise was the first new play to play in the West End after lockdown, opening at the Duchess Theatre in 2021. In2022, it played a sell-out run at the Apollo Theatre. It made its regional premiere at HOME Manchester in 2023, and has been performed in South Africa and Australia. The Mexican and Brazilian productions of CRUISE premiere in 2025.
‘Life affirming and as searingly honest as It’s A Sin... A tour de force, the toast of the town.’
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The Telegraph
‘A masterful display of physical and linguistic shapeshifting from Holden.’
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The Evening Standard
‘Stunningly funny, joyful and wholeheartedly life-grabbing. Holden is enchanting.’
★ ★ ★ ★ The Guardian
‘Cruise achieves so much it’s tricky to decide which standout feature to rave about first.’
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Gay Times
Jack’s debut short film as writer-director, SAFARI tells the story of a chance meeting in a night club between two men - one who is on a new recreational drug, the other who isn’t…
Produced by My Accomplice, coming soon.
Starring Eloka Ivo, Alexander Holley and Lydia Larson.
Produced by Sychelle-Kristina Yanda & Dorottya Székely. Executive Producers: Jamie Clark, Aleksandra Bilić & Cordell Campbell.
