Childhood & Early Life
Nico Cristian Mirallegro was born on January 26, 1991, in Heywood, Greater Manchester. His father is from Sicily, Italy, while his mother, Maureen Mclaughlin, is Irish and is from Malin Head. He has a sister named Claudia Marissa, who is a year younger to him.
In one of his interviews, he admitted he was a troubled child. His parents were separated when he was quite young. At the age of 13, his strict mother had sent him to live with his father in Spain, where he spent a lonely 18-month period at an international boarding school.
He later joined the 'Siddal Moor Sports College' in Heywood and then attended the 'Manchester School of Acting.' He can speak Italian and Spanish fluently.
In his mid-teens, Mirallegro would often accompany his sister to “improv” classes, which eventually helped him develop an interest in acting.
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Career
Mirallegro made his acting debut in 2007, with the role of emo (a rock music genre) teenager 'Barry "Newt" Newton' in the 'Channel 4' British soap opera 'Hollyoaks.'
With his first acting role, Mirallegro displayed his range as an actor. His character was raised in foster care and underwent experiences such as schizophrenia and suicidal tendency. He quit the serial in 2010, to pursue other projects.
His remarkable performance fetched him two nominations for 'The British Soap Awards,' one each for the best newcomer and the best on-screen partnership (shared with Marc Silcock).
He also played 'Cam Spencer' in the 'Blip' web series 'LOL,' which again dealt with issues related to sex, drugs, and relationships.
Mirallegro made his film debut with the 2009 short 'Six Minutes of Freedom,' in which he played a troubled teenager named 'Chris,' who was shown being trained to be a boxer, with his father imprisoned. The film earned accolades in the festival circuit and bagged the 'Best New Wave Short Film' award at the 'Yellow Fever Independent Film Festival.'
Mirallegro was cast as a Jewish boy named 'Sam,' one of the leads, in 'McQueen the Movie,' released in 2010. Following this, he made an appearance in an episode of the 'BBC One' anthology 'Moving On.' He delivered a powerful performance in the series, playing a bullied young gay boy named 'Jamie.'
He had a recurring role as an Italian foreign exchange student named 'Giovanni Mannasori' in seven episodes of the 'BBC One' medical soap opera 'Doctors.'
In December 2010, Mirallegro was seen in the first series of the 'BBC One' period drama 'Upstairs Downstairs.' He played a young footman named 'Johnny Proude' and reprised the role in the second series, which showed him participating in a boxing tournament. To get into the skin of the character, he took boxing lessons for a while.
In 2011, Mirallegro played the teenage version of John Simm's character, 'Tom Ronstadt,' in the 'BBC One' three-part psychological thriller 'Exile.' The same year, he was seen as 'Sam Villiers,' a gay heroin addict, in the ‘BBC’ drama 'The Body Farm' and as 'Ben' in the short 'Wheels of Fortune.'
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Mirallegro appeared as 'Dodge,' a teenage lead guitarist, in the 2012 British comedy 'Spike Island,' featuring the Manchester-based rock band 'The Stone Roses.'
From 2013 to 2015, he played 'Finn Nelson,' the love interest of the female protagonist, 'Rachel' Rae' Earl,' played by Sharon Rooney, in the ‘E4’ teen comedy–drama 'My Mad Fat Diary.' He was nominated for the 'British Academy Television Award' for the ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for his performance as 'Joe Middleton' in the ‘BBC’ drama 'The Village.'
In the controversial 2014 'BBC One' TV movie 'Common,' Mirallegro played 'Johnjo O'Shea,' a 17-year-old hemophiliac who was also a murder convict under the joint enterprise law. He was seen as 'David' in the Italian drama film 'Anita B.' The film was loosely based on Edith Bruck's autobiographic novel 'Quanta stella c'è nel cielo' ('How Many Stars Twinkle in the Sky'). Mirallegro also appeared in the shorts 'Cold Comfort' (as 'Paul') and 'A Gun' (as 'Durwin’).
He portrayed David Campbell, a former international footballer from Northern Ireland, in the 2004 Irish film 'Shooting for Socrates.' The film revolved around the match between the Northern Irish national football team and the Brazilian national football team during the 1986 'FIFA World Cup,' which is regarded as one of the most memorable games in Irish sports history. Though critics praised the performances of the cast, they panned the film's plot.
In January 2014, Mirallegro appeared as a hotel bellboy named 'Harry' in the drama 'The Pass,' staged at London's 'Royal Court Theatre.' He later reprised the comic role in its film adaptation, which premiered at the 'BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival.'
That year, he began performing in several 'BBC Radio 4' dramas. He appeared as ‘Orpheus’ in 'Orpheus and Eurydice.' The role earned him the “Best Actor” nomination at the 'BBC Audio Drama Awards' in 2016.
Some of his other radio roles have been for '79 Birthdays' (2016) and 'Over Here, Over There' (2016). The latter was a radio drama depicting the lives of asylum seekers in the U.K.
The 2015 'BBC One' program 'The Ark,' which told the story of ‘Noah,’ featured Mirallegro as ‘Kenan,’ Noah's youngest and extrabiblical son. He also starred in Alan Ball's ‘HBO’ period film 'Virtuoso.' The movie featured him as 'Franz,' a local violin sensation shown traveling to Vienna to learn with other young musicians.
In the 2016 'BBC One' three-part biographical crime drama 'Rillington Place,' which was about the infamous serial killer John Christie, he portrayed Timothy Evans. Evans was wrongly executed for murdering his wife, Beryl Evans, played by ‘Jodie Comer’ in the movie.
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In June 2017, Mirallegro was again seen playing a real-life-inspired character, in the ‘BAFTA’-winning ‘BBC’ drama 'Murdered for Being Different.' The film featured the real-life case of Sophie Lancaster’s (played by ‘Abigail Lawrie’) murder in 2007. He played Robert Maltby, Sophie's boyfriend.
Another real-life character played by him was that of John Bagguley, the radical orator at Manchester's 'Blanket March' demonstration of March 1817, in the 2018 British historical drama 'Peterloo.' The film was an official entry to the 75th 'Venice International Film Festival.'
In 2019, Mirallegro was included in the cast of the six-part fourth series of the long-running 'BBC One' military drama ‘Our Girl.’ Mirallegro played a soldier in the series.
