Harris Dickinson, explained: Everything to know about Harris Dickinson, the star of Babygirl and Hollywood’s next heartthrob
“I never thought I’d be laying on the floor at a rave with Nicole Kidman, so not a bad day at work, you know?” actor Harris Dickinson told Seth Meyers about his latest role.
The English actor is the next big thing in Hollywood.
He’s appeared in several movies such as Triangle of Sadness and The Iron Claw, but it’s his latest project Babygirl, starring opposite Nicole Kidman, that is set to skyrocket him to fame.
But despite the suave persona we’ve seen on Dickinson during this press tour, he hasn’t always been able to play it cool.
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Appearing on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Dickinson told the story of how he almost had an awkward run-in with Kidman years before they ever knew they would star together – and it was all thanks to his mum.
“Oh god yeah, my mum,” Dickinson began when Meyers asked if his mum was a fan of the Aussie actress.
Watch the video above.
“So I was at this awards thing in New York, like, seven or eight years ago and my mum was there,” he said with his head in his hands.
“I think my mum was a bit nervous so she drunk a lot to compensate, and I sort of progressively through the night saw her getting a little bit more drunk and worried what she’d do.
“And then I saw her get up and walk towards Nicole Kidman’s table, and she was like, ‘I’m just gonna go and have a quick chat’.”
It was at this point that Dickinson began to feel the panic of a young up-and-coming actor in a room full of Hollywood heavyweights.
“I grabbed her and was like, ‘Do not do that’. Like, ‘Sit down, just finish your meal. Let’s just get on with this evening’, and she was like, ‘Alright, fine’,” he laughed.
He managed to avoid any awkward run-ins on that particular evening, confirming his mum has indeed now had her chance to meet Kidman.
But with his rising star status, the now 28-year-old could soon join the ranks of Hollywood’s elite – perhaps even becoming one of the heavyweights whom young actors have to stop their parents from embarrassing them in front of.
So, who actually is Harris Dickinson and how did he get here?
Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about the star of Babygirl and Hollywood’s next ‘it’ boy.
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Harris Dickinson’s life growing up
Dickinson was born on June 24, 1996 in Leyonstone, an area of East London.
He grew up on the outskirts of the city in Highams Park where his mum worked as a hair dresser and his dad a social worker.
Dickinson has said it was a relatively nice area, aside from the fact his family home bordered a motorway, which he told GQ made it a common escape route for thieves.
“Our car got stolen a few times and our house got burgled,” he told the publication.
“Someone robbed a bank once, ran up the road and held a gun up to my mum’s head.”
He added that the threat manifested itself in strange ways, sharing that he would have reoccurring dreams of Vikings storming his family home and destroying it.
However, Dickinson managed to find a bright-side, telling Wonderland it was where he lived that allowed him to explore the world of acting and theatre.
”I had the best of both worlds. I could dip into London in 15 minutes, but equally, I had Epping Forest on my doorstep,” he said.
“I think that having the opportunity to be close to London and go to the theatre and see films and music and art inspired me. Having all of that on your doorstep definitely helps.
“London is a breeding ground of culture and so even if you’re not in the world of it, it still seems reachable. It is something you can feel in its pulse.”
At about 11 or 12 years old Dickinson began posting to YouTube, telling Seth Meyers he had a “weekly sketch show”.
“We used to do like spoofs of current pop culture stuff, or we’d do like Harry Potter spoofs, or, you know, anything that was going on in the main zeitgeist we would have a go at,” he said.
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Dickinson began picking up odd jobs at 14 years old to help support himself; teaching kids drama, working in a café, delivering hotel room service, catering wakes, folding clothes at Hollister, picking up litter at London Bridge and entertaining at pirate-themed birthday parties.
He considered acting from a young age but never believed he’d be one of the few who could ‘make it’.
At 17 years old he dropped out of school and began considering a job with the Royal Marines.
That was until his coach at performing arts club Raw Academy convinced him to take the risk and pursue acting.
Dating life
For those pining over Dickinson and planning your future lives together – we hate to be the bearer of bad news, but he’s taken.
Dickinson is one half of a creative power couple, having met his partner Rose Gray back when they were in school.
Gray was also born and raised in East London alongside her two siblings. But it was her step-dad that inspired her creative side.
She told Paye that her stepdad “can really sing” adding that he’d always encourage her to explore her own voice.
And it seems like it paid of with her now heading a successful music career.
She released her debut mixtape in 2021, followed by her 2024 EP Higher Than The Sun, and has just now released her debut album Louder, Please on January 17, 2025.
Like Dickinson, Gray dreamt of a career in showbusiness, telling Enfnts Terribles she “wanted to be a pop star since I was 12”.
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And although she and Dickinson are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to their careers in the spotlight, they still find the space to collaborate, with Dickinson directing two of her music videos, Blue and Afraid of Nothing.
“Harris just ran upstairs and said, ‘I have an idea’,” Gray told Hunger about how he came to direct the music video for Afraid of Nothing.
“Rose is always playing her music, unfinished versions. And when I write, I sometimes write with music as well,” Dickinson chimed in.
“I feel like music often inspires you, inspires ideas, and inspires direction. Regardless of whether I would make it, I’m always thinking, ‘This would be a good video idea for that song’.”
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However, he specified that when they collaborate, it can be “testing” for their relationship as they have to open themselves up “to a different kind of dynamic”.
“But it definitely helps with the closeness because you can get to things quicker without that sense of carefulness and trepidation around being offensive,” he explained.
“We’re so close that we can just be very direct. And I think she was the same with me, where if I had a crap idea, she’d say, ‘No, we’re not doing that’.”
Outside of their careers in the spotlight, the pair are the same as any ordinary couple, with Dickinson telling W Magazine Gray thinks of him as “very domesticated.”
“I’m a good cleaner. Give me a task, and I’ll do it. I’m very efficient. If there are leaves that need to be swept, I’ll sweep them. If there’s rubbish that needs to be emptied, I’ll empty it,” he shared.
“I’ve been raised well: My mom did a good job.”
The couple also share a British shorthair cat together named Misty Blue (whom Dickinson told Vogue he wanted to name Terrence – Terry for short – but Gray wouldn’t go for it).
The lie that sparked a career
Dickinson lied to get his first-ever role.
”For my first job ever, I told them I could drive, and I couldn’t,” he told W Magazine, adding that when he scored the role he quickly had to get himself a license.
“The same with horse riding. I said, ‘Oh yeah, yeah. I grew up riding horses.’ And then you just learn. Actors are like that – we’re pretenders.”
Dickinson began in theatre, he was only 18 years old when he performed in a play called Angels at the National Theatre, which saw him get his own agent.
But paid work wasn’t flooding Dickinson’s inbox.
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His first gig was in a Volkswagen commercial, which was followed by him heading to Los Angeles for a short trip to try out for a pilot of a new TV show that never eventuated.
For three years he worked at Hollister to save money for trips back and forth between the UK where he lived and LA for auditions, telling The Guardian, “I remember, I’d be in the basement folding clothes, and I’d get a call from an unknown number.
“And an unknown number always meant it was my agent. So every time, I thought: ‘This is it! I’m out of here!’ And I’d rush upstairs and listen to the voicemail and they’d be like: ‘Yeah, you didn’t get it’.”
After years of rough letdowns, in 2017 Dickinson finally scored his first role in a film called Beach Rats after filming a self-tape audition on his phone, at home, in his bedroom.
“Beach Rats ended up being my first film and then, you know, it won Sundance Festival and ironically it was the one that I came home for and did back in my childhood bedroom,” he told Virgin Radio UK.
From there, Dickinson began climbing – and very carefully planning – his way to the top.
“I like to think about life in a very algorithmic way,” he told GQ, explaining that he always takes on projects with the consideration of what doors they may open in the future.
He’s done everything from indie darling films to mega blockbusters, explaining he didn’t have the luxury of choice at the beginning because he simply needed the money.
”I had an argument with someone once who was trying to say that you have to do everything from a place of absolute artistic integrity,” he told GQ.
“And I said, ‘I think that’s a very privileged point of view.’ If you look at actors that have been able to only do good work from the very beginning of their career, most of the time there’s some privilege there, which implies another element of support.”
In 2019 he appeared alongside Angelina Jolie in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, telling Wonderland he “had to” take the role because “when was I ever going to get an opportunity to be a prince in a Disney film again?”
“It was so wild for me to get that call. It was like, ‘F—ing hell, that’s so far away from who I am that I’ve got to do it,’ but I don’t think I’m actually interested in roles like that,” he added, explaining that it was “wild” working alongside Jolie.
“I was still young and I was still coming to terms with who I was and how to operate in those situations.”
From there he went on to star in the 2022 film Triangle of Sadness, which was nominated for Best Film at the 2023 Oscars – a milestone Dickinson had always dreamed of.
“I was just really proud of everyone,” he said of the moment he found out the film had been nominated, adding that he was particularly proud of Ruben Östlund, who was also nominated for Best Director.
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“I sent Ruben a picture of myself just screaming. I have so much pride in being involved in something like this.”
Since then he’s appeared in the 2023 film Scrapper as the estranged father of a 12-year-old daughter, and played one of the three Von Erich brothers in the 2023 critically acclaimed film The Iron Claw.
Now, he’s the star of Babygirl, a movie which has seen him take over as the heartthrob of the season, mainly thanks to his scene dancing to George Michaels’ Father Figure.
He appears in the film opposite Kidman, who plays a high-powered CEO seduced by a much younger intern.
But despite his love for his work and his appreciation for where he is today, Dickinson is just like the rest of us, candidly telling W Magazine he’s happier when he’s not working.
“Does that make me lazy?” he questioned.
“I go through an enormous amount of pressure and neuroses when I work. I love working, but I’m not very good at being told what to do or when to do it.”
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