‘I’ve got six months left and then I am gone!’: Adolescence star Owen Cooper, 15, is leaving school straight after his GCSEs to pursue dream career
Owen Cooper has announced that he will leave school and pursue an acting career after completing his GCSE exams.
The teenager, from Warrington, Cheshire, rose to fame in 2025 after her acclaimed performance in Netflix’s smash hit Adolescence.
His performance as murder suspect Jamie Miller alongside Stephen Graham earned him critical praise and became the youngest male prime time winner Emmy Award for best supporting actor in a miniseries.
And now 16-year-old Owen is ready to pursue his passion full-time.
Speaking on the BBC’s Graham Norton Show, the rising star said: ‘I still have my GCSEs to do. ‘I’ve only got six months left and then I’m leaving – and then hopefully I’ll become an actor.’
During an appearance on the chat show’s New Year’s Eve episode alongside Carey Mulligan, Laura Dern, Will Arnett and Tom Hiddleston, Owen talked about his and his family’s Emmy ceremony experience in Los Angeles.
Owen Cooper has announced he will leave school to pursue an acting career after completing his GCSE exams
The teenager, from Warrington, Cheshire, rose to fame in 2025 after her acclaimed performance in Netflix’s smash hit Adolescence.
‘It was crazy and everything was a bit of a blur. The number of people I met there was crazy. “It was truly the best day of my life,” he said.
But Owen was not surprised by the success of Graham’s co-created Adolescence, insisting: ‘I immediately thought it would be more than a TV show; I read the script and then I heard the word ‘Netflix’.
‘I was worried what the reaction to this would be but a week after it happened everything blew up. “It’s been a good year.”
Just months after becoming the youngest actor to win an Emmy, Owen may be ready to make history once again at the 2026 Golden Globes.
Continuing his incredible awards streak, the schoolboy received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the Globes when the nominations were announced earlier this month, and if he wins he will again be the youngest winner ever.
Owen was named alongside co-stars Stephen Graham, Erin Doherty and Ashley Walters in the hit Netflix show, which received five nominations in total ahead of January’s star-studded Los Angeles ceremony.
If Owen wins, beating stars like Ashley and White Lotus’ Jason Issac and Walton Goggings, he will replace Chris Colfer, who is now the youngest Best Supporting Actor in a series for his role as Kurt on Glee, which he won in 2009 at the age of 20.
Other young stars to win a Golden Globe include Tatum O’Neal, who was just ten years old when she won Best Actress in a Supporting Role for 1973’s Paper Moon.
Speaking on the BBC’s Graham Norton Show, Owen said: ‘I still have my GCSEs to do. I’ve got about six months left and then I’m leaving – and then hopefully I’ll be an actor’; Owen, Carey Mulligan, Tim Key, Laura Dern, presenter Graham Norton, Will Arnett, Tom Hiddleston and Alison Limerick are seen during filming
Owen added of the Emmys: ‘It was crazy and everything was a bit of a blur. The number of people I met there was crazy. ‘It was truly the best day of my life’
Rocky Schroeder, meanwhile, was nine years old when he won Best New Star for Champion in 1980.
Since puberty, Owen has returned to the small screen in new BBC show Film Club, starring The White Lotus actress Aimee Lou Wood.
The full interview will be broadcast on The Graham Norton Show on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 10.30pm on New Year’s Eve.
