Everybody\u2019s supposed to get their 15 minutes of fame. As a child actor (in the likes of Grange Hill<\/em> and The Bill<\/em>) turned prominent member of UK garage-collective So Solid Crew, Ashley Walters had his (plus another \u201821 Seconds\u2019) before he turned 20. That\u2019s when it all went wrong. For the first time, anyway. In 2002, he pleaded guilty to carrying a loaded firearm and was sentenced to 18 months in a young offenders\u2019 institution.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Upon release, Walters returned to acting, just in time to ride the mid-\u201900s \u2018urban thriller\u2019 wave of hard-hitting social dramas and blatant yoofsploitation flicks. These were British films, mainly about the lives of working-class Black people, mostly written and directed by middle-class white people \u2014 and thus deriving much of their credibility from actors like Walters. His Sylvia Young Theatre School training and TV experience meant he usually had the edge on fresh-from-the-ends rapper contemporaries, and in 2004 he won a BIFA for Hackney gun-crime drama Bullet Boy<\/em>. His criminal record led to visa issues, which didn\u2019t help with a potential Hollywood career, but he went on to garner international recognition as swaggering \u2018shotter\u2019 Dushane Hill, in the Channel 4\/Netflix gangster epic Top Boy<\/em>. And by 2016, a British Film Institute study found that Walters had become \u2014 along with Kidulthood<\/em>\u2019s Noel Clarke \u2014 one of British cinema\u2019s most prolific Black leads.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n It was somewhat inevitable, then, that the two would team up on screen, co-creating Bulletproof<\/em>, Sky One\u2019s answer to Bad Boys<\/em>. It had three series before being abruptly cancelled in 2021, after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and bullying were made against Noel Clarke. Walters severed their connection, saying, \u201cMy thoughts are with the women who have come forward.\u201d But his work also spoke for itself: since the beginning of this decade, Walters has starred in a string of dramas which thoughtfully confront outmoded notions of masculinity, as well as class, race and power, including his Emmy-nominated turn as a tired cop in Netflix mega-hit Adolescence<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Maybe all the highs and lows were building towards this: Walters\u2019 feature-directing debut, Animol, a tough-going, tender-hearted prison drama with an unexpected queer love story at its centre. It\u2019s written by Nick Love (yes, the same Nick Love behind Danny Dyer\u2019s geezers \u2019n\u2019 gak fare), yet infused with Walters\u2019 own sensibility, and it augurs a new era in his unparalleled, unpredictable career. As Dushane would have it: say less. Here in a north London studio after our photoshoot, we let Walters do the talking\u2026<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a9 Elliot James Kennedy \/ Empire<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n EMPIRE: How long have you had ambitions to direct?<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Ashley Walters:<\/strong> I don\u2019t think the thought of me directing came until I was told I couldn\u2019t. That was when Top Boy<\/em> and Bulletproof<\/em> were coinciding, and I was an executive producer on both. I was trying to push into my contract that I should be allowed \u2014 if I wanted \u2014 to direct an episode, and was told, very nicely and politely by both companies, that I wasn\u2019t experienced enough. So that was the trigger. But paying attention on set has always been my thing. I was always watching directors, and talking to directors, and making friends with directors.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n What did you learn from directing episodes of Ackley Bridge<\/em> and A Thousand Blows<\/em> that you brought to Animol<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n In the beginning, I was pretty shy about pushing my vision, because you\u2019re working with so many experienced people, a DOP that\u2019s been in the game 25 years, or whatever. You\u2019re like, \u201cI want it to look like this,\u201d and they\u2019re like, \u201cNo, that\u2019s not really how it\u2019s done.\u201d It\u2019s [about] getting to the point where you\u2019re brave enough to say, \u201cWell, I really don\u2019t care \u2018how it\u2019s done\u2019. This is how I want it.\u201d Then you get a bit of \u2018how it\u2019s done\u2019 \u2014 it\u2019s still in there\u2014 but you get something authentic or magical too. I love directing, because of that magic. Y\u2019know, the script\u2019s written, then I take it and it becomes mine for a bit, then the editor takes it and it\u2019s no longer mine, and then the audience watches it, and they take it how they want\u2026 Just that process is one of the most magical experiences.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n When I was growing up in Peckham, it was beautiful to me. It was colourful, it was lush.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n Was the queer element of the<\/strong> Animol<\/em><\/strong> script daunting for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n So, that\u2019s what pushed me towards it. I understood straightaway that this is going to be quite controversial, and I think the Black community are going to be asking why I decided to make this for my first film, etc. But for me, when I was in prison, I saw a lot of queer people there, being bullied, being downtrodden, and I think, at that time, I was suffering with the hangover of growing up in a very homophobic environment. I\u2019d been brought up [to believe that] talking about being gay and being queer was wrong. Like, \u201cWhy you standing like that? You look gay!\u201d \u2014 all that stuff. So stepping into the film and TV world was eye-opening for me, because there are queer people everywhere! And all of those preconceptions I had, I left behind. I made some great friends, with some amazing people. And I\u2019ve seen people suffering with coming out and just being themselves. So [for that reason] it was really important for me to do this film.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a9 Elliot James Kennedy \/ Empire<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n How much of your own experience is in this film?<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n What you see is how I saw it. The look, the colours, were all from my memory of prison. How the landings are is how I remember them. The arm bands that people wear to distinguish what level they\u2019re in; all my idea. I wasn\u2019t as vulnerable as Troy (the initially naive lead character, played by Tut Nyuot)<\/em>, but I was definitely also a fish-out-of-water. When I got into prison, I was gangster no. 1 in the UK press. People were in there waiting to beat me up. So I understood Troy trying not to be seen, as much as possible. But what happens in prison is \u2014 to survive \u2014 you have to act<\/em>. You have to put on a show of masculinity and power, to ward off anyone who potentially sees you as a target.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n A bit like being a first-time film director, then.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Yeah, basically, that sort of vibe. And I definitely have a connection with Troy in the sense of he shouldn\u2019t be there, in prison, and I felt the same\u2026 I mean, I<\/em> committed the crime; Troy didn\u2019t. So actually, I should<\/em> have been there (smiles sheepishly)<\/em>. But I felt like, \u201cThis is wrong.\u201d Like, why am I here? I didn\u2019t foresee this for myself, y\u2019know?<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The cinematography of<\/strong> Animol<\/em><\/strong> is very striking. It doesn\u2019t look like your typical prison film\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Yeah, I hate watching UK films or TV shows that are set in prison or on the roads \u2014 in the inner-city areas, y\u2019know? \u2014 and they\u2019re always so bleak and grey. I always felt like that\u2019s the voyeuristic perspective. That\u2019s for the middle-class person who drives past Peckham on their way to Dulwich and says, \u201cOh, that looks grim!\u201d Whereas, when I was growing up in Peckham, it was beautiful to me. It was colourful, it was lush, I enjoyed the spaces and I had a lust for life. So I wanted to shoot it how it feels for the people inside it, rather than the people outside, looking in.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s interesting that, as a director, you\u2019re reacting against that typical British urban thriller, because, as an actor, you starred in quite a few of them!<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Yeah, yeah, I know. It\u2019s my fault that everyone\u2019s doing it (laughs)<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n What was that period like for you, from the inside?<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Y\u2019know, it was easy for my agents in the beginning, because I was coming from So Solid and I already had the gangster reputation. I was getting work hand-over-fist. Then I took that decision that we were gonna step away from that. I said to my agent, \u201cI want to act<\/em>. I need to do other roles.\u201d And it\u2019s so weird how life works, because then Top Boy<\/em> came (laughs)<\/em>. I read that, and I was like, \u201cI know what I said, but I gotta do this, man!\u201d Because I\u2019d just finished watching The Wire<\/em> around that same time and I was like, \u201cNah, this is up there [with The Wire<\/em>]. Like, this is proper.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n There was a lot of conversation around that time about TV and film\u2019s responsibility for perpetuating harmful stereotypes of young Black men as criminals. What\u2019s your take on that?<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Going into Top Boy<\/em>, we understood how this could glamourise or perpetuate that sort of thing, but our main aim was to tell an authentic story. Because a lot of these characters are real characters \u2014 just with name changes \u2014 and a lot of the people they\u2019re based on, I knew. It may sound a bit weird, but our main aim was, \u201cI want those people, whose lives we\u2019re portraying, to call me and go, \u2018This is it. You hit the nail on the head.\u2019\u201d And then the rest of it? I don\u2019t know what else I can do. And I did listen a lot to it. Y\u2019know, I was in barber shops on the weekends, and 12-year-olds would come up to me and say, \u201cI love you, man,\u201d and then their parents would pull them away, like, \u201cDon\u2019t talk to him.\u201d And this is Black families, Black parents. I would sit and talk to them for hours. But I walked away from it, like, \u201cOkay, I get it: I know what I was intending to do, but it didn\u2019t work for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a9 Elliot James Kennedy \/ Empire<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n But then also, I grew up on Scarface<\/em>, The Godfather<\/em>, GoodFellas<\/em>\u2026 all of those films that are based on the Mafia. We don\u2019t ever talk about glamourising violence in those films. We accept them and praise them for what they are. I think sometimes Black films and shows were scrutinised more than everything else. And I just think people who\u2019ve been oppressed for such a long period of time, when they eventually get their voice, they\u2019re going to be talking about their oppression! And then, when they get that out their system, they want to start writing the romcoms, the action stuff, maybe superhero stories, like Rapman with Supacell<\/em>. So, there\u2019s a balance: I think we should be careful about stigmas and stereotypes. And also, just let people be creative and grow.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Stephen Graham plays a prison social-worker in Animol<\/em>, marking your third collaboration in as many years, after A Thousand Blows<\/em> and Adolescence<\/em>. Tell me about the first time you met.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n We did a sitcom on MTV years and years ago (2004) called Top Buzzer<\/em>. Stephen played a weed dealer and I was this rapper called Bugsy, his customer. I find it really difficult to make friends, but there are rare occasions when you meet people \u2014 and we had that pretty early on. Also, he\u2019s smaller than me, and I\u2019m usually the smallest in the room, so I\u2019m like, \u201cI\u2019m gonna roll with you, so I feel tall.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n My inspirations are very rarely new films. The Goonies<\/em> is probably my favourite film in the world.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n And did you recognise in him whatever it is that\u2019s allowed him to go on and have the kind of success he\u2019s had?<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Of course. I mean, he cares. That\u2019s what it is. It\u2019s that for all great actors: they care enough to put themselves on the line. He cares enough to interrogate himself, interrogate me, interrogate the script. And he always comes with ideas \u2014 especially if he doesn\u2019t want to do what\u2019s on the page. That can be tough for a director, but you always appreciate it, because it helps. And, as an actor, I was always in awe of his confidence. I come from a place where \u2014 remember \u2014 I was the gun-toting gangster that everyone hated. I was a bad boy, and I\u2019d spent years trying to reverse that narrative, by being as nice and easy-going as I could on set. You\u2019re like, \u201cIf I say I don\u2019t like it, what are they gonna think of me? I\u2019m gonna be the \u2018angry Black guy\u2019.\u201d Then watching Stephen [be assertive] and produce great, quality work off the back of it, made me realise that, actually, I\u2019m doing myself and the job an injustice by not<\/em> interrogating what\u2019s in front of me.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a9 Elliot James Kennedy \/ Empire<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n What are you watching at the moment that\u2019s inspiring you?<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n My inspirations are very rarely new films. The Goonies<\/em> is probably my favourite film in the world, right? And it\u2019s my favourite film mainly because of the narrative arc. I feel like we\u2019ve lost films that start somewhere and finish somewhere else. The simple story of underdog meets underdog, the struggles, halfway through the film you get that montage of them training to defeat their demons, and then we see them win. I grew up on that. That was Flight Of The Navigator<\/em>. That was The Goonies<\/em>. That was Stand By Me<\/em>. That was The Mighty Ducks<\/em>. All of those films I grew up on, and I\u2019m trying to find [that] again in the work that I do now. I mean, I\u2019m not saying I would turn down a Marvel, but I do really enjoy telling a story of inspiration.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve got a few scripts I\u2019d like to make next. One, I\u2019m developing with Khadijah Mellah, the young hijab-wearing Muslim girl from Peckham, who became a jockey and won the elite Magnolia Cup. That came from my family\u2019s experience moving to Kent seven years ago. There weren\u2019t any other Black people up there, and my daughter started coming home from school saying stuff like, \u201cI don\u2019t want to be Black anymore, why isn\u2019t my hair like everyone else\u2019s?\u201d Me and my wife were so worried. And she\u2019s fine now \u2014 but that was, for me, about lack of representation. Then you read stories like Khadijah\u2019s, with beautiful Black women who are succeeding against all odds, and it\u2019s like, \u201cWhy can\u2019t my daughter know about this? Why isn\u2019t there a film about her?\u201d Then you realise: \u201cAh. I\u2019ve got to make this film.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n [Remain] was my first time playing a comedic role. So it was all new to me.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n You\u2019re still acting too. You\u2019re in M. Night Shyamalan\u2019s upcoming film, Remain<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Beautiful film. It\u2019s me, Jake Gyllenhaal, Phoebe Dynevor. Brilliant, brilliant experience. Me and my wife are big M. Night fans. Listen: he\u2019s got a cult following and he\u2019s also in that space now where there are people that are like, \u201cI don\u2019t really mess with his films anymore.\u201d But I\u2019m one of those people who is always going to go see anything he makes. I think this film is kind of him going back to his roots, and that\u2019s what appealed to me in this script \u2014 the Sixth Sense<\/em> of it all. It\u2019s essentially a love story about a man who falls in love with a ghost, and I play the man\u2019s best friend, but I\u2019m into ghosts. My character knows everything about the supernatural.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n You\u2019re like Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Basically. You could say that. It was my first time playing a comedic role. The character is like Kevin Hart, he\u2019s the hype one, always smiling and happy. So it was all new to me. But Night is an amazing, next-level director. He knows exactly what he wants and takes all the pressure away from you.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n You\u2019ve been through so many different eras, experiences that many people don\u2019t see the other side of. What is it that allows you to keep going when things go wrong?<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Well, because I expected it. I expect the disaster. Maybe you might see me accepting an award \u2014 maybe for Animol<\/em>, or something \u2014 down the line. When you see me, just know that behind my eyes, I\u2019ll be thinking, \u201cWhat\u2019s the next thing that\u2019s gonna go wrong?\u201d I\u2019ll be waiting for it, because this is how the wave works, isn\u2019t it? You have a brilliant time, and then there\u2019s always going to be something.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a9 Elliot James Kennedy \/ Empire<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n But underneath that, there must be another layer of, \u201cWhatever happens, I can handle it.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Oh yeah, of course. I mean, the key to it is \u2014 and this is gonna sound so naff \u2014 but, trying to wake up every day and be the best person I can be. Then I don\u2019t worry too much. Because look where we are \u2014 there are people being cancelled for all sort of things and for someone in my position, even if you haven\u2019t done anything wrong, you\u2019re like, \u201cIs it gonna happen to me?\u201d You get anxious. But the way to soothe that anxiety is simple: Just be good<\/em>. Focus on your work, treat people with respect; how you\u2019d want to be treated. And get on with your life.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Is there some dream or marker of success that you\u2019re still pursuing?<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n If I can be honest, before this past awards-season, I didn\u2019t care about awards. I wasn\u2019t interested. Some will say that\u2019s because I didn\u2019t get any! But I really didn\u2019t care. I went into the Adolescence<\/em> run thinking, \u201cWell, I\u2019m just happy to be in America, and this is great.\u201d When I lost the first [Emmy] \u2014 I didn\u2019t lose it, because Owen (Cooper, his Adolescence co-star)<\/em> won it, and he deserved it \u2014 but just sitting there, in that moment, when they didn\u2019t say my name, I was like: \u201cI want this now<\/em>.\u201d And then it became a thing. So I think, if there\u2019s anything I want, some awards would be great. But that\u2019s not a must. And, where my career is, I\u2019m happy. Anything from here on in is bonus stuff, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n But\u2026<\/em><\/strong> you would like an EGOT? Like Whoopi?<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n But an EGOT would be great, yeah.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n This article was originally published in the November 2026 issue of Empire Magazine. Ashley Walters was photographed exclusively for Empire by Elliot James Kennedy at Studio Monde, London on September 1, 2026. Animol comes to cinemas from October 30.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Everybody\u2019s supposed to get their 15 minutes of fame. As a child actor (in the likes of Grange Hill and The Bill) turned prominent member of UK garage-collective So Solid Crew, Ashley Walters had his (plus another \u201821 Seconds\u2019) before he turned 20. That\u2019s when it all went wrong. For the first time, anyway. In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-47"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15189"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15191,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15189\/revisions\/15191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Empire](\"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ashley-walters-on-adolescence-black-british-cinema-and-turning-director-for-debut-film-animol.jpg\")
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