Kent Riley
Kentigan Peter "Kent" Riley (born 9 April 1984)[1] is an English actor, born in Fazakerley, Liverpool, & brought up in Lydiate, where he attended St Gregory's Junior School, where he caught the bug for acting, starring in many of the schools performing arts projects. He went on to attend Maricourt Catholic High School in nearby Maghull.
Kent Riley | |
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| Born | Kentigan Peter Riley 9 April 1984 |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1996 - present |
He began his acting career in a number of musical theatre productions. At the age of 12, he performed at the Edinburgh festival starring in the title role of Bugsy Malone for the NYMT (National Youth Music Theatre). He also went on to do more projects for the NYMT, Aurelius & Creation. At 13 he won a prestigious audition for Lionel Bart's stage production of Oliver!, landing the part of the street urchin, The Artful Dodger performing for a 3-month stint at the London Palladium starring alongside Barry Humphries (Fagan), where he won rave reviews.
Following on from this stint Riley was spotted by a Hollywood agent who invited him over for a round of auditions. It was in his second visit that he landed a role in a film re-make of the Patty Duke Show. Riley went to Montreal, Quebec, Canada to star opposite the Oscar-winning American actress Patty Duke where he starred as her son, "Liam McAllister". He then went on to college to study drama but also staying active on screen starring in Weirdsister College as Tim Wraithewright. He also starred in Footballers' Wives (Kevin Donnelly) & Family Affairs (Josh Tyler). Riley starred as Zak Ramsey, a sports science student, in the British soap Hollyoaks from 2004 to 2010.
Kent will be returning to the stage in 2011 starring in "Our Style is Legendary", a new play about 1980's Nottingham, where he played the role of "Stone" and premiered in March 2011 at the Tristan Bates Theatre.
In January 2012, Kent appeared in the episode of Tracy Beaker Returns entitled Justine Littlewood Returns as Justine's sleazy, conman fiancé.
In 2014, Kent starred as Kenny, Bobby's Brother in Cilla.
He has a BA in acting from Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts.
References
- England & Wales, Birth Index: 1984-2005. Gives name at birth as Kentigan Peter Riley. He has referred to himself as Kentigan Peter Moses Riley in an interview.