Why Josh O’Connor, star of Challengers, Crown, Knives Out is the man of the moment

If you’ve spent any time online in the past 12 months, you know there’s one internet boyfriend that reigns above all.

No, not Timothee Chalamet, although he’s a close second.

It’s Josh O’Connor, the British actor who has had a very busy 2025. Not only has he starred in FOUR very different films (Wake Up Dead Man, The Mastermind, The History of Sound and Rebuilding), he’s also just hosted his first Saturday Night Live episode, gamely playing up his status as most desired.

Key to that appeal is his self-confessed reputation as a “soft boy” who would rather be scrapbooking and camping than partying. He also makes ceramics (“It’s the most pure form of creativity” he once told Vanity Fair) and counts as a personal hero UK celebrity horticulturalist Monty Don. O’Connor likes to garden.

He also loves the Pixar movie Ratatouille, after naming it among his Letterboxd top four, which led to a strange but adorable discourse about whether he would star in any potential live-action remakes.

His love of hobbies and animation would probably be enough to elevate him to icon, but what really underpins O’Connor’s position is the man is actually talented. Like, properly talented.

Take, for example, his co-lead role in Wake Up Dead Man, the third Knives Out mystery movie from filmmaker Rian Johnson.

It’s not easy to outclass Daniel Craig, but O’Connor does just that by carrying the burden of the film for the first 40 minutes before Craig’s detective Benoit Blanc even shows up. But O’Connor is also the film’s emotional core.

The character he plays is a young priest named Jud Duplencity who is under suspicion for the murder of a firebrand preacher. Despite the urgency to clear his name, Jud takes the time to comfort a parishioner going through a hard time. He doesn’t even hesitate, he allows for his selfless humanity to take over.

That scene is the most significant in the film because it gets to the heart of the stakes of the story, which is that decency still exists. Not everyone could’ve pulled it off but the quiet grace O’Connor brings to that moment is undeniable.

Yet, some of his most prominent roles are far more squirrelly, and perhaps it’s the contrast of those characters who live on the social and moral margins against his real-life nice guy image that makes him so entrancing.

O’Connor has had two break-out roles, depending on who you ask. The cineastes who are paying more attention would cite the 2017 film God’s Own Country, while mainstream audiences first took notice when he pulled on Prince Charles’ threads in The Crown.

It speaks to his ability to imbue nuance and compassion that he is able to humanise the famous royal at a time in his life – the break-up of his marriage to Diana — when he wasn’t going to win any popularity contests.

Then there’s the slippery Mr Elton in the 2020 adaptation of Emma, a grave robber in the criminally underwatched cinematic triumph La Chimera and a borderline pathetic art thief in Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind.

Particularly those latter two roles, O’Connor makes being an unkempt but strangely charming dirtbag seem effortless, even, perhaps especially, with minimal dialogue. In an interview with W Magazine, O’Connor credited his training and start in theatre for his emphasis on a character’s physicality and interiority over their words.

For many audiences, especially those younger generations, their touchpoint is Challengers, the threesome tennis drama in which he starred opposite Zendaya and Mike Faist.

O’Connor’s energy in Challengers is so singular and unlike any other role he’s played. He has so much puckish intensity as Patrick, a ferocious player who’s out to win not just the match but everything.

There’s definitely a question over whether that’s the girl (Zendaya’s Tashi) or the boy (Faist’s Art) because his horny chemistry with both sparks in a way that would make you blush.

That ability to jump from one tone to another is clearly intentional as he amasses a list of credits featuring different genres and filmmakers. One moment, he’s working with adored indie directors such as Reichardt and Alice Rohrwacher, and then the next, he’s in something commercial.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to have a diverse collection of projects like the actors that I looked up to. The Pete Postlethwaites and the Gene Wilders, who could make a dramatic turn and then be comedic,” he told W.

“I want to be able to look back on my career and go, ‘no stone was left unturned’.”

Two such stones are two of the biggest names in cinema – Steven Spielberg and Joel Cohen. For Spielberg, it’s the mysterious untitled sci-fi project set for release next year, among an impressive ensemble cast which also includes fellow Brits Colin Firth and Emily Blunt. For Coen, it’s the gothic mystery that just finished filming.

O’Connor’s 2026 is shaping up to be just as big. Or you might just as easily find him behind a ceramics wheel. The internet’s love affair continues.