Josh Bolt

Joshua Ryan Bolt^{[citation needed]} was born in Halewood, Liverpool^[2] on 2 May 1994.^{[citation needed]} He grew up in Halewood^[1][6] and attended Halewood College before dropping out of school six months into his A-levels to pursue acting full-time.^[4][2]

Bolt began acting at the age of 11 and was cast in his first theatre production, Much Ado About Nothing at Liverpool Playhouse, after one of his teachers encouraged him to attend an open audition.^[6][4][2][7] He joined YULA Drama School not long after, which led to his casting as Robbie Wallace in the 2009 film The Be All and End All,^[8][2][9] which, in turn, attracted the attention of a casting director and landed him the role of Pete Shotton in Nowhere Boy.^[2][4] Bolt was cast in the lead role of ITV1's Just Henry in summer 2011.^[3][10] He then joined the second series of Accused.^[4][11]

In 2012, Bolt joined the nascent cast of Last Tango in Halifax, where he played Raphael "Raff" Greenwood.^[1][6][12] The first series won best drama at the 2013 BAFTA Television Awards^[13] and filming for the second series began in June 2013.^[14] Bolt later reprised his role for the third (2014), fourth (2016) and fifth (2020) series.^[6][2] Bolt's early guest appearances include as Adam on Lewis^[15] and a short arc as Frasier Kane in the ninth series of Shameless.^[4][2] He played Brian Harris in the BBC Three drama The Crash^[16] and Daniel in the third series of Scott & Bailey.^[15][17] In 2013, he appeared in The Heart of Nowhere, a film directed by Charlie Fink to coincide with Noah and the Whale's final album.^[18][19]

Bolt joined the cast of Benidorm series eight in 2015 as Rob Dawson.^[2][20] In December 2015, he appeared as soldier Thomas Macquillanin ITV1's Harry Price Ghost Hunter.^[21][22] In 2016, he guest starred in the second series of Grantchester^[15][23] and as Reburrus in Barbarians Rising.^{[citation needed]} In November, he filmed a two-part Christmas special of Last Tango in Halifax.^[12][24][7] In 2018, Bolt reprised the role of Rob Dawson in the tenth series of Benidorm.^[7] The following year, he played Donal in the film A Good Woman Is Hard to Find^[2][7][25] and Dunbar in the Catch-22 miniseries of the same name.^[1][26][2] Around this time, he was also featured in the Luka State's music video for "Kick in The Teeth."^{[citation needed]} In 2025, he appeared in Andrew Gower's music video "Closer."^[27]

In addition to acting onscreen, Bolt has also held several roles in audio dramas. In 2016, he voiced Kalan, a companion of the War Doctor, in the third series of the audio drama The War Doctor.^[28][29][7] This was followed by "Dethras" (2017), wherein he played a companion of the Fourth Doctor,^[7][30][31] and two episodes of The Diary of River Song (2017) as River's cyborg companion Spod.^[7][32][33] He also voiced Antonio in Elena Ferrante's The Story of a New Name adapted for BBC Radio 4 by Timberlake Wertenbaker.^[34]

In 2021, following mental health struggles during the COVID-19 lockdown, Bolt organised a hike up Ben Nevis to raise money for three charities: Whitechapel Centre in Liverpool, Young Person's Advisory Service, and the Scottish Association for Mental Health. He recruited 95 other people, settling on a group of 96 to honour the 96 Liverpool fans who died in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.^[35][36]