Nathan Braniff

Braniff grew up living in Belfast, where his parents run a fish and chip shop.^[1] He wanted to be an actor since he was ten years old.^[2] He was educated at Campbell College, Belfast.^[3]

He played the titular role of Bugsy Malone in a stage production at the Grand Opera House, Belfast in July 2011.^[4] He later had a role in a production of Honk! at the same venue.^[5]

Braniff relocated to south London at 18 where he attended Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. He attained his degree in Acting before graduating.

Braniff had his first screen role playing rookie cop Tommy Foster in BBC police drama Blue Lights.^[6] For the role, he researched "body language of how police handle themselves in certain scenarios".^[7] He has described his attempts to show "the human side" of the police "with their good bits and bad bits”.^[8] His mentor/pupil relationship with the actor Richard Dormer's character Gerry was explored in the series.^[9] Speaking of his relationship with Dormer, Braniff said he will "speak to him regularly… [the way our characters were] that maybe spilled over into real life".^[8] The series was renewed for a second series, airing April 2024.^[10][11] Ahead of the second series, Braniff described attending a "police boot camp", and during filming on location in Belfast he was met with "positive" reactions from local people who had seen the first series.^[12] Blue Lights was renewed for a third and fourth series in 2024.^[13]

Braniff competes in both kickboxing^[7] and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. His younger brothers are champion kickboxers, which is how he fell into the sport. The brothers made history as the first four brothers to compete on the same fight card.