Stephen Martin Walters

Stephen Walters
Walters in September 2016
Born	(1975-05-22) 22 May 1975 (age 42) Merseyside, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1989–present
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)

Stephen Walters (born 22 May 1975) is an English actor. A regular in British television and film, he has played a wide range and variety of character roles in both drama and comedy. Walters is most commonly associated with unpredictable, complex figures. He was nominated for a Royal Television Society's Best Actor award in 2013 for his role in the Sky Arts drama Ragged.

In 1989, whilst at Saint Wilfrids secondary school, Walters was cast on ITV's British Children's anthology series Dramarama, portraying Corporal Tomkins, in the series seven episode entitled Ghost Story. Walters' second professional role was in the BBC's drama anthology series Screenplay. He was featured in Jimmy McGovern's series five episode Needle (1990), based upon the needle exchange programme and heroin epidemic in 1980's Liverpool.

After completion of a BTEC in Performing arts at Southport College (1990-1992), Walters went on to gain a place at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (1994-1996). In 1994 he played the lead role of Joey Jackson, a poetic soul searching for the meaning of life, in Jim Morris' Blood on the Dole as part of the Alan Bleasdale Presents series for Channel 4. This performance garnered much critical acclaim for Walters and with the personal advice of Bleasdale he decided to apply to train at drama school.

After leaving drama school Walters appeared as Ian Glover in Jimmy McGovern's highly acclaimed drama Hillsborough (1996), based upon the Hillsborough disaster at the 1989 FA Cup Semi-Finals.Hillsborough went on to win a BAFTA for best drama. His next performance was the role of Jamie Spencer on ITV's ill-fated drama series Springhill (1996), though Walters did not return for the second series due to artistic differences. In 1997 he would once again work with Ghost Story director Julian Jarrold in the ITV drama Touching Evil. Walters would portray lead guest character Jack McCaffrey, a slippery cockney, in the two-part series one finale written by Paul Abbott.