Jerome Flynn Biography

Jerome Flynn (born 16 March 1963) is an English actor and singer best known for his role as Corporal Paddy Garvey of the King's Fusiliers in the ITV series Soldier Soldier, Bronn in the hit HBO series Game of Thrones, and as half of the singing duo Robson & Jerome, who had several UK number one singles in the 1990s.

Early life

Flynn was born in Bromley, Kent, the son of actor and singer Eric Flynn and drama teacher Fern Flynn. He has a brother and sister, and a half-brother and sister from his father's second marriage. His brother Daniel Flynn is also an actor, and his half-brother Johnny Flynn is a musician and actor.

Career

In 1986 Flynn appeared in the London's Burning pilot as Firefighter Kenny "Rambo" Bains. In 1988 he played the character Freddie in the ITV drama; The Fear which was about the London underworld. He appeared as D.S Eddie Hargreaves for six episodes of the police drama Between The Lines (1992).

Flynn is well known for his role as Corporal Paddy Garvey of the King's Fusiliers in the ITV series Soldier Soldier. The series began in 1990. He acted alongside Robson Green in the series. After Flynn and Green performed Unchained Melody on the programme, ITV was inundated by people looking to buy the song, and the pair were persuaded by record producer Simon Cowell to record it and release it as a single, a double A-side with White Cliffs of Dover. The single was released under the name Robson & Jerome and reached number one in the UK chart in 1995. It stayed at No.1 for 7 weeks in the UK Singles Chart, selling more than 1.9 million copies and making it the best-selling single of the year, and winning the duo the Music Week Awards in 1996 for best single and best album. The duo had two more number one hits in 1995 and 1996 with "I Believe" and "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" both re-makes of standards, they also produced two number one albums.

Soldier Soldier ended in 1997. Flynn went on to star as Eddie Wallis (alongside singing partner Robson Green) in the comedy-drama Ain't Misbehavin' (1997), and was the star of the short-lived police show Badger in 1999. He Played Bobby Charlton in the 1999 film Best. On stage, he played Tommy Cooper in Jus' Like That, a tribute to the comic magician written by John Fisher and directed by Simon Callow. In 2007, Flynn directed and starred in the low budget movie, Rude Tales. The film was split into a series of short stories, all centered around the lead character, Jerome Rude, played by Flynn. The film was screened at a small number of independent cinemas in the Pembrokeshire area.

In July 2010, it was confirmed that Flynn would be playing the role of Bronn in the HBO television series Game of Thrones, based on the A Song of Ice and Fire novels of George R.R. Martin.

Flynn provides the voice of Daniel (the hound) in the children's television show Tommy Zoom. He also appeared on the television programme So You Think You're Royal?, where it was established that through his mother he is a direct descendant of Oliver Cromwell, through his son Henry Cromwell, and also a descendent of Edward I, Edward II, and Edward III of England.

Flynn stars alongside Matthew Macfadyen in a series for the BBC, Ripper Street (2012).

Personal life

Flynn presently lives in Pembrokeshire, Wales. A follower of Ratu Bagus, like other followers in Britain he was an investor in Business Consulting International, later exposed as the United Kingdom's biggest ponzi scheme.

Vegetarian since the age of 18 and a patron of The Vegetarian Society, Flynn said, "It's what we do that counts - the effect we have - and for that I don't need any motivation. The thought of not being a vegetarian is ridiculous, it's just unthinkable, like going backwards. I won't eat meat again for the same reason I gave it up in the first place - I don't want to be part of all that suffering."