Channel 4's Skins was a cultural phenomenon and spanned three different generations of characters – but where are the cast of series five and six now?
As lead character Franky Fitzgerald star Dakota Blue Richards celebrates her 29th birthday (April 11), Daily Star has looked at what she and her castmates are up to these days.
The fifth series began airing on E4 in January 2011 and saw the introduction of a new cast, following the lives of sixth form students Franky, Rich Hardbeck, Grace Blood, Mini McGuinness, Liv Malone, Alo Creevey, and brothers Nick and Matty Levan.
READ MORE: Skins star-turned-OnlyFans model recalls mortifying naked strip club audition
It's been 12 years on since the show aired, so fans might be surprised to learn where the stars went next.
Dakota Blue Richards – Franky Fitzgerald
Skins wasn't Dakota Blue Richards' first rodeo as she made her film debut at the age of 13 Hollywood blockbuster The Golden Compass.
Dakota played the lead character Lyra Belacqua and also had other lead roles such as the wayward teenager April in Dustbin Baby and Maria in the 2009 film The Secret of Moonacre.
The TV star has carried on acting and also tried her hand at an erotic British comedy titled ChickLit, where she played Zoe.
Dakota has also undergone a major transformation and thrilled fans with pics of her bright orange hair and matching brows.
More recently, she starred on Celebrity Master Mind where she competed against other stars on the BBC One show and chose the subject of Lana Del Ray's music.
Sebastian de Souz – Matty Levan
Sebastian Denis de Souza played Matty Levan on the show, Nick's troubled brother who seemed to cause his fair share of mischief.
He has since starred in multiple TV series such as The Borgias from 2012 to 2013, Medici: Masters of Florence (2018), and The Great (2020).
Sebastian is still acting and appears to have a mystery link to Playboy icon Pamela Anderson after he shared a snap of them both on his Instagram.
He uploaded the post in February this year and captioned the pic: "Pamela: (it’s always been) A Love Story @netflix SdS"
Friends and fans took to the comment section to share their surprise, with one writing: "What? When? Now???"
Another quipped: "Husband number 8?"
Joe Cole – Luke
Joe Cole played bad-boy Luke in Skins and has since gone on to play a notable part in another iconic series, Peaky Blinders.
The actor starred as John Shelby, the younger brother of gang leader Tommy (Cilian Murphy) in the gritty BBC period drama.
He also has some other successful credits which include Tommy in Offender, Marzin and Beckwith in Secret in Their Eyes, Reece in Green Room, Billy Moore in A Prayer Before Dawn, Frank in the Black Mirror episode "Hang the DJ", Sean Wallace in Gangs of London and Iver Iversen in Against the Ice.
The talented star has also been open about how heartbroken he was when his Peaky Blinders co-star Helen McCrory passed away from cancer, at age 52, in April 2021.
Joe said on This Morning at the time: “She was just… I mean, you don't really realise until you leave the show how much of a rare gem someone like Helen was.
"She was just one of the funniest people I've ever met. She disarmed everybody with her humour and yeah, we lost a special one.”
Alexander Arnold – Rich Hardbeck
Alexander Arnold played keen metalhead Rich Hardbeckin the series after nabbing the role while still in the sixth form.
Since then, he's become the lead singer of an indie band called Circuithouse and starred in the music video “Death Cloud” by Cloud Control.
He also featured in a two-part ITV drama called A Mother's Son, in the BBC Three zombie drama In the Flesh, the third series of the crime-drama Vera.
Other credits include a starring role as Adam in the television series What Remains, securing a spot on the cast of Poldark and his first film credit was in The Salvation.
Alexander also now looks worlds apart from his Skins days and appears to be sporting a bleach-blonde look on his Instagram account.
Freya Mavor – Mini McGuinness
Scottish actress and model Freya Mavor is well known for her role as Mini McGuinness in Skins and also as Daria Greenock in HBO's finance drama series Industry.
Freya was also set to star in the Netflix-produced Gore Vidal biopic titled Gore, but this was shelved following lead actor Kevin Spacey's sexual misconduct allegations.
She is now writing and directing an erotic anthology film about desire, intimacy and sexuality called Kinked.
Will Merrick – Alo Creevey
We can't picture anyone else playing Alo Creevey other than Will Merrick.
Though despite this, he originally auditioned for the role of Rich Hardbeck – strange, right?!
In 2012, Will won the RTS Award for Best Actor, while competing with his co-star Dakota.
His role as Alo also a nomination for Best Actor at the TV Choice Awards 2012.
In the same year, he landed his first big screen role as Jay in Richard Curtis' romantic comedy About Time, where he starred alongside Hollywood stars Rachel McAdams and Domhnall Gleeson.
In 2013, he also secured a spot in the 'Nightmare in Silver' episode of Doctor Who where he played a character named Brains.
Like his co-star, he also played a place in BBC's Poldark where he played Arthur Solway in two episodes.
Jessica Sula – Grace Blood
Jessica Sula portrayed Grace Blood in Skins and soon after gained a supporting role in ITV comedy-drama Love and Marriage.
In 2015, she starred alongside her Skins co-star Sebastian de Souza s the lead character in the Freeform drama Recovery Road.
She also had a recurring role in the limited series Godless in 2017.
Released this month, Jessica has also taken a lead role in Malum where she played a rookie police officer who willingly takes the last shift at a newly decommissioned police station, in an attempt to uncover the connection between her father's death and a vicious cult.
Sean Teale – Nick Levan
After originally auditioning for Rider, a minor role, Sean Teale landed the part of Nick Levan.
He has since played roles in the second series of the period dramas Mr Selfridge and Netflix's Reign.
In 2012, he turned his hand to horror after being cast in the TV film Abominable Snowman.
Three years later, he was in the thriller film Survivor and the biblical TV series The Red Tent.
And in 2017, he landed the part of Marcos Diaz, known by his handle of "Eclipse," in the Fox sci-fi series The Gifted.
Laya Lewis – Liv Malone
Laya Lewis played Liv Malone but this wasn't the first time she showed interest in the E4 series.
At 16, she went to audition for the second generation of Skins, however, when she arrived she pulled out of participating.
In 2012, Laya starred in Emeli Sandé's music video "My Kind of Love", which followed the story of the ambiguous relationship between two female characters, and how the younger girl, played by Laya, lived with cancer.
She has since won the BBC award for up-and-coming artist at the British Urban Film Festival and has also been concentrating on voiceover work.
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