Connor Swindells is back on our screens as army officer David Stirling in the second series of the BBC’s action-packed war drama, SAS Rogue Heroes. The 28-year-old has been a regular fixture on our screens since finding fame for his portrayal of Adam Groff in Netflix’s teen comedy-drama, Sex Education. Since then, he’s appeared in the BBC’s gripping thriller Vigil, Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster Barbie, and many more.
But how much do you know about his life behind the cameras? And did you know that he is married to one of his former co-stars? Find out more below…
Connor’s famous wife
Connor is married to actress Amber Anderson, his co-star in Autumn de Wilde’s 2020 adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma.
Amber, 32, is perhaps best known for playing Ciara Porter in the crime drama Strike and Diana Mitford in season six of the BBC’s hit period series, Peaky Blinders.
The pair tied the knot in a stunning ceremony in the Scottish Highlands in October last year in front of family and friends, with his on-screen dad from Sex Education, Alistair Petrie, officiating the wedding and the couple’s former director Autumn giving a speech.
The wedding was held at Boath House, which is close to where Amber grew up. The bride looked breathtaking in a gown by Vivienne Westwood for her big day, which was covered by Vogue, while Connor looked dapper in a navy suit with a tartan tie.
The actors first got together during lockdown after deciding to bubble together. “We got to really support each other through that,” Amber told the publication. “Lockdown meant we had time with each other that we wouldn’t have gotten if we’d both been away filming. Our official first date was literally about three months into our relationship when everything opened up again. I feel like we did everything backwards in a strange sort of way.”
Connor proposed during a group trip to Botswana, popping the question by a 1,400-year-old baobab tree while they were on a safari.
© WireImage“We rounded the corner, and there stood a beautiful baobab. I knew the rest was up to me,” he told Vogue, adding: “She said yes.”
Connor’s home life
When he’s not on the set of his latest major film or TV project, Connor can be found at home with his wife Amber and adorable dog, Moose, whom he adopted in 2022 from a high-kill animal shelter in Bosnia.
© @connor_swindells / InstagramConnor’s upbringing and childhood tragedy
Conor was born in Sussex to parents Ian and Phoebe.
© BBC/Banijay UK/Robert ViglaskyHis mother tragically died from bowel cancer when he was just seven years old, after which, he and his father moved from a “reasonably poor estate, where there were very little prospects for young boys” to his grandparents’ relatively middle-class house in West Sussex.
Reflecting on how the move opened up more opportunities for him, Connor previously told Square Mile: “I’ve often said to myself, I think my mum died so that I could live. Whether there’s truth in that or not, I don’t know, but it’s quite a nice thing that has helped get me to where I am now. I think I struggled a lot when I was growing up that I needed to do something with my life. Because if I didn’t, her sacrifice was sort of for nothing.”
Opening up about his grief in an interview with GQ in 2022, he said: “Whenever you lose someone, what people have said to me is that grieving is the whole process of accepting that you had something that you loved and is now gone.
“In many ways, that’s a beautiful thing, because it’s better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. Grief is the price to pay of love, and I’m sort of okay with that,” explained the actor.
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