With his face painted shades of green and blue, a ten-year-old Robert Aramayo beamed for the Hull Daily Mail cameraman when he was dressed for his role as Puck in Cavendish Primary School’s end of term production, the Shakespeare 4 Kidz version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in the summer of 2003. It was not his first experience of acting, however.
The young thespian had cut his teeth three years previously, when he played the title role in Bugsy Malone at his east Hull school. The 33-year-old was beaming for the cameras again on Sunday (February 22), this time to accept both the Leading Actor Award and the EE Rising Star Award at the 2026 EE BAFTA Film Awards, held at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
Robert made an emotional acceptance speech, clutching the award for portraying Tourette Syndrome campaigner, John Davidson, in I Swear. The film, which also claimed the award for best casting, is set in 1980s Galashiels, a town in the Scottish Borders, and follows the story of Davidson, who developed the neurological disorder when he was 12, and his journey to advocating for better awareness of the condition.
Robert’s reaction to winning the BAFTA for his portrayal of the campaigner was “arguably one of the standout moments of the 2026 BAFTA film awards”, according to the PA news agency. It is certainly the pinnacle of the actor’s career so far – but he still has far to go, if what his proud dad Mike Aramayo said in an interview ten years ago still holds true.
“Rob is now 23 and he says he wants to be an actor until the day he dies,” said Mike at the time. “He just wants to do things that challenge him.”
Four years after his part as Puck, a then 14-year-old Robert was treading the boards again at Hull Truck Youth Theatre – he joined as a ten-year-old and performed in three plays a year. In what was billed as a “minimalist” version of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, satirising the Russian Revolution, Robert was playing Squealer, one of the pigs who seize power and use propaganda speeches to keep the other animals in check.
He said at the time: “I have never played a bad character, someone so far removed from who I am. But I have always wanted to and I have enjoyed it, even when I have found myself thinking ‘God, I am an evil so and so’.”
Among the 13-strong cast was Robert’s older sister Laura Aramayo (who went on to study at the Oxford School of Drama). With no costumes or props, the cast were using their acting skills to convey the characters.
Laura, then aged 16, was playing Clover, the “stately, motherly mare”, a sweet-natured, lame cart-horse who suspects the pigs of violating the commandments of the Revolution. She said: “When you read the play and realise what it is all about, you get a sense of what people would have felt during the Revolution.”
Co-director of the play Lee Green said of the characters: “They have been using their physicality – the pigs keep themselves hunched down and cross their fingers together as trotters.” Robert had added, jokingly: “After Saturday’s rehearsal, I felt like shooting every single finger off.”
A year later, Robert and Hull Truck Youth Theatre director Mark Rees made the local news headlines with their hunt for a particular bird of prey. Robert was playing the part of Billy in Barry Hines’s moving tale, Kes, about a schoolboy who rears and trains a kestrel – Kes was made famous by Ken Loach’s 1969 BAFTA-winning film.
The theatre appealed for a local falconer to help prepare the young actors for the play and Mark said: “It would be a fantastic opportunity for the cast, especially Robert Aramayo who is playing Billy, to learn more about kestrels and see the way they move.”
It was the last Hull Truck Youth Theatre production to be performed in its former intimate Spring Street venue, as Hull Truck Theatre was moving into its new £14.5m base and current home, in Ferensway, the following spring. Robert, a former pupil of Malet Lambert School, attended Wyke College and in 2011 won a place at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City.
That same year he joined other ex-members of Truck’s Youth Theatre to perform in Stags and Hens – The Remix, at Fruit (now Social), in Humber Street. Robert’s performance in a Juilliard production of A Clockwork Orange, playing the lead part of Alex, earned him his first film role in the American production of Lost in Florence.
Many more roles have rolled in since then, notably playing young Eddard (Ned) Stark in the sixth season of Game Of Thrones. He starred in the Discovery Channel’s Harley And The Davidsons, before making Nocturnal Animals, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams.
He also starred in Fox’s supernatural thriller, The Empty Man. Following rave reviews for Game of Thrones, Robert’s dad said it came as “no surprise” to him.
Speaking in 2016, he said of his son: “He is a perfectionist and is dedicated to his art. Rob works so hard during auditions and that’s something he has always done.
“He has also had excellent management and he has been nurtured. He only takes on work which matches his skill set.
“It seems to be working for him and he has been getting a lot of accolades. It is surreal seeing him on the screen because, to us, he is just our Rob from Hull.
“He still loves this city and it’s his haven. But he is humble and he remains a real professional. We can’t see him ever changing.”
Jenny Garnsworthy, writing for PA, said: “Robert Aramayo may not have been a household name a few days ago, but that has all changed after the actor won not one but two awards at the BAFTAs.” She spoke of him beating Hollywood heavyweights, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothee Chalamet and Ethan Hawke, who were also up for Best Actor.
“Aramayo will be a recognisable face to many for his roles in Game Of Thrones and 2021 TV mini series Behind Her Eyes,” she said. “From 2016 to 2017 he played the role of young Eddard Stark in the sixth season of HBO series Game Of Thrones, and from 2022 to 2024 he was Elrond in Prime Video’s Lord Of The Rings spin-off The Rings Of Power.
“The actor has featured in films including Annemarie Jacir’s 2025 historical drama Palestine 36; 2023’s Dance First, about the life of Irish playwright Samuel Beckett; and 2024’s Lilies Not For Me, which he both starred in and executive produced. In 2021, Aramayo co-starred alongside Ralph Fiennes, Harris Dickinson and Matthew Goode in The King’s Man, which was directed by Matthew Vaughn.
“And in 2020, he appeared in the thriller Antebellum opposite Janelle Monae. Aramayo, who grew up in Hull, trained at the distinguished Juilliard School in New York, referring to his time there during his best actor acceptance speech at the BAFTAs.
“He said: ‘When I was in school, Ethan Hawke came in to speak to us at Juilliard and he gave an amazing talk on longevity as an actor, about protecting your instrument and avoiding self-destructive behaviours, and it had a great impact on everyone in the room. So to be in this category with you tonight is incredible. Thank you Ethan.’
“After receiving the Rising Star Award – the only category of the night decided by a public vote – Aramayo told the audience: ‘This means the world to me, I can’t believe it.’ He described Mr Davidson as the ‘most remarkable person I’ve ever met’.”
Jenny said: “I Swear filmmaker Kirk Jones said he did not ask Aramayo to audition for the role because he knew the actor was right for the part ‘very early on’. Speaking on the red carpet, Jones said: ‘I knew Robert was right for the part very early on, and because the finance was structured in a certain way, I was able to cast him without having to justify that decision or ask for people’s permission to do it – which is the purest way to cast the film.
“‘That’s how it should be done. A lot of people are surprised when I say I never asked him to do a screen test. I never asked him to audition, and that’s quite unusual.’”
Of his two big BAFTA wins, she described the “outpouring of emotion” from Robert after being named Best Actor, shortly after finding out he was the winner of the EE Rising Star award. “The shock on his face was palpable and was matched only by the elation shown on his family’s faces as they hugged him in the audience before he walked to the stage to make his second speech of the night.”