Kit Harington (born 26 December 1986) is a British film, television and stage actor known for his role as Jon Snow in Game of Thrones.
Background
He was born Christopher Catesby Harington in London. He lived there until age eleven, when he and his family moved to Worcester, England. He is a graduate of the Worcester Sixth Form College and the Central School of Speech and Drama, where he majored in Theater.
Ironically for playing a bastard, Harington's ancestors include an Earl, a Viscount, and a line of Baronets, through which he can even trace descent from King Charles II of England, King William I of England, Hugh Capet, King of the Franks, and Charlemagne, Holy Roman Emperor. His ancestry is mostly English, Scottish, and Welsh.
One of Kit Harington's ancestors was actually Sir John Harington, who in 1596 invented the modern flush toilet - hence why they are colloquially known as "Johns". Sir John even installed one for his godmother, Queen Elizabeth I. The flush toilet remained fairly rare, however, until in the nineteenth century businessman Thomas Crapper commercialized the mass-produced flush toilet.[1]
Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones is Harington's first major television role, having previously appeared on stage in the play War Horse and Posh.
He stars in HBO's Game of Thrones as Jon Snow. He was announced in the role on 19 July 2009. He was part of the initial starring cast and remains a member of the starring cast for the fifth season. Before he was cast, fellow Thrones actors Iwan Rheon, Alfie Allen and Joe Dempsie previously auditioned for the role. Harington remains close friends with all three.
Harington's third audition scene was actually a scene between Jon and Ygritte from Season 3, even though at the time they weren't certain there would even be a third season. After being cast, Harington quickly read through the first four novels.[2]
Harington broke his ankle in July 2012, in the gap between filming for Season 2 and Season 3. After a night of partying he realized he lost the keys to his flat, so he tried to climb into his first-floor window, then fell. As Harington explained: "Everyone always says you must have done it on set horse riding or running across glaciers or something cool...I was an idiot. The 'invincibility of youth' and all that. I couldn’t even blame it on a film set. And I had avoided skiing for ages because I thought I’d break my ankle!" Actors' schedules were rearranged to give Harington maximum time to recover, and the Iceland shoot was pushed back a couple of weeks. The production also occasionally used a double for a few scenes, such as showing Snow walking in the distance (the actor having "such distinctive hair" helped with the illusion, the producers semi-joked). Producer David Benioff said that "By time we got to Iceland he was moving well enough so you couldn’t really tell."[3]
Costume designer Michele Clapton explained how the production team tried to accommodate Harington's injury: "Kit Harington was in a cast for a lot of the time. They asked me to create a boot to cover it, but it was impossible because it was a great big, white foot! We couldn’t shoot it at first because there was no way we could cover [his cast]. Later on he had a medical boot that he could take off, but he still couldn’t walk. We cut the back out of his [costume] boot so that he could put it on without having to actually step into it and just bound it to his leg. He managed really well, considering the amount of pain he was in. Thankfully he’s much better now, but that was a tricky one.[4]
Harington reprised his role as Jon in Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series and in a 2015 sketch for Late Night with Seth Meyers.
Following the controversial final scene of the fifth season, in which Jon Snow is killed, Harington was obliged to claim that his character was gone for good and he would not be returning for the sixth season, even to his friends and family, though he later dropped hints about the contrary, such as stating that he would be involved in the series until his thirties (which would be in late 2016, during production of the seventh season). Rampant speculation on his return broke out when Harington was spotted arriving in Belfast around the same time the sixth season was to be filmed, which Harington responded to by confirming he was returning only to play a corpse as Charles Dance and Nell Tiger Free did. Filming was kept as secretive as possible, to the point that Harington was referred to only as "L.C." (Lord Commander) while they were not filming, though a photo of Harington wearing the armor of a House Stark soldier was leaked online, followed by rumors of the "Battle of the Bastards" between Jon Snow and Ramsay Bolton (specifically an apparent parley scene with Jon Snow, Ramsay Bolton, Sansa Stark and Petyr Baelish). Despite these, Harington maintained that he was only playing a corpse and would not be resurrected. After the airing of "Home", in which Jon was restored to life, Harington issued a public apology for lying to the series' fans, and expressed gratitude for the fans' love of the character. He subsequently continues to portray Jon throughout the sixth season.
Credits
Starring
Template:Season one credits Template:Season two credits Template:Season three credits Template:Season four credits Template:Season five credits Template:Season six credits
Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series
Template:Telltale Game Series Credits
Image Gallery
See Also
Notes and references
- ↑ Kit Harington shares the impressive history of his family's porcelain throne.
- ↑ WinterIsComing.net Kit Harington interview, March 15th, 2013.
- ↑ How 'Game of Thrones' conquered Kit Harington's injury to keep Jon Snow fighting, EW.com, March 15, 2013
- ↑ 'Game of Thrones': Hiding Kit Harington's ankle, faking sweat stains and more costume drama, EW.com, March 18, 2013