Jonathan Bailey has had a whirlwind year, from starring in stage productions to blockbuster films, and now he’s adding another spotlight moment: a striking new photoshoot with TIME. The 37-year-old actor, known for his scene-stealing roles and down-to-earth personality, is featured in the magazine alongside a candid interview that traces his career highs and the quieter rhythms that keep him grounded.
Life Between Stage and Sea
Though London often serves as Bailey’s professional hub, he has found balance in Brighton, where he relocated during the pandemic. The Sussex coast, he says, helps counter the intensity of an acting life that spans press tours, red carpets, and global premieres. “For every extraordinary thing that happens, the opposite of that is still and calm,” Bailey tells TIME, reflecting on his decision to move south.
That sense of balance has been essential in a career that shows no sign of slowing down. In the past year alone, Bailey returned to the stage in Nicholas Hytner’s Richard II, joined the star-packed cast of Jurassic World Rebirth, and continued to captivate audiences as Prince Fiyero in Wicked.
From Barista Chats to Burberry’s Front Row
Despite his Hollywood rise, Bailey’s appeal remains tied to his relatability. He might be spotted in the front row at Burberry during London Fashion Week, but fans also know him as the actor who chats with baristas while grabbing his morning coffee. It’s this ability to move seamlessly between everyday life and cultural icon status that makes him such a magnetic figure.
Bailey first built his craft on stage before stepping into television with memorable turns in projects like Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Crashing. His breakthrough came with Netflix’s Bridgerton in 2020, which transformed him into an international name and, unofficially, the “Internet’s boyfriend,” a title he shrugs off with trademark humor.
Wicked Fever and Dinosaurs on Screen
Bailey has fully embraced the spectacle of press tours, jokingly dubbing his schedule a “decathlon.” Last year, he joined Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, and Jeff Goldblum to promote the first installment of Wicked. Fans latched onto every moment, from viral interviews to Grande’s playful breakdown of a cast interaction on The Graham Norton Show. Bailey leaned into the fandom, even sneaking into a Wicked sing-along screening to enjoy the communal joy firsthand.
Hollywood came calling again with Jurassic World Rebirth, a project that Bailey describes as surreal given his childhood memories of watching Jurassic Park. Sharing the screen with Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali was both a professional milestone and a nostalgic dream realized.
Rooted in Theater
Bailey often returns to his first love: the stage. Unlike many peers, he never trained at drama school, instead learning by doing in productions across the West End and Broadway. He calls theater his “measure of time,” a place where the work feels raw, physical, and unrelenting. “It goes wrong? You go again,” he says, crediting theater for shaping his resilience as an actor.
That foundation, coupled with his instinctive curiosity, is what continues to make Bailey compelling. Whether he’s reflecting on family memories, observing the world from a café window, or stepping into Hollywood blockbusters, he brings both intensity and lightness to everything he does.
With his new TIME photoshoot capturing him at yet another peak, Bailey’s career continues to bridge the intimate and the extraordinary, just as he always has.
