Cruella Star John McCrea Might Be New to Film, but He's Already an Accomplished Theatre Actor

John was born and brought up in Aldershot, Hampshire. With an interest in acting from a young age, he and his sister began attending theatre classes on weekends, before John went on to gain a place at the famous Sylvia Young Theatre School at the age of 12. At the age of 16, he obtained a place to train at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London.

While attending Sylvia Young Theatre School, John got his first taste of the stage life at the age of 9, with a role in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium. He was one of a group of children from his theatre school attending auditions for numerous different roles, and he was the only one to receive a part out of the group. Throughout his training, he continued to appear in theatre, racking up appearances in The King And I and as Friedrich in The Sound Of Music.

John was cast in the lead role of critically acclaimed musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. The production, based on a 2011 BBC documentary entitled Jamie: Drag Queen At 16, follows 16-year-old schoolboy Jamie as he realises his dream to become a drag queen. Living on a Sheffield council estate, Jamie has to overcome the prejudice that comes with being his real self to attend his school prom in full drag. The show opened its original run in Sheffield itself, and after winning a string of awards – including one for best performance in a musical for John at the UK Theatre Awards – the show secured a spot in London’s West End. The success truly cemented John as a performer to watch.

You might have seen John appear on your television screens, albeit only briefly. His credits include one-off episodes and small uncredited roles in shows such as The Catherine Tate Show and the 2020 BBC Dracula dramatization. He also had a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it role in the 2017 film God’s Own Country.

In Cruella, John’s character Artie is the owner of a vintage shop who bonds with Emma Stone’s Estelle over their love of fashion (in the film, he helps design her “Cruella” outfits). John personally identifies as a gay man, and whilst Disney hasn’t confirmed if Artie is an LGBTQ+ character or not when asked about it in an interview with Attitude, John said: “It depends on who you’re asking I suppose – but for me, yes, it’s official: he’s queer. But we don’t see him falling in love; there’s no social aspect to the character. It’s not beating you on the head with a stick. But his lifestyle is fabulous, he loves his life and it was so fun to play him.”

In the same interview, he goes on to say that “In one of the original scripts he was a drag queen, so I think he was always intended to be queer-representing I suppose, or somehow a member of the LGBTQ community. I imagine that was always the case.”

In the interview above, in addition to talking about his tattoos and his starring role in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, John also admitted he’s not on social media. He didn’t give a reason, but he did explain how it spared him from having to see all of the potentially awkward photos he would take with fans after the show.