Frederick James Carter is an English actor and director. He starred as Kaz Brekker in the Netflix fantasy series Shadow and Bone (2021–2023). He previously played Peter "Pin" Hawthorne in Free Rein (2017–2019), also on Netflix.
Early life and education
Carter was born on 27 January 1993 in Plymouth, Devon and grew up predominantly in Somerset. As his father was in the military,[1] he spent some of his childhood moving around, with stints in Cyprus and Virginia Beach. His older brother is fellow actor Tom Austen; they also have a middle brother.[2] The three of them went to school at Queen's College in Taunton.[3][4] A production of Jerusalem starring Mark Rylance that Carter saw in London when he was 16 inspired him to pursue acting. He went on to train in acting at the Oxford School of Drama, graduating in 2015.[5]
In 2019, Carter wrote and directed his first short film, No. 89.[12] He also had a main role as Tom in the Channel 5 miniseries 15 Days[13][14] and a recurring role as Jason Ripper in the American DC Comics series Pennyworth.[15]
In October 2019, it was announced Carter would star as Kaz Brekker in the 2021 Netflix series Shadow and Bone, an adaptation of the fantasy book series The Grisha Trilogy and the Six of Crows Duology by Leigh Bardugo.[16] Many publications singled out the Six of Crows half of the story for further praise, including Rolling Stone, Vulture, and CNET.[17][18][19] For the second season of Shadow and Bone, Carter was singled out for praise for his portrayal, with publications Radio Times and Rolling Stone particularly praising his scenes with Amita Suman and the Crows storyline overall.[20][21] The series was cancelled by Netflix after two seasons,[22][23][24] but fans are currently campaigning to get it back, reaching more than 200,000 signatures asking to save it.[25]
Carter married Caroline Ford on 3 December 2022,[27] having met on the set of Free Rein and been in a relationship since 2018.[28] Carter does photography as a hobby.[29] He is based in Marylebone, London.[30]
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