Netflix sensation Owen Cooper divulged on This Morning that classmates poked fun at him for a week after he swapped out his well-known floppy fringe for a new ‘do required for his upcoming gig as a young Heathcliffe in Wuthering Heights.

Chatting with host Ben Shephard, he admitted the significance of the chop: “It was for the role and it does really fit the role as well.” To which Ben quipped, “But you’ve got to go back to school on Monday without your floppy bits?”. Owen, 15, laughingly shared: “No, I’ve been in school without all this and there was about a week where I was taken the mick out of but they’ve gotten over it now.”

The Netflix rising star is grabbing attention in Stephen Graham’s Adolescence, a four-part series charting the tumultuous path of a family coping with their son’s arrest for murder. Since its release on Netflix in March, the show has reaped rave reviews.

Owen skillfully portrays Jamie, a teen ensnared by allegations of killing classmate Katie. Alongside him, Line of Duty’s Stephen Graham breathes life into Jamie’s dad Eddie’s character, with Top Boy’s Ashley Graham tackling the role of detective Luke Bascombe, reports the Mirror.

Kids teased him over his haircut
The up-and-coming teen actor might be fresh on the scene, but he’s got a surprising connection to Coronation Street’s very own Tina O’Brien. It turns out Owen honed his acting chops at her school.

Tina recently shared a shoutout from fellow actor Rico Morris, who praised Drama MOB for laying “building the foundations to this talent” adding her own two cents: “Elitist mentality that anything in the North isn’t worth mentioning. Thank you for highlighting this Rico. We work incredibly hard at the Drama MOB and we are very proud of the work we do and will continue to do.”

Meanwhile, Owen’s co-star Erin Doherty spilled the beans on a particularly “scary” moment during the filming of episode three’s nail-biting pre-trial assessment scene. Owen’s portrayal of Jamie was praised by Erin, who told Variety: “It was genuinely scary.

“It’s every actor’s dream to get to a place where you forget yourself and you are in this strange reality that you’ve created. It sounds bizarre, but you genuinely do believe it in the moment.”