Iain De Caestecker: Everything you need to know about Scottish star of The Winter King

Here's what you need to know about Scottish actor Iain De Caestecker, the star of new ITVX series The Winter King.

Scottish actor Iain De Caestecker is the star of ITVX drama The Winter King. Image: Getty

Best known for his role in Marvel television series Agents of Shield, Iain De Caestecker is the star of new ITVX drama The Winter King.

Taking on the role of Arthur Pendragon in the historical fiction series, Glasgow-born De Caestecker has been acting since he was nine years old.

Having appeared in films and series both at home and across the pond, here’s everything you need to know about Iain De Caestecker.

Early life

Iain De Caestecker was born in Glasgow on December 29, 1987. His parents are both doctors and his mother, Dr Linda De Caestecker, is the former director of public health for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. He has three siblings as well as a twin sister.

Growing up, he attended Hillhead Primary School and began drama classes alongside his brother at around eight years old.

Speaking with Interview Magazine about his early film experience, the 35-year-old said: “When I was younger, me and my brother got a video camera, and he used to direct and I used to act. We used to make these silly, stupid short films, which, looking back now, were probably horrible. I remember at the time we thought it was the best thing ever.”

While the home films De Caestecker made with his siblings helped him embrace acting, it was his drama classes which led to his first film role.

The cast of Agents of Shield. Image: Getty

In an interview with Dazed, the actor said: “When I was eight or nine, someone came into class and put me in a short film called Billy and Zorba. That was my first experience of being in front of the camera, and after that it was all I wanted to do.”

He went on to study drama at Glasgow’s Langside College, which is now part of Glasgow Clyde College. Despite establishing his dream from an early age, De Caestecker said that his parents didn’t “understand a lot of it”.

He said: “My mum was always keen I stayed in school and got good grades, and she was always keen for me to do medicine. I used to go to drama classes when I was younger, and she would always take me. But when I got to an age, when I decided it was what I wanted to do, when she accepted it, she has actually been the most supportive person ever.”

Iain De Caestecker movies and TV shows

Following De Caestecker’s first onscreen role alongside James Cosmo in 1999 short film Billy and Zorba, he then landed a minor role in 2000 film The Little Vampire.

One of his most notable early roles came shortly after, when he was in his early teens. He was cast as Adam Barlow, the grandson of Ken, in Coronation Street.

“I loved doing it because I got to stay off school and stay in hotels. But nobody really prepared me: millions of people watch it and the day after your first episode goes out, you have people all over you as soon as you step out the front door,” he shared with the Telegraph.

“Then your friends take the p**s because of that, and suddenly you feel like you’re a bit different, I guess. But I do appreciate people coming up to say something nice.”

During the same period in the early 2000s, De Caestecker made appearances in shows such as Monarch of the Glen and Rockface, and in films such as Kevin McKidd drama 16 Years of Alcohol.

There was then a lull in his filmography as he focused on his education, picking up once more in 2009 with guest stints in River City and Taggart as well as BBC drama Lip Service in 2010.

It was 2011 which proved to be a pivotal year for the Scottish actor, however.

De Caestecker portrayed the titular character in BBC miniseries Young James Herriot, which earned him a Scottish BAFTA nomination for Best actor in 2012.

James McAvoy played a corrupt Scottish police detective in Filth.

He also took on the lead role in supernatural television drama The Fades. Starring alongside talent such as Get Out actor Daniel Kaluuya, Miranda and Lucifer actor Tom Ellis and Game of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer, the show took home the 2012 BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series.

Meanwhile, he appeared in supernatural miniseries The Secret of Crickley Hall, comedy drama Up There and indie film Shell, which was set in the Scottish Highlands.

Following this, 2013 was another significant year in De Caestecker’s career.

He starred in psychological horror In Fear alongside Alice Englert, a film which was largely built around the actors’ own surprise, was cast in Karen Gillan rom-com Not Another Happy Ending as well as taking a small role in Irvine Welsh adaptation, Filth.

But it was the small screen which saw De Caestecker breakthrough across the pond.

Iain De Caestecker with his Agents of Shield co-star Elizabeth Henstridge. Image: Getty

He was cast in Marvel television series Agents of Shield, in which he played Dr Leopold Fitz for seven seasons. It was the first TV series to be set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is now the role he is best recognised for.

Speaking with The List in 2013, he said: “You don’t notice it as much when you’re in amongst it, but like anything you do I try to make myself aware that there are tens of thousands of people that are just as capable, or more capable, of doing it than I am. So you have to keep reminding yourself how lucky you are.”

Around the same time, he was hand picked by Ryan Gosling to star in the Barbie actor’s directorial debut, Lost River. He played the son of Man Men actress Christina Hendrick, starring alongside Saoirse Ronan, Matt Smith, Ben Mendelsohn and Eva Mendes.

Actors Reda Kateb, Matt Smith, Ian De Caestecker, Christina Hendricks and director Ryan Gosling attend the "Lost River" photocall during the 67th Annual Cannes Film Festival in 2014. Image: Getty

He told the Metro: “It was one of the best experiences of my life. He wrote the most amazing script, tried out new things each day, gave us all a lot of responsibility and a chance to bring our own thing to it. It was a dream for me to do a movie like that. It was very inspirational. He’s a really exciting person to work with because he’s very down to earth and unassuming but is always living in an artistic space, which is very infectious. You feel there’s always something exciting going on when he’s around.”

His next film role would come in Overlord, a 2018 alternate history horror film Overlord which is set during World War Two. In 2020, he appeared in Us, a BBC drama based on the David Nicholls novel of the same name, as well as thriller miniseries Roadkill.

His most recent TV appearance was in three-part suspense drama The Control Room which broadcast on BBC One in 2022. De Caestecker’s role as Gabe, an emergency service call handler whose life begins to spiral out of control, is one which stayed with him once the cameras stopped rolling.

Iain De Caestecker as Gabe

He said: “It was a really fast-paced nailbiter, a fantastic script, but I spent weeks filming this thing as a character in a constant state of fight-or-flight mode, and I found it really made its way into my body and afterwards I didn’t know how to get rid of it. It really knocked me for six. I’d never done this before, but I had to go and talk to someone professional about it.”

As of 2023, De Caestecker can be seen as banished warlord Arthur Pendragon in ITVX’s The Winter King. Based on Bernard Cornwell’s acclaimed Warlord Chronicles, the Glaswegian described the show as a “fresh, new, grounded and human version of the famous Arthurian legend”.

Iain De Caestecker relationship

De Caestecker, who has been based in London for several years, is in a relationship with Irish actress Ann Skelly.