Jack Ashton

Jack Ashton is a British actor, best known for playing the Reverend Tom Hereward in the BBC television series, Call the Midwife. He also appears as Lenny Sampson in Waterloo Road. On stage, he has performed in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Donmar Warehouse, and as Guy Haines in Strangers on a Train (UK tour). He starred in the 2017 film Instrument of War, based on the true story of Clair Cline, an American prisoner of war.

Early life and education
Born Jack Lewis in Clifton, Bristol, his father was a sculptor and artist, while his mother worked in education. His family, including two sisters, lived briefly at Burnham-on-Sea, but settled in Bedminster, Bristol.

He left Bedminster Down School at 16, and studied for a BTEC in performing arts at Filton College. He then attended the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts in London.

A long-time fan of Bristol City football club, he chose his stage name as a tribute to Ashton Gate stadium.

Television
Ashton starred in Call the Midwife from 2014 to 2018. He joined the hit BBC period drama during its third series, playing Reverend Tom Hereward, the vicar of Poplar who works alongside the nuns and nurses of Nonnatus House.

In 2023, Ashton appeared in the BBC series Waterloo Road as ex-convict Lenny Sampson who is brought in to help fight knife crime among at-risk youth.

Other popular television programmes he has appeared in include Sister Boniface Mysteries, Casualty, Endeavour, McDonald & Dodds, and Broadchurch.

Radio
Ashton joined the cast of The Archers in 2023, playing Harry Chilcott.

Theatre
In 2009, Ashton performed in a Donmar Warehouse production of A Streetcar Named Desire as the dead husband of Blanche Dubois, played by Rachel Weisz.

In 2018, he starred in a UK tour of Strangers on a Train, an adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith novel. He played the lead role of Guy Haines, described by The Times as "the classic American good guy, the passionate architect, full of ideals", opposite "spoilt rich boy" Charles Bruno played by Christopher Harper.

Film
Ashton played the lead role Instrument of War, a 2017 BYUtv film based on the true story of Clair Cline, an American soldier captured by the Nazis who plays a handmade violin he makes out of scrap material he finds in the prisoner-of-war camp. Following a screening at the Heartland Film Festival, Richard Propes of The Independent Critic wrote, "one must give the strongest kudos to Jack Ashton for a performance that captures both the harrowing nature of his surroundings and the seemingly undefeatable human spirit that Cline must've possessed."

Personal life
From 2016 to 2023, Ashton was in a relationship with his on-screen co-star Helen George. In September 2017, their daughter Wren Ivy was born. The couple's second daughter Lark, was born in November 2021. They split up in 2023.