Nicholas Pinnock

Nicholas Andre Pinnock is a British actor. He is known for his role as lead character Aaron Wallace in the American legal drama For Life.

Early life and education
Nicholas Andre Pinnock was born in Roehampton, London, and is of Jamaican descent. He spent his early childhood living in Saudi Arabia.

On his return to England, he was enrolled at Corona Stage Academy in Hammersmith, London at the age of 12. While there, in his first week, he made his professional debut, landing several jobs as a model and child actor in adverts, music videos, film and television. Continuing his vocational training, Pinnock attended a three-year musical theatre course at the London Studio Centre. After the first year, he decided acting was his first love and in the following years, concentrated on drama and contemporary dance.

After graduating, Pinnock joined Lea Anderson's Contemporary Dance Company, the Featherstonehaughs, for several years before pursuing acting full time.

Career
In 1986, as a child actor, Pinnock starred in the fantasy drama TV serial Mr Magus is Waiting for You, based on the novel by Gene Kemp and following the adventures of four young children who get mixed up with a mysterious magician. A year later he became one of The Pink Windmill Kids on Emu's World on CITV.

In his 20s he regularly appeared in pantomime. He played guest roles in television programmes such as Grange Hill, EastEnders, The Bill, Dalziel and Pascoe, Footballers' Wives and Casualty. TV movies followed, such as Kingdom of The Blind with Clive Owen and Diamonds with James Purefoy.

Theatre work included As You Like It at Stafford Castle at the Staffordshire Shakespeare Festival, Hampstead Theatre's production of Born Bad directed by Kathy Burke, and San Diego, directed by David Grieg and Marisa Zanotti in the Edinburgh Festival. He appeared in Topdog/Underdog in Glasgow's Citizens Theatre in 2009.

Pinnock appeared in his first Hollywood feature film, the 2011 summer blockbuster Captain America: The First Avenger, as a SHIELD Tech. That same year, he went on to play the role of Leon in a four-part drama Top Boy, which was broadcast on Channel 4 over four consecutive nights from 31 October 2011. After the 2011 England riots in London, Pinnock appeared in the BBC docudrama The Riots: In Their Own Words, The Rioters. The following year, Pinnock portrayed the role of Evan in the ITV drama The Ice Cream Girls. The three-part drama aired in April 2013.

Pinnock portrayed a young Nelson Mandela in the ITV docudrama Mandela: The Prison Years, which aired on 15 December 2013, the day Mandela was buried.

In 2015 Pinnock showcased the role of Frank Sutter in Fortitude on Sky Atlantic. The same year saw the release of his next two films, Monsters: Dark Continent, sequel to Monsters in which he plays the role of Forrest, and The Keeping Room, portraying the role of Bill.

In November 2015 he played Jay "The Sport" Jackson in The Royale at the Bush Theatre in London.

In 2016 Pinnock played Jason Backland on ITV's crime drama Marcella Series 1 and 2, alongside Anna Friel. The series aired on ITV on 4 April 2016. He then appeared as Ian Shaw in Counterpart, a science fiction thriller first aired on 10 December 2017.

In September 2019, Pinnock appeared in the first season of Criminal: UK on Netflix.

Pinnock was cast as lead character Aaron Wallace in For Life, an American legal drama television series created by Hank Steinberg and executive producer Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson. The series was inspired by the life of Isaac Wright, Jr, who was serving a life sentence for a wrongful conviction, but got himself exonerated and became a defense lawyer. The series premiered on ABC on 11 February 2020. and ran for 2 seasons.

In 2022, he was cast in Jeymes Samuel's The Book of Clarence.

Pinnock played John Ellis in Django, a 2023 television series for Sky and Canal+, alongside Noomi Rapace, Matthias Schoenaerts and Lisa Vicari.

Pinnock was cast in This Town, alongside Michelle Dockery and Jordan Bolger, a 2024 six-part British television series for BBC One written and created by Steven Knight. He was also cast in  Hedda, an upcoming American drama film written and directed by Nia DaCosta, based on the play Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen.

Awards and nominations
In December 2022, Pinnock was announced as winner in the Best Actor category at the British Urban Film Festival awards in London.

Charity work
Pinnock is an ambassador for the mental health charity, Mind UK.