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Leigh Adam Whannell (born November 13, 2001) is a British actor, rapper, film producer, screenwriter, and songwriter. Born in Melbourne and raised in West London, Whannell initially pursued a career in football, joining Chelsea Academy in 2007. When he was released in 2013, he began to pursue a career in acting instead, making debut minor appearances in episodes of Holby City that same year, before gaining global recognition in 2016, for his role as Bobby Lashley in the Netflix series Stranger Things, a role Whannell received rave reviews for.

After making his breakthrough on Stranger Things, Whannell would make his feature film debut in 2018, starring as the lead role in Monster House, as the Dustin James "DJ" Walters character, as well as landing a main role in the Netflix revival of the British crime drama series Top Boy. Whannell would receive worldwide critical acclaim for his performance as Adam Stanheight in the 2020 horror film Saw, in which he would win the BAFTA Rising Star Award, while also receiving nominations at the Academy Awards, British Academy Film Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Whannell would appear as the character in the three sequels that followed: Saw II in 2021, Saw III in 2022, and Saw IV in 2023, receiving a further Academy Award nomination for the role. In 2020, Whannell would also land the role as Bruce Banner and his alter ego The Hulk in the blockbuster superhero film The Incredible Hulk, which released in January 2022, with Whannell's performance receiving universal acclaim from critics. This would lead to Whannell winning the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Actor. This made him the youngest ever actor to win an Academy Award for Best Actor.

Outside of acting, Whannell has also found critical and commercial success in music, with his first single, "New Kid on da Block", releasing in July 2020. A member of the hip hop collective Youngest In Charge (YIC), since then, Whannell has released three studio albums (and another with YIC) And Introducing Leigh Whannell (2021), Leigh Whannell Presents: Tables Turn and The Leigh Whannell Show (both 2023). His chart-topping singles include "Sheen & Shady", "D&D", "Slide", "Bringing It Back", "'23 Bonnie & Clyde", "Schindler's List" and "Martin's Sofa". His most successful song to date, "Bonkers" (a collaboration with fellow YIC member Dizzee Rascal and American producer Armand van Helden) has broken many records and received many awards and certifications. As of November 2023, the song has been viewed 2.6 billion times on YouTube, becoming the quickest ever video to hit a billion views, doing so in under 100 days.

Despite being just 22 years of age, Whannell has become a prominent figure in the acting industry since his breakout performances on Stranger Things, receiving many accolades, including an Academy Award, two British Academy Film Awards, and a Golden Globe Award, being widely considered by many as the one of the best and most promising young actors in the world. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2021 and 2022. He is also the founder of the Joy-Con Boyz Foundation, a suicide prevention organisation, dedicated to Whannell's late mentor and friend Etika, and one of the co-founders of film production company Twisted Pictures and record label YIC Records.

Early life
Leigh Adam Whannell was born on November 13, 2001, in Melbourne, Australia. He is the son of DJ Michael (neé Lloyd) and Amanda Whannell. He has two sisters and a brother: Neve Whannell (b. 1998), Gianni Paolo (b. 2002), and Danielle Whannell (b. 2009), all of which are now actors as well. His father, Michael, is Australian-British, with German, Italian, Luxembourgish, and Scottish descent, while his mother, Amanda, is English, with Australian, American, French, and Welsh descent. He was best friends with fellow actor Tom Holland growing up and was also close with actor Charlie Heaton, who Whannell describes as an "additional brother" to him. Soon after he was born, his family moved back to West London. In 2004, When Whannell was three years old, he grew an interest in football, stating that he loved kicking footballs around the house and "immediately became obsessed with football". Growing up, Whannell was an ardent Chelsea fan, and would attend some of the Chelsea games as well. He joined his supported team's academy, Chelsea Academy, in 2007, at just six years of age. Whannell also listened to a lot of music in his teenage years, particularly hip hop and R&B music, saying that his favourite artists were Eminem, Nas, 50 Cent, Kanye West, Tupac Shakur, Jay-Z, Drake, Lil Wayne, T.I., Usher JME, Skepta, Kano and Lethal Bizzle, while also writing songs of his own.

Whannell's parents separated a few weeks after Whannell was born, but reconciled and got back together in 2005. Whannell has openly stated he had a poor relationship with his father, stating they would verbally argue regularly, especially during his teenage years. These arguments got so severe that Whannell's father once punched him in the face so hard that Whannell got knocked out and sported a black eye. Whannell has remarked that if he could go back in time and kill his father, he would "a million percent do it". His parents divorced in 2014, with his mother taking full custody of the children. Whannell's brother, Gianni, was very distant from Leigh and his sisters, claiming that they only saw each other twice every six months, due to Gianni having a different father to Leigh, Neve, and Danielle, and didn't start regularly speaking until after Leigh had first got famous. Whannell was also poorly behaved in school, as he would get kicked out of his secondary school, which was also called Chelsea Academy, due to his inability to control his behaviour, forcing him to attend a pupil referral unit. In this school, he would meet YIC bandmates Double Lz (Andre Deer), Bandokay (Kemani Duggan, who was the son of Mark Duggan), SJ (Jayden O'Neill-Crichlow), Callum Hudson-Odoi. He also met and became good friends with Chipmunk (Jahmaal Fyfe) and Dizzee Rascal (Dylan Mills), but not through school, but at recording studios. Future rappers Central Cee (Oakley Caesar-Su) and Digga D (Rhys Herbert) also attended the school, but never had any interaction with Whannell whatsoever.

In 2013, Whannell was released by Chelsea Academy, along with the likes of Declan Rice, which left him "extremely upset". Whannell had received offers from other London clubs, including the academies of Arsenal, Brentford, and Tottenham Hotspur, but Whannell said he would never play for another London club that wasn't Chelsea, in "loyalty" to his favourite team. After being unable to find another academy to join, Whannell lost motivation completely in football, and said that he didn't kick a football again for another two or three years. He then stopped his efforts in trying to become a professional footballer and started to pursue an acting career instead.

2013-15: Early beginnings
After being released by Chelsea Academy in 2013, Whannell started to pursue an acting career. From 3-17 December 2013, Whannell appeared in three consecutive episodes of the British medical drama series Holby City, on the show's sixteenth season.

Whannell did not find another role in 2014, as he said that his mental health during this time was suffering, and his levels of self-esteem had "spiralled downwards" considerably. However, in July 2015, he auditioned for the Robert "Bobby" Lashley role in the Netflix science fiction horror series Stranger Things, which he ended up being cast for a month later. Filming for the series lasted from November 2015 to early 2016. During the cast, he met one of his now best friends, Jack P. Shepherd, who was cast as the Jake Carter character, who was Whannell's character's best friend in the show.

2016-19: Rise to stardom
The first season of Stranger Things was released on July 1, 2016. Whannell's performance in the first season was met with generally mixed reviews from critics, with praise directed at his emotional acting and chemistry with co-star Jack P. Shepherd, but some criticism towards lacking in depth. Whannell said that he was only partially happy with his performance in the season and knew he was "capable of a lot more". Despite this, he won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series along with the cast, and also won an MTV Movie Award for Best Duo, along with Shepherd. In the second season of Stranger Things, which released on October 27, 2017, Whannell's performance was met with critical acclaim this time, winning a Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor in a Television Series, and an MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Team with Shepherd and new cast member Lindsay Lohan, while also receiving an Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.

In 2018, Whannell made his feature film debut in the comedy horror haunted house film Monster House, playing as the lead character: Dustin James "DJ" Walters. Both the film and Whannell's performance was met with positive reviews, and the film was a success at the box office, grossing over £411 million against an £85 million budget. In 2021, however, Whannell commented on the movie, saying how he ultimately wasn't very happy when the film came out. He stated: ""I feel like it wasn't the right time for us to do that film; we rushed into it and it's like I kind of made all my mistakes in one movie, you get me, so, even though I didn't recognise it's value at the time, being in it, it was really depressing. I was only 16 or 17, I'd just played the lead in this film that loads of people had gone to see, and it was a successful movie, and I wasn't happy, and I remember thinking: "I should really be the happiest I've ever been right now. Like on the EKG chart of my life, this should be the biggest peak." So, it was really just a good lesson you know." In 2018, Variety included Whannell in their list of ten actors to watch out for in 2018, along with the likes of Timothée Chalamet and Letitia Wright.

In 2019, Whannell starred in a main role in the Netflix revival of British crime drama series Top Boy, as Logan Krenzler. Whannell said that joining Top Boy was a "no-brainer", as he was a fan of the original series when it was being broadcasted on Channel 4 in 2013. The first season (third season overall) of the revival premiered on September 13, 2019.

After filming for season 3 of Stranger Things concluded, Whannell put out a statement on his Instagram account that said he would be taking a brief hiatus from acting to focus on his mental health, promising fans to "come back in the best form of his life."

2020-22: International recognition and consecutive Oscar nominations
Whannell returned from his hiatus in 2020, starring as Adam Stanheight in the psychological horror film Saw. The film was originally meant to be a direct-to-video release, but after the film was met with positive reception when it premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival in January, the film was instead set for a Halloween theatrical release. The film was released on October 23, 2020, and the film was met with critical acclaim, with Whannell's performance in particular being met with worldwide universal acclaim, and was a major success at the box office, grossing $752.9 million against a measly $1.2 million budget. Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair called Whannell's performance "a fantastic performance from a fabulous young actor." Steven Gaydos of Variety wrote: "Although Whannell's comedy is few and far between, it adds a sense of humour into the film, with a brilliant mix of humour, terror, and tension. A potentially brilliant character may be in Whannell's hands." For his performance, Whannell received many accolades and nominations, including the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2021, and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor at the 93rd Academy Awards. At the age of 19 years and 123 days, Whannell became the second youngest actor in history to be nominated for the award. Whannell also received Best Actor nominations at the British Academy Film Awards, Critics' Choice Movie Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. After the overwhelming success of Saw, a sequel was immediately green-lit, with Whannell signing on to the film. In 2021, he would reprise the role in Saw II, which grossed over $1.4 billion at the box office, with Whannell's performance as Adam Stanheight receiving more critical acclaim as well, and received more awards and nominations for his performance. However, after actor Will Smith won the Academy Award for Best Actor ahead of Whannell after slapping comedian Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards, there was a protest that occurred after the ceremony, in which fans expressed their frustration and anger about the situation, with the hashtag "#LEIGHWHANNELLROBBERY" trending worldwide on Twitter. Whannell commented on the situation, stating: "Look, I'll be real with you yeah, although I did feel a bit like hard done by, cos to me, it did feel like it was like he got rewarded for punching up Chris Rock, like he deserved it because he's a world-class actor, and has been for a long time now, you get me. To even be nominated alongside him and for a second straight year was an honour in itself."

In April 2020, during the lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic, Whannell was approached by Marvel Studios to portray scientist Bruce Banner and his alter ego The Hulk in the movie The Incredible Hulk, which Whannell immediately accepted. One of the reasons for this was that the director of the film, Louis Leterrier, watched the first Saw film at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and picked out Whannell's performance in particular for praise, saying that his acting was "amazing and very professional" and thought he was the right fit for the role. Whannell said that accepting the role was a "very easy decision", as Hulk was Whannell's favourite superhero growing up, and was a fan of the Hulk film that released in 2003, in which Eric Bana portrayed the titular character. After being hired in April, Whannell was also asked to produce a rewrite of Zak Penn's original script. Whannell's script wanted to make the movie feel like a Hulk movie, and that he wanted it to be raw, which meant "cutting out the bullshit comedic stuff". He first appeared as the character in a cameo post-credits scene in Spider-Man: No Way Home, in 2021. The film would release on January 2, 2022, to universal acclaim, and was a critical and commercial success, grossing $2.2 billion at the box office, becoming the second-highest grossing Marvel Cinematic Universe film (behind Avengers: Endgame), and the fifth-highest grossing movie of all time. Whannell's performance would receive universal acclaim as well, with Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian claiming Whannell's performance as "extremely powerful" and was "Oscar-worthy yet again".

2023: Record-breaking year
"I feel sorry for everyone who wants to compete for his throne, because it's impossible. This kid is a special breed."

- Leonardo DiCaprio after Whannell won the Academy Award for Best Actor

For his performance, Whannell would subsequently win the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 95th Academy Awards, becoming the youngest ever actor to win the award, at 21 years and 119 days, and becoming the second actor to win a major individual acting award for a film based on Marvel Comics, after Angela Bassett, while also Best Actor awards at the 76th British Academy Film Awards and at the 28th Critics' Choice Awards.

In 2023, Whannell will star in No Mercy, a crime drama film that will be set to release in May 2023, a documentary series of Whannell's life titled Behind the Scenes: Leigh Whannell, being set to release in August, and will reprise his role as Adam Stanheight in Saw IV, which will release on October 20, 2023.

2011/12-19: Early interest in music and unreleased songs
Whannell claims that he first started taking an interest in music around 2011 or 2012. He listened to a mixture of hip hop music from both American and British rappers, with his favourite rappers and inspirations to start creating music in particular being Eminem, 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Drake, Lil Wayne, JME, Skepta, and Kano. He also wrote songs of his own as a teenager, including during times when he was filming projects, with his lyrics often being about struggles of growing up in a toxic West London. He has also said that in an assembly during Year 9 of high school, he performed Eminem's "Lose Yourself" in front of the whole year group. He formed a group with some of his friends, consisting of himself, Dizzee Rascal (Dylan Mills), Chipmunk (Jahmaal Fyfe), Bandokay (Kemani Duggan), Double Lz (Andre Deer) and SJ (Jayden O'Neill-Crichlow) going by the acronym YIC, which stands for "Youngest In Charge".

In 2022, Whannell stated that he had recorded a full song that was meant to be released in 2017 or 2018, which was going to be titled "Trust Issues", but as Whannell was struggling with depression at the time, he never released the song.

2020-21: First releases and And Introducing Leigh Whannell
In February 2020, Whannell announced via Twitter that he would be releasing music later in the year. He released his first single titled "New Arrival", which released on July 1, 2020, which charted successfully, peaking in the top twenty in nine different countries, including number 11 in the UK Singles Chart, number 14 in the ARIA Charts in Australia, and number 19 in the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. Just a day later, Whannell would release another single, this time with then up-and-coming Barbadian singer Rihanna (who he confirmed he was in a romantic relationship with a few months later), titled "West Ten". The song was even more successful than "New Arrival", and became a commercial hit, peaking at number 4 in the UK Singles Chart, number 4 in the US Billboard Hot 100, while also reaching the top 20 in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and Scotland. After listening to Whannell's first two singles, American rapper Eminem, who was one of Whannell's favourite artists and one of his inspirations to start doing music, contacted him and asked Whannell if he wanted to collaborate on a song, which Whannell said yes to. He signed to both Atlantic Records and Warner Music Group in September. "I was caught off guard when I got that text from [Em], you get me. It's crazy when someone you've been listening to for so long as a kid is now listening to your shit. I remember coming home from school, and just blasting the fuck out of bare Eminem songs in my earphones, you feel me."

Whannell released two solo singles in October 2020, which were "Loading" and "Chingy (It's Whatever)", with "Loading" peaking at number 9 in the United Kingdom, number 11 in the United States, and number 13 in Australia, and "Chingy (It's Whatever)" peaking at number 3 in both the UK Singles Chart and the ARIA Charts, and number 7 in the US Billboard Hot 100. He closed the year with the single that soon became a nickname for Whannell, "Mr. Sheen", which released on December 30, 2020. The song peaked at number 2 in Australia, number 3 in the United Kingdom, number 4 in the United States, and reaching the top 10 in Belgium, Canada, Ireland, and Switzerland.

On January 16, 2021, Whannell released his "Daily Duppy" with GRM Daily, before featuring on fellow YIC members Bandokay and Double Lz song, "OT Boppin", on January 29. He released his long-anticipated collaboration with Eminem "Shady & Sheen", on February 7. The song became Whannell's first number 1 single, topping the charts in thirteen different countries, including Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and United States. His first studio album, titled And Introducing Leigh Whannell, was released on March 4, 2021. Whannell stated that he was "very excited" to release the album, and told his audience to "believe the hype". The album debuted at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart, staying there for five consecutive weeks, number 3 on the Australian Albums Chart, staying there for seven consecutive weeks, and number 5 on the US Billboard Hot 200, while also reaching the top 10 in ten other countries worldwide. The album received a certified Platinum certification from both the RIAA and the BPI, after selling over 1 million units in both the United Kingdom and the United States, and a Gold certification from the ARIA, after selling over 600,000 units in Australia. The album was very successful, selling 4.4 million copies worldwide. After the release of And Introducing Leigh Whannell, Whannell released single from the album "Shank", which featured fellow YIC members Mason Mount and Bukayo Saka on March 30, 2021. He also featured on KSI's single "Patience", which also featured Polo G and Yungblud on March 12.

2021-present: Worldwide stardom, diss tracks, and Always Whannell: Featuring Leigh Whannell
After the success of And Introducing Leigh Whannell, Whannell immediately green-lit a second studio album. He also green-lit a collaboration album with all of the members of YIC. On April 27, 2021, Whannell released "D&D", which Whannell confirmed stood for "Dezzie & Danny". The song is a tribute to Whannell's deceased close friends Etika (Desmond Amofah, 1990-2019), who was an American YouTuber and online streamer who committed suicide in June 2019, and Daniel Knudsen (2000-2017), who was the older brother of Canadian actor Erik Knudsen (which the latter would star alongside Whannell with in Saw II in October 2021), who was murdered in a drive-by shooting in October 2017. The song talks about the impact of the pair's deaths had on Whannell. The song was a critical and commercial success for Whannell, topping the charts in twelve countries worldwide, while reaching the top 5 in a further eight countries, and being cited by critics as of Whannell's best songs so far in his music career. Whannell would collaborate with fellow YKTV members Callum Hudson-Odoi and Dele Alli for the single "Take Your Time Wid It", which released on May 11, and peaked at number 7 in the UK Singles Chart, and number 16 in the US Billboard Hot 100. It was also around this time that he was contacted by numerous artists who wanted to offer Whannell a possible collaboration, which included Drake, 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Lil Baby, and Gunna. Whannell remarked that all of these "high-demand requests" from his favourite artists "flattered" him.

On 10 June, 2021, Whannell would release one his of biggest and most famous songs yet, titled "Slide", which topped the charts of fourteen countries, and reached number two in an additional seven countries. He would feature on the unofficial anthem by Krept & Konan: "Olé (We Are England '21). The song was about the England squad ahead of the UEFA Euro 2020. Whannell would also release "Hallucinate", which featured 50 Cent. Whannell stated that being able to get 50 Cent in a song with him was "a crazy experience", with 50 Cent also stating that Whannell could have a "bright future" ahead of him. The song peaked at number 3 in the United States, number 8 in the United Kingdom, and number 13 in Australia. Whannell also featured in Nigerian-American singer Rotimi's "In My Bed", which released on August 18. The song peaked at number 21 in the US Billboard Hot 100, and reached top 40 in six other countries.

In September 2021, Whannell released his first collaborative studio album with YIC, self-titled as "Youngest In Charge". The album debuted at number 5 on the UK Albums Chart, number 8 on the Australian Albums Chart, and number 15 on the US Billboard Hot 200, while also reaching the top twenty in ten other countries. In November, Whannell released "Still L.E.I.G.H.", featuring Dr. Dre. The song is a sample of Dr. Dre's song "Still D.R.E.", which is also the inspiration behind the song's name, and closed out the year with Drake collaboration "Still Loading…", which served as a sequel track to Whannell's song "Loading", which released a year prior. Whannell stated although he would still be releasing in 2022, he wouldn't be releasing as much as he did in 2020 and 2021. In February 2022, Whannell was dissed by American rapper Fat Joe, who insulted Whannell's dead friends and his incoming child. As a result, Whannell responded with a full diss track, titled "Earthquake", which made fun of Joe's weight, called him out for being a snitch, and also called Joe a white person (despite Joe being mixed race). Whannell stated that despite trying to "destroy him" in his diss track, he wasn't being with the race insults, saying he did it just to "piss him off because he knew it would piss him off". In March, Whannell released single "Adam Stanheight", which was based on his fictional character from the Saw franchise, and also released another diss track, titled "Exposing Opps", in which Whannell would basically take shots at almost everyone he had a feud with, including Fat Joe again, Digga D, CGM, Chris Brown, and 6ix9ine, NPK / Sin Squad, 3x3, and M24. The track was met with a lot of controversy, with Whannell receiving some criticism in the manner of which he dissed his targets; the music video was taken down on YouTube a few days after release. Whannell stated he was aware of the risks of making a song like this, but "didn't care".

On March 29, 2022, Whannell would feature on girlfriend Rihanna's single, Umbrella, which became a critical and commercial success, topping the charts in eighteen different countries, while also reaching the top five in nine other countries. In May, Whannell collaborated with British rapper Headie One on "Down For The Cause", peaking in the top ten in the UK Singles Chart. On 25 July 2022, Whannell would release yet another diss track, this time aimed at Digga D, titled "Obsessed". The song sampled 2Pac's "Hit 'Em Up", which was also a diss track, remixed Mariah Carey's hook from her song, also titled "Obsessed", and the music video had a body double, that was meant to be depicted as Digga D. A couple of days later, on 29 July, Whannell and American rapper Travis Scott featured on Nav and Lil Baby song "Never Sleep". In September, Whannell released "The Master", featuring Papa Roach, which was a sample of Papa Roach's 2004 single "Getting Away With Murder", and in November, a sequel to controversial diss track "Exposing Opps" was released, as "Exposing Opps 2.0", which again took brutal shots at people Whannell had conflict with. The song was subject to even more controversy than its predecessor. Whannell released his closing single of the year in December, with Eminem, which was "Bringing It Back".

In January and February (twice), Whannell would release three highly successful, chart-topping singles, which were "Dangerously in Love" (featuring Rihanna), "Schindler's List (with Eminem), and "Whannell 101", which sampled G-Unit's "Stunt 101". On March 4, 2023, two years to the date of Whannell releasing his first studio album And Introducing Leigh Whannell, Whannell released his second studio album, titled Always Whannell: Featuring Leigh Whannell. The album debuted at number 1 on the charts of sixteen different countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and Canada. So far, the album has sold over 8 million copies worldwide. Success would continue for Whannell, as on April 21, he would release "Martin's Sofa", which would be the lead single for the soundtrack of the movie No Mercy, titled No Mercy - Music From and Inspired by the Moion Picture. Whannell said he wanted this song to be viewed as a "motivational" song, similarly to Eminem's "Lose Yourself", which featured in 8 Mile in 2002. On May 17, Whannell collaborated with fellow YIC member Dizzee Rascal and American producer Armand Van Helden to release another chart-topping single "Bonkers".

Music


Whannell has stated that American rapper Eminem was his favourite musician, music idol, and main inspiration to start doing music. He said that Eminem was one of the few artists that Whannell could "vividly relate to". He stated: "He is basically the main reason white people are now being recognised in the rap game, you get me. Like, I can guarantee you yeah, if any of your favourite rappers faced Eminem in a rap battle, it's pretty likely they're coming out second best or would get destroyed. I would bet everything, that Eminem would win, fam." Whannell has also cited American singer Aaliyahas major influences as well. He said that he "loved" the way Aaliyah had the ability to "pour her heart out" on the mic, as well as having a crush on her.

Whannell has also credited many other MCs for influencing his technique and lyrical ability, including Tupac Shakur, 50 Cent, The Notorious B.I.G., Ghetts, JME, Skepta, Kano, Drake, Giggs, Nines, Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, J Hus, and 67.

Growing up in West London, Whannell mainly listened to hip hop music. He stated: "I actually never used to listen to music, at all, 'till I was like 12 or 13, bruv." He said he was "immediately exposed" to both British and American rap music, and instantly "fell in love" with both genres. With his music style and ability, Whannell has said: "With me, yeah, I can do a bit of everything, really. I could just rap really fast on a beat, melodically rap, and even sing a bit as well, innit."

Twisted Pictures
In December 2019, prior to Saw premiering at the Sundance Film Festival the following month, Whannell, along with the assistance of Saw producers and Evolution Entertainment's Gregg Hoffman, Oren Koules, and Mark Burg, founded Twisted Pictures. Twisted Pictures is a motion picture production company, that has also produced Saw II, Saw III, and Saw IV.

Philanthropy
Whannell made donations in 2017 to help support both the Grenfell Tower fire and the Manchester bombings. In May 2020, after the death of African-American man George Floyd, Whannell donated £500,000 to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, a non-profit civil rights organisation dedicated to the Black Lives Matter movement. Whannell has received major praise in the media for his donations.

In 2023, Whannell established the Leigh Whannell Foundation, which helps aid disadvantaged youth worldwide, and also serves as a suicide prevention charity, to deter young people from killing themselves. Whannell has received critical praise from the community, being credited with possibly saving many lives.

Joy-Con Boyz Foundation
In June 2020, a year after his late close friend Desmond "Etika" Amofah's suicide, Whannell announced that he had partnered up with suicide prevention and mental illness charity The JED Foundation to launch "The Joy-Con Boyz Foundation", which is a nod to Etika's fanbase that he dubbed the "JOYCONBOYZ". It serves as a deterrence for people who may be having suicidal thoughts, or suffering from a mental illness such as depression, and bipolar disorder. Whannell wanted to create the foundation in memory of Etika, as his death "hit him very hard". Nintendo had sent them a cease and desist letter around September 2021, demanding they halt all further sales of the remaining stock due to the use of trademarked terms on the shells. Nintendo subsequently received criticism for this decision, both from Whannell and fans of Etika.

Relationship with Rihanna and children
In July 2018, American rapper Jay-Z introduced Whannell to Barbadian singer Rihanna. Whannell stated that the pair quickly became "best friends", and they started dating in December 2019. Whannell appeared in the music video for Rihanna's debut single, "Pon de Replay", which fuelled rumours about their relationship, as well as a tweet that Whannell claims he unintentionally put out, remarking: "U got dat pic I sent u?", while tagging Rihanna. In July 2020, they collaborated on the song "Waiting For You", which was a commercial hit, before finally confirming their relationship in August of that year. Whannell also made an appearance on "There's a Thug in My Life", which was included in her debut studio album Music of the Sun (2020). In April 2021, Whannell appeared on the remix of Rihanna's hit single "SOS", before collaborating again on "Unfaithful", the latter of which appeared on both And Introducing Leigh Whannell and A Girl Like Me (both 2021). "Unfaithful" was later turned into a 36-minute short film, titled: Unfaithful: A Short Film by Leigh Whannell and Rihanna, released in August. Whannell (also serving as the director and screenwriter) and Rihanna both star as fictionalised versions of themselves, with LaKeith Stanfield portraying Rihanna's partner and fellow YIC bandmate Dizzee Rascal making a cameo appearance. In an interview with GQ in June, Whannell described Rihanna as the "love of my life" and stated that he wanted to take their relationship to "the next level".

On January 31, 2022, People reported that the couple was expecting their first child, which Whannell and Rihanna confirmed that same day. In March 2022, Whannell featured on the pair's most successful collaboration, "Umbrella", which topped the UK Singles Chart for ten consecutive weeks and seven weeks straight in the US Billboard Hot 100. The accompanying music video was released in June, and is only 17 million views shy of reaching 1 billion views on YouTube, as of December 2023. On May 5, Whannell released the single "D.M.B.", with the song entirely being an ode to Rihanna. The music video premiered alongside the single, and heavily features Rihanna and Whannell together. Rumours began circulating that the two were married, as three minutes into the video, Whannell opens his mouth and shows his grills reading "MARRY ME?", to which Rihanna responds by showing her own grills which read, "I DO". Whannell later denied these claims, stating that it was for entertainment purposes, but stated that he intends to propose to her in the future. On May 21, it was confirmed that Rihanna had given birth to a boy, whose name was later revealed as RZA Adam Whannell. He is named after American rapper RZA, who was the leader and founder of the hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. Whannell described this experience as "something to cherish forever" and that he was excited at the prospect of being a father.

On February 12, 2023, during the Super Bowl LVII halftime show, which featured Whannell, Rihanna, and Dizzee Rascal, they announced that Rihanna was pregnant with their second child, making Rihanna the first person to headline a Super Bowl halftime show while pregnant. The pregnancy was confirmed in a British Vogue magazine featuring the couple, which was released a few days after the Super Bowl performance. They welcomed their second son, Jayden Whannell, on August 1, 2023.

Mental health problems
Whannell has openly stated that throughout his life, he has suffered from many mental health problems, including depression, and has had suicidal thoughts. He said that the deaths of his close friends Daniel Knudsen, brother of Erik Knudsen, and Etika (Desmond Amofah) severely negatively affected his mental health. He stated that he would take antidepressants whenever he had free time during this period, and would sometimes just "sit in bed and cry".

2018 suicide attempt
During the early hours of September 7, 2018 (which was during filming of the third season of Stranger Things, Whannell sent a three-word text message to fellow cast member Joe Keery (who portrays the Steve Harrington character), which said: "ending it all". He drove off set in a car (which was never publicly revealed), while Keery immediately notified crew and staff members about the situation. Whannell had driven to a nearby canal, and had stayed idle there for approximately half an hour, before texting Keery again, saying that he was returning. Whannell said during that "rampage", he kept saying to himself "What the fuck am I doing?". When he returned, Keery said that Whannell burst out sobbing in his arms. The next day, he was treated with depression at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia. On October 9, 2018, over a month after the incident, Whannell put out a tweet, thanking everyone for the support and messages he received and that he was making progress in improving his mental health and would be back to normal soon.

Whannell's suicide attempt received widespread global media coverage, which Whannell didn't want to happen and was very unhappy about. This led to Whannell being one of the most Googled names of 2018, and CBS News ranked the situation as the 9th biggest story of the year.

Whannell has since commented on the sitaution, saying that he "will always regret what happened on that night" and it was "the most stupid thing he's ever done in his life".

Minor arrests
In November 2017, Leigh Whannell and Stranger Things co-star Charlie Heaton were detained at the Los Angeles International Airport, for possession of small amounts of cocaine. Neither men were charged with any crimes and due to the cocaine being found in Heaton's bag, he was sent back to London, whereas Whannell was forced to fly to Los Angeles without him. Heaton was later allowed to return to Los Angeles to film the third season of Stranger Things with Whannell.

On December 20, 2022, one day after returning to London from the World Cup in Qatar, Whannell was arrested and held by the Metropolitan Police, on suspicion for possession of a deadly weapon. Officers gained a search warrant to Whannell's residence, but were unable to find any evidence of an offensive weapon being held. Whannell was released two days later, allowing him to spend Christmas with his and Rihanna's families. The day of his release, Whannell posted a video on his Instagram account, going on a rant about "the failed British justice system".

2018 Soccer Aid headbutt incident
At the 2018 edition of the annual Soccer Aid charity event on June 10, Whannell was brought on as a 46th-minute substitute for the England team. In the 51st minute, Whannell was sent off within five minutes of coming on, after headbutting World XI's Martin Compston after a verbal exchange between the pair, resulting in Whannell walking off the pitch with both of his middle fingers raised. Whannell would receive major backlash for his behaviour, until it later surfaced that Whannell was intentionally provoked by Compston, who later admitted to saying to Whannell: "Do you need antidepressants to stay sane, dickhead?"

Compston stated he said the remarks in a trivial manner, as he claimed to have had a "strong disliking to Whannell for no particular reason", and did so to intentionally aggravate Whannell into doing something that would cause widespread controversy. Rio Ferdinand commented on the situation, defending Whannell's response and called Compston's actions "vile and disgusting". In a 2023 interview with DJ Vlad, Whannell expressed no regrets or remorse for his actions, remarking that at the time, he was getting sick and tired of being the "human punching bag" and that Compston should "suck my whole entire fucking dick." The two would engage in a public spat on Twitter in October 2022, with one of Whannell's tweets saying: "One day blud, you're gonna push me too far and I'm gonna kill you."

2019 car crash
On December 1, 2019, Whannell nearly died due to a car accident. At around 3 a.m. GMT, Whannell was driving home in an Audi TT in London, during heavy rain and wet roads. Whannell said that he came off a bend and completely lost control of the Audi TT, and was swerving to try and regain control of the car. He then went straight for a ditch, with his car spinning in mid-air and landing upside down. He managed to crawl out of the Audi TT (which was completely smashed due to the crash) and call an ambulance, where he was taken to Ealing Hospital. He survived the car crash with no major injuries, but had to get nine stitches applied in his arm, as well as a few treated lacerations. He was released from the hospital the following day.

Metropolitan Police ordered that Whannell went to a police station for an interview otherwise he would be arrested. Police stated Whannell was "very uncooperative", but would not be facing any charges. Whannell said he was not intoxicated during the incident, and has also stated that doctors informed him he was "extremely lucky" to have survived the car accident, as he could have died if the car he was driving was less strong and compact. On December 5, a few days after the incident, Whannell took to Twitter to thank his family, friends, and fans for "sticking by his side" in a "bullshit situation".

Public image
Established veteran actors and other celebrities have commented on Whannell, praising him for his work rate and his impact on the acting industry. Will Smith, who competed with Whannell for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2022, stated: "I have a massive amount of admiration and respect for [Leigh] Whannell, and he is probably the main competitor against me, for this prestigious award. Even being nominated for this award at this age, and twice in a row as well, should be something Whannell should be extremely proud of."

David Harbour, who portrayed Whannell's father, Jim Hopper, in Netflix drama Stranger Things, is also one of the many actors who have praised Whannell, especially after his performance in the second season in 2017, stating: "[Leigh] is a great kid, and in my opinion, has a scary amount of potential to go really far in this industry. Having physically watched him act, he has the power to become one of the best actors in the world."

In 2021 and 2022, Time named Whannell in their list of their 100 most influential people in the world.