Danny Murphy (born 2004) is a British

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

actor who appeared in the 2019 film '' The Parts You Lose'' alongside Aaron Paul. Murphy is fluent in

British Sign Language British Sign Language (BSL) is a sign language used in the United Kingdom and is the first or preferred language among the Deafness in the United Kingdom, deaf community in the UK. While private correspondence from William Stokoe hinted at a f ...

Early and personal life

Danny Murphy was born on 20 February 2004. He is fifth-generation deaf on his father's side of the family. Murphy grew up in

Wallsend Wallsend () is a town in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of ...

in England with his parents Kelly and Charles and his older brother and younger sister. His parents are deaf, and his siblings are hearing. Murphy's first language is

, and spoken English is his second language. Murphy lives in Newcastle but attends Mary Hare School in

Newbury, Berkshire Newbury is a market town in West Berkshire, England, in the valley of the River Kennet. It is south of Oxford, north of Winchester, southeast of Swindon and west of Reading, Berkshire, Reading. It is also where West Berkshire Council is hea ...

as a boarder. As of 2019, he was studying GCSEs in English, Maths, Science, Media, Drama, ICT, Geography and BTEC Business Studies.

Career

By the time Murphy was eight years old, he had acted in a short film featuring skits. He later auditioned to host a

CITV CITV is a British children's morning programming block on ITV2 and formerly a free-to-air channel owned by ITV plc. CITV, then Children's ITV, launched on 3 January 1983 as a late afternoon programming block on the ITV network for children aged ...

programme aimed at deaf and hard of hearing viewers. Murphy also created comedy videos on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

and has received views. Murphy was nominated for the Chronicle Champions Awards 2017 in the Young Role Model category, and he won the Diana Award from the

British Deaf Association The British Deaf Association (BDA) is a deaf-led British charity that campaigns and advocates for deafness, deaf people who use British Sign Language. History It was preceded by the National Association for the Deaf and Dumb (NADD), which had be ...

. In March 2020, Murphy took home the Rising Star award from the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

for his leading role in the children's series ''Mission Employable,'' produced by ITV Signpost in Gateshead. In 2017, the producers of '' The Parts You Lose'' initiated an international casting search, supported by Deaf West Theatre, for a hard of hearing actor and cast Murphy as the film's deaf boy. Murphy learned

American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that i ...

for the role. The film was released in the United States in October 2019 and in the United Kingdom in March 2020. In 2019, Murphy went to Germany to host a workshop to teach deaf young people about filming and editing. He also began working on three new films in Europe and the United States. Murphy is currently working as a presenter on CITV's ''Dare Master'', a 10-part series where he takes on crazy dares from extreme window cleaning to bungee jumping. The show is presented in British Sign Language. CITV's ''Dare Master at Home'' has been nominated for "Best Lockdown Programme" in the Factual Entertainment, Popular Factual and Kids category. He also appeared on ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC ...

''. In March 2021, Murphy was announced as an ambassador for UK's Young Deaffest. Murphy has also collaborated with Marvel HQ/Disney on their series, ''The Untold Tales of the Eternals''. This series comprises six animated short episodes incorporating the heroes from ''Eternals'', each of which are offered with sign language overlays in multiple sign languages from around the world. Murphy interprets in BSL for six episodes, including "Ajak and Phastos," "The Celestials, the Eternals, and the Deviants," and "Ikaris and Sersi." In November, he appeared in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

soap opera ''

Doctors Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

'' as Rory Morgan. In February 2024, it was announced that Murphy had been cast as Luca Smith in '' Waterloo Road''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Danny 2004 births Living people British male film actors British male deaf actors BSL users Actors from Wallsend Male actors from Tyne and Wear British male child actors 21st-century British male actors British deaf people British male television actors