Darren Jon-Jeffries (born 2 March 1982) is an English actor, writer, and presenter best known for his portrayal of Sam "O.B." O'Brien in

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

soap-opera ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on sister channel E4 a da ...

''. He is also known for presenting

Freshly Squeezed ''Freshly Squeezed'' is a British breakfast television programme which was broadcast every weekday morning on Channel 4 from August 2006 to December 2012. Format The programme took the format of a music-based breakfast show, featuring studio ...

and

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwide, inc ...

Rivals on Channel 4, plus

The British Soap Awards The British Soap Awards (BSAs) are an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom which honours the best moments in British soap operas. The ceremony is televised on ITV and has been presented by Phillip Schofield since 2006. The trophies giv ...

and

Text Santa ''Text Santa'' was a charity initiative set up in 2011 by ITV to support UK-based charities during the Christmas period. The appeal to the public is to donate money mainly via text donation and profits from merchandise. The telethons have been h ...

for

ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial station ...

Early life

Jeffries was born in

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the county ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

to Glynis Jeffries (née Jones), a teacher of sign language, and Wayne Jeffries, a professional carpenter. As a senior, he attended Padgate Community High School in

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The populati ...

, (now known as

Padgate Academy Padgate Academy is a coeducational secondary school located in the Padgate area of Warrington in the English county of Cheshire. It was first known as Padgate Community High School, it then became Lysander Community High School. The school con ...

), whose notable former pupils also include Chris Evans and

Kerry Katona Kerry Jayne Elizabeth Katona (born 6 September 1980) is a British media personality and singer. She was a member of girl group Atomic Kitten from 1998 until her first departure in 2001 and again from 2012 until her second departure in 2017. ...

. Jeffries also joined Padgate High sixth Form College and studied Business, English Literature, English Language and Drama.

Career

At fourteen whilst attending Padgate High, he joined a Warrington-based acting course, culminating in a small performance at Warrington's

Parr Hall The Parr Hall is the only surviving professional concert hall venue in Warrington, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. Location The Parr Hall and Pyramid Art ...

where he was spotted by a North-West based acting agency. This led to an audition for the role of Sam "O.B." O'Brien in

soap-opera ''

'' in 1997, which he subsequently obtained. He was a prominent cast member in the show until 2007, when he announced he would be leaving the series in order to pursue other projects. Soon afterwards in 2008 he carved a successful presenting career alongside Hollyoaks co-star

Matt Littler Matt Littler (born 19 March 1982) is a British actor and director born in Bury, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom. He is most famous for playing the role Max Cunningham from 1997 to 2008 in the British Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks''. Car ...

beginning with a stint on Channel 4's V Festival coverage, followed by The Versus Chart on T4 throughout 2008 and 2009. In 2009 Jeffries and Littler were also the faces of The

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

's 'Least 9 till 5' media campaign, and presented their own radio show on the

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

radio station Rock FM. In 2010, Jeffries hosted T4's

Rivals, where he and Matt Littler visited

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

, Sweden and

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

whilst taking part in numerous Red Bull sponsored sports. From 2011-2012 he was the presenter of Channel 4's flagship music show

, alongside Matt Littler,

Jameela Jamil Jameela Alia Jamil (born 25 February 1986) is a British actress and presenter. She began her career on Channel 4, where she hosted a pop culture series in the T4 strand from 2009 until 2012. She then became the radio host of '' The Official Ch ...

and

Matt Edmondson Matthew Edmondson (born 27 December 1985) is a British television and Sony Award-nominated radio presenter, best known for his work with BBC Radio 1 and ITV2. Edmondson currently presents the weekend afternoon show Fridays, Saturdays and Sund ...

. Throughout 2013 he hosted

spin-off show on

alongside Matt Littler,

Zoe Hardman Zoe Kristi Hardman (born 16 November 1982) is a British television presenter and actress. She first appeared on TV in Channel 4's reality game show ''Playing It Straight'' in 2005. Career Hardman was born in Kent, England. She was a presenter ...

and

Joe Swash Joseph Adam Swash is an English actor and television presenter, best known for his role of Mickey Miller in the BBC One soap opera '' EastEnders'' and various presenting roles with ITV2. He won the eighth series of '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me ...

, presented a

spin-off show for ITV, and throughout 2014, guest presented

The Gadget Show ''The Gadget Show'' (currently known as ''The Gadget Show: Better Tech, Better Life'') is a British television series which focuses on consumer technology. The show, which is broadcast on Channel 5, is currently presented by Ortis Deley, Geo ...

numerous times for Channel 5. In 2014 Jeffries returned to performing, and appeared numerous times on stage and television in various productions, whilst also studying at The

Manchester School Of Acting The Manchester School of Acting is a drama school that provides training in film, television and theatre and operates in the Deansgate area of Manchester, United Kingdom established in 2000. History Manchester School of Acting was founded by th ...

. In 2016, Jefferies reprised his role as OB in ''Hollyoaks''

Filmography

Awards

At The 2008 British Soap Awards, Darren Jeffries and Matt Littler won The Best On-Screen Partnership Award.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffries, Darren People from Wrexham 1982 births Living people English male soap opera actors People from Warrington