1. He’s a rapper. Yeah, seriously. The 30-year-old Brit is known as a rapper by just his last name and has worked with a handful of British hip-hop acts I have never heard of. His music is heavily influenced by techno. Here is his music video for the song “We Run Them.” I don’t hate it!

2. He’s been in three feature films. Since making the switch from music to acting in 2012, he’s appeared in the films “Piggy,” “Ill Manors,” and “The Sweeney.” I haven’t seen any of them! But here’s a clip of him in “Ill Manors.” Fuck, he’s also sexy with no hair!

3. He used to be in a gang. And he almost died after being stabbed at 17, which led to him quitting crime altogether.

4. He is compassionate. Of the three men who were convicted of stabbing him, Skrein wrote, “No one can justify them smirking in court when they were shown images of what happened. But I think they needed role models. They were once five-year-old kids jumping around … they were innocent. How did they become so apathetic about everyone?”

5. He’s a swimming coach on the side. Ed doesn’t just talk about being a role model to kids, he is one. He’s been teaching swimming since he was 15 and continues to do so to this day, despite not needing the money. “I’m very passionate about the use of sports in young people’s lives to build self-esteem and self-discipline and self-confidence. It’s been a big thing for me,” says Ed, who recently opened his own swimming academy in Islington, North London. “It’s not as drastic as turning kids lives around but it’s about planting positive seeds. However we can spread love and progression, we’ve got to do it.”

Swoon!

The Sun]
[Huck Magazine]