![\"Anthony](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2236488806.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\u201cHe came and saw me in London and he said something really hilarious, really nice but funny.\n<\/p>\n
The 22-year-old is coming to the end of his role as troubled teen Henry Creel in the Broadway production Stranger Things \u2013 The First Shadow, having played the same role in the West End in London.<\/p>\n
Speaking exclusively to the Sunday World this week, the former Sullivan Upper pupil says he\u2019s looking forward to seeking a new role next March when he returns to the UK and reveals how Belfast actors look after each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnthony Boyle kind of took me under his wing,\u201d says Louis. \u201cHe came and saw me in London and he said something really hilarious, really nice but funny.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Anthony Boyle attends the “House Of Guinness” London Premiere at Picturehouse Central on September 23, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Dave Benett\/WireImage)<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me how Jamie Dornan came and saw him in something and Jamie said to him after \u2018Aw man I\u2019ve got this almost paternal care for you now, I don\u2019t know why but I feel like I\u2019ve got to take care of you, we\u2019re Irish blood and I want to see you shine \u2013 I\u2019ve just got all the hope in the world for you\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnthony told him that\u2019s great, that\u2019s so kind of you, thank you so much but he didn\u2019t really understand it and then he came and watched me in London and immediately, I mean there\u2019s only a few years between us, and he felt that want to care, that Irish need and that\u2019s what he did and he took care of me.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the cycle continues and hopefully I feel that way for the next Irish kid coming through and starting his career and I boost somebody else by giving them a leg up or two.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Stranger](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/4_STRANGER_THINGS_BROADWAY_S_0378_PJZEDIT_v002.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Stranger Things stage show<\/p>\n
Despite being so young, Louis has spent much of the last few years living in two of the biggest cities in the world and has had to grow up fast and says it would have been very easy to lose his way.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty easy to go off the rails,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve worked with and met with a lot of people who\u2019ve turned sour but it happens and it happens imperceptibly.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Anthony is my guide \u2013 he\u2019s always there and I can ask him anything \u2013 he\u2019s just a good mate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Belfast-born actor Boyle had his big break last year when he starred in the award-winning Disney+ series Say Nothing, playing the role of IRA man Brendan Hughes, and he is now playing Arthur Guinness in the Netflix show House of Guinness.<\/p>\n
Stranger Things: The First Shadow is set in Indiana 20 years before the events of the Netflix show\u2019s first season and the play focuses on the life of McCartney\u2019s Henry Creel as a shy, awkward teen.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Stranger Things stage show<\/p>\n
Fans of the TV show will know the teen becomes the villainous monster Vecna in the fourth season \u2013 and season five is due to start soon.<\/p>\n
Louis played the role at the Phoenix Theatre in London and then took on the role again in a marathon run in New York which started in April and ends next March.<\/p>\n
It was the most Tony-nominated play of the year and while Louis didn\u2019t win his nomination, the play itself won four awards.<\/p>\n
McCartney, who graduated at the Bow Street Academy in Dublin, grew up in a Coastguard\u2019s Cottage in Holywood, Co Down, and says when he leaves the US he\u2019ll be setting up home in England with his partner.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got five months left and then I\u2019m up and out of here sadly in March,\u201d says Louis. \u201cBefore you start the job they tell you we\u2019re going to open in April and then you\u2019re going to do it until March so March 29 is my last performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been discussing that day more and more with my mates and my partner and people I work with about how it\u2019s all going to feel like.<\/p>\n
![\"Stranger](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/4_STRANGER_THINGS_BROADWAY_S_0726_PJZEDIT_v002.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Stranger Things<\/p>\n
\u201cI got some advice to just take a moment when it all finishes because it\u2019s going to be weird because I\u2019ve been doing this for like two-and-a-half years. It\u2019s every night and two on Saturday and two Sunday.<\/p>\n
chance<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be living in England when I finish but I\u2019ll be back home to Northern Ireland to see my dog, see my cat, see my mum my dad and my brother. They have been to London several times but have not yet been to New York yet but they\u2019re coming.\u201d Initially Louis trained in Dublin as a screen actor rather than the stage and had a role in Hope Street and now says he would love a role in something like Blue Lights if he got the chance, although fantasy is his real love.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m actively looking for work in March and keeping that ball rolling,\u201d he says. \u201cAlways keeping fingers in pies and poking and prodding people and saying \u2018hey what about me \u2013 do you like me?\u2019<\/p>\n
![\"Stranger](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/4c9c53f4-cea7-4282-81dd-5b1d8554cbb8.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Stranger Things stage show<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking for the next thing because I\u2019m leaving this behind soon and it\u2019s been lovely to have the job security.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not scared about being out of work \u2013 I\u2019m actually really hopeful. I see myself as being available which is the most important thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d be up for a role in something like Blue Lights, it\u2019s super cool. All those Troubles-related projects are really good because they\u2019re tasteful and they are able to capture what happened accurately because there\u2019s a lot of Irish talent nowadays left behind after Game of Thrones which is really nice because there\u2019s a hub of people over there (in Ireland) who know what they\u2019re doing now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d love to do something a bit more psychological like Henry Creel \u2013 something I can sick my teeth into.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love fantasy, different worlds, vast concepts, I read a lot of fantasy books. If you know the Eregon series by Christopher Paolini \u2013 I\u2019d love to do that if it ever gets made but if it does I\u2019d be first to jump at that.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Louis has nothing but praise for east Belfast drama teacher Catherine Gardiner who helped him on the road to the actor he is today.<\/p>\n
Last year Catherine \u2013 who runs the CAST School of Speech and Drama \u2013 told the Sunday World how Louis was her star pupil and how she wasn\u2019t surprised he had secured such a coveted role so young.<\/p>\n
\u201cCatherine Gardiner was really nice and so important to me getting to where I am today \u2013 she was a big supporter of me and so was my drama teacher at school,\u201d says Louis.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did all the work for LAMDA (the London Academy of Music and Performing Arts) but I never finished my diploma because I did all the work I\u2019d just got a job on Hope Street.<\/p>\n
learned<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned so much going through all the LAMDA grades with Catherine because you have to prepare to do you piece in front of some examiner in some hotel and it\u2019s really scary but it\u2019s great preparation.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says he\u2019s had the best time playing the lead role in Stranger Things and living in New York and London.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been an absolute whirlwind, I mean I\u2019ve grown up so much,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn theatre you\u2019ve got to grow up quick because there\u2019s a lot of expectations and if you want to skip a couple of stones and hop over to the other bridge or the pond you\u2019ve got to show a lot of grit and show a lot of graft and really tell people what you\u2019re worth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so thankful \u2013 I know so many people might say that \u2013 but seriously some days I\u2019m talking with Alex who\u2019s playing Dr Brenner here and we\u2019re like \u2018man what a night that was crazy\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHe came and saw me in London and he said something really hilarious, really nice but funny. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-218131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}