Jack James Ryan is the latest newcomer to Coronation Street and would seem that his character is causing quite a stir.
The Manchester born actor plays Jacob Hay, who is part of a gang which run drugs through food deliveries and has involved vulnerable Simon Barlow in his troublesome ways.
While he embraces his character, even if it means being called out in the street by fans of the ITV soap, Jack continues to follow in the footsteps of his famous sister.
His talented sibling is 29-year-old Rebecca Ryan, who made her name as a child playing Debbie Gallagher in Channel 4’s celebrated series, Shameless.
She starred in the comedy drama from 2004 to 2009, with the role beginning when she was 11 years old.
Rebecca also joined the multitude of soap stars to land a role in Rochdale-based BBC One school-based drama Waterloo Road.
From 2009 to 2011 she played pupil Vicki MacDonald before rocking up in Casualty from 2017 to 2019, in which she starred as hospital porter Gemma Dean.
Rebecca was glowing in her celebration of brother Jack’s debut in Corrie after he graduated from the Guildford School of Acting in 2018.
Before his stint on the cobbles, Jack also numbers several other TV soaps among his acting credits, with time spent on Casualty, Emmerdale and Doctors.
Rebecca described him as a “superstar” after he appeared on Corrie for the first time, last month, as he sets out on a harrowing county lines storyline which will drag Simon into a drug gang culture.
She tweeted at the time: “Unbelievably proud of my extremely talented little brother who is joining the cast of @itvcorrie.
“Can’t wait to tune in on Monday to see him shine bright!! Well done Jacky man! Love you xx”
She also messaged: “Aghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! So proud of you Jacky Man!! Can’t wait to watch you do your thing on the cobbles!! What a superstar.”
When he announced his arrival on set at Coronation Street, Jack took to Instagram to share his pride, especially as he is a Mancunian.
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Jack wrote: “Incredibly proud to finally announce I’ll be joining the cast of Coronation Street.
“I honestly don’t know how I’ve been able to keep quiet about this for the past few months.
“Being a proper born and bred Mancunian, I can’t quite articulate what it means to me to be a part of this show.
“I’ve grown up watching Corrie and always hoped that one day I’d be able to step on those cobbles myself.
“Can’t wait for you guys to meet ‘Jacob Hay’ and see what he gets up to in Weatherfield.”
Marking his first day on set on social media, he wrote: “Man is on the cobbles.
“This picture was taken on my first day of filming and as you can see I was completely shook to be there and I’m still pinching myself tbh.
“So excited to see what you guys think!!”
There was plenty of positive messages in reply and Jack took to social media share his gratitude, writing: “Thanks for all the Corrie love x”
He has found the one problem with playing a not so desirable character, is that he cannot escape him when walking in the street.
Jack said that he has already been heckled for leading Simon astray.
He wrote on Instagram: “It’s the second time this week I’ve been heckled in the streets; someone shouted: ‘LEAVE SIMON ALONE.”
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Originally from https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/coronation-street-newcomer-jack-james-23588966