Photographs by CHARLIE CLIFT
Words by JANE CROWTHER

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BAFTA-winning writer/actor Malachi Kirby is boxing clever and manifesting a purposeful career. He tells Hollywood Authentic about cooking up the perfect balance.

At the beginning of 2022, Malachi Kirby made a wish list for his next project and emailed it to his team. ‘I suddenly had this clarity about what I wanted to do next, and why I wanted to do it,’ the 35-year-old tells Hollywood Authentic during a shoot in the days before Christmas as he prepares to cook a festive feast for 12 family members. Though he’s never cooked for more than two people before, he’s as singleminded and assured that his dinner will come together as he was about his career direction when he appraised it three years ago. ‘There were four things that stood out to me,’ he says of the list. ‘I wanted to play a boxer. I wanted to do a period piece. I wanted to play someone who really existed, because I’d done a few roles like My Murder and Roots and Mangrove. There was something about those jobs that got me more excited than anything else – the research that came with it, and the weight of responsibility of telling someone’s story. And I wanted to do it in London, at home.’ Six months later the role of Hezekiah, a 19th-century Jamaican immigrant arriving in a crime-ridden London and discovering a talent for boxing in A Thousand Blows, came across his desk. Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, production would film in London. ‘This was the thing I was looking for, and it’s been given to me. Pinch yourself! And it was even more special because the character is Jamaican, and I’ve never got to play someone from Jamaica, which is where my family’s from. So this was a very special choice for me.’

Kirby has been making acting choices since he discovered it as a kid at Battersea Arts Centre, round the corner from his home on the Patmore Estate in South London. His father died when he was six and his mum encouraged him to attend the centre. ‘Acting wasn’t something that ever crossed my mind to do. Battersea Art Centre was a space I was terrified of, but it ended up being the safest space that I ever found outside of home. Because it was a space where people were expressing themselves and being silly. And then you clapped for them afterwards. That was my first experience of acting – understanding each other, and understanding yourself more in a space that wasn’t judgemental. It didn’t make me want to be an actor, it just made me want to come back again, come back to this.’

Over time, that impetus evolved. ‘Acting is still a safe space most of the time. But my experience has changed. I’ve travelled with work. I get to dive into character’s minds, and these different periods of history and time; and learn about the world and learn about humanity. There’s all these other reasons that I love doing it now that I wouldn’t have known to think about before.’ Fame, he says, certainly isn’t the lure, despite a growing reputation and recognition as a BAFTA-winner (for Steve McQueen’s Mangrove) and an artist who’s appeared in Roots, Boiling Point and written, directed and headlined his play Level Up at the Bush Theatre. ‘I can’t get my head around why anybody would want to be famous. It doesn’t make sense to me,’ he says, shaking his head. ‘That’s the sacrifice for me. That’s the part that I don’t want but that I know can come with it. And I’ve had to have a discussion with myself about whether it’s worth it or not, in terms of what you can end up giving up, in terms of your personal life and the way that you want to live. Essentially, for me, this career and this craft is about service. I’ve had to understand that this is not something that is about me. It’s letting go of myself to tell this other person’s story. And then on the other side of that, so much of my career has been about service to other people – whether that’s having a chat with someone who’s an aspiring actor or people who watch the shows and how they’ve responded to it and the conversations that come out. And I think that’s something beautiful about it, it’s what keeps me grounded with it as well, and it makes it more of a humane thing.’ Fortune is also an aspect of his career that he keeps separate from the work. ‘I have a rule: I don’t speak about money until I’ve said “yes” or “no” to a project. That’s a boundary that’s helped to protect me to make sure I’m making the decisions from the right place. Because money can be destructive. I’m human just like everyone else. Instead I just go, “Let me focus on the script, the character. If it’s something I’m interested in from that space, then it’s a yes to that.” And then we can talk about the business side of things.’

Kirby is used to writing his own narrative, having started with novels and poetry as a kid, through to putting on his own play in 2019; he’s now moved into screenplays. ‘Writing was my first-ever passion. I was very much a loner when I was a kid. Even when I was around people, I was very much within my own little bubble. Writing was the space where I first discovered new worlds, and I got excited about the idea of what else is possible out there.’ Acting became an extension of that exploration, and his role as Hezekiah in A Thousand Blows sent him on a true journey as he trained in boxing (‘The first part of it was getting in shape, because there was still a bit of leftover lockdown belly going on!’ he laughs) and researched his character’s origins. Though he’d been to Jamaica due to his family connections, Kirby booked a spontaneous trip, inviting Francis Lovehall, who plays Hezekiah’s best friend Alec, so the two could bond off-screen. When they got there, they discovered their director Tinge Krishnan was also on the island researching the show, involving both actors in that process before returning for filming in London. ‘It was incredible. What was just going to be a holiday, and us soaking up the energy of Jamaica and the rhythm and the culture, turned into a research trip with our director. Both Hezekiah and Alec arrive in London at the start of this show, and we’ve got to do the same thing, which was beautiful.’

The show reunited Kirby with Stephen Graham (playing dangerous East End boxer, Sugar) after the two had appeared in the acclaimed Boiling Point. ‘He made a safe space feel even safer from the get-go. And I was learning so much from him, both as an artist and as a creator behind the scenes, because his production company is also producing this. He was very protective over me, in terms of just guiding me through the conversations that needed to be had to ensure the integrity of these characters, and how to navigate this world. He was everything that I needed that I didn’t know how to ask for.’ He pauses and laughs. ‘And then we got into the ring, it was like: we’re throwing this out of the door – he’s terrifying.’ Graham is both emotionally and physically intimidating in the show. ‘I got the brief to lean up, and not eat anything,’ Kirby says of his period-appropriate physique. ‘He clearly had been given the opposite brief: “Eat all of the pies and all of the chicken, and then go to the gym!”’

A Thousand Blows debuts in early 2025 and Kirby feels that it’s going to be a good year for him. And no, he hasn’t made a wish list this year. ‘I’m going into next year very excited, which is an emotion that I’m not used to feeling. It’s not because I know what’s going to happen. I’m just really hopeful about what will happen. I am excited to delve more into my writing, and into producing, and getting more behind the scenes, and finally getting this work developed and out there.’ For his immediate future though, he’s more concerned with how he keeps all his food hot on Christmas Day and ensuring his portions are right. ‘I have three plates, and there’s 12 people coming,’ he sighs. ‘I’ve told my mum she’s not allowed in the kitchen. She’s coming to enjoy herself and put her feet up, and have some good food that’s hopefully not going to be burnt.’ He pauses for a moment and closes his eyes to think of his mother. When he opens them, he smiles. ‘It’ll be perfectly cooked,’ he says with the same certainty he seems to apply to his work. ‘I’ll be fine.’