Kenny Boyle

Boyle was born in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis. His childhood life was divided between term-time in Glasgow, where his parents both worked as teachers, and long holidays back on Lewis. He was trained as an actor at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He also holds a degree from Strathclyde University.[1]

He is the star, alongside Natalie Clark, of Ryan Hendrick's multi-award winning short film Perfect Strangers (2015) and of the same director's feature-film version Lost at Christmas (2020).[2] His plays include Playthrough and An Isolated Incident,[3] and in 2021 he received a New Playwrights Award from the Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland.[4]

In 2021 he was nominated in the Scottish Emerging Theatre Awards under the following categories: The Flourish Award, The New Writing Award, The Digital Award, and Artist of The Year [5]

His debut novel The Tick and the Tock of the Crocodile Clock, about an aspiring writer from the Southside of Glasgow, is due to be published by Lightning Books in May 2022.[6] Inspired by Peter Pan, the novel was written during the COVID-19 pandemic after Boyle was diagnosed with anxiety and depression.[7] He has said of it: 'The book is about not wanting to grow up into what society hopes for adults to be and having that conflict of interest between your younger self and the adult you’re growing up to be.'[8]

In February 2022 he sought help from the public to find the inspirational primary school teacher who had made him promise to send her his first book when it was published. Twenty-six years on, he managed to find her when the story went viral on social media and was then picked up on TV, radio and in the press.[9]

He is married to wife Claire.[10]