Taken from the spring 2023 issue of Dazed. You can buy a copy of our latest issue here.

Sheyi Cole and I roar and double high-five when Chelsea FC’s starboy Cole Palmer scores an ice-cold penalty then the winner in extra time against Manchester United. Given we’re in the same epic #ProperChels group chat, meeting to watch a match and talk in person was overdue. The actor arrives at his local pub in Tulse Hill, south London with a wide smile and hug, we settle upstairs with pints and jerk chicken, and he contemplates every question I ask deeply with one eye fixed on the game. The 25-year-old has supported Chelsea since nursery and coincidentally, his mum once did security at Stamford Bridge. Clear on the qualities that Blues fans share – “pure wear-our-heart-on-our-sleeve passion, and we’re pompous on the back of our success” – his favourite moment was when Didier Drogba’s penalty clinched the club’s (and London’s) first Champions League title in 2012.

“I know we’re not supposed to do VNs in this [group chat] but this is ridiculous circumstances right now,” says Cole, whose own childhood dream of becoming a footballer stalled because the self-professed “man of comfort” had the skill but not the discipline, having played at Sunday League level from the age of seven. Annoyingly good at multiple sports including cross-country running, his biggest flex is mastering the 100m and 200m sprints with Dina Asher-Smith as his training partner. “I genuinely could have been at the Olympics,” he reveals, “I just knew I had more love for music and more raw talent acting.” In a parallel universe, the half-Nigerian, half-Sierra Leonean Londoner would line up with Cole as a speedy left-sided midfielder tearing up the league, instead of stealing scenes as kleptomaniac Jason in Netflix’s The Beautiful Game, released in March.

The film is based on the real Homeless World Cup, an annual football tournament which has been inspiring homeless people to change their lives since 2003. The cast did a football boot camp to prepare for their athletic roles, though Cole’s part actually required him to dial down some of his natural talent. They shot in Rome during Euro 2020, staged in the summer of 2021 due to COVID. “Jas is a bit like [Chelsea striker] Nicolas Jackson; he has spells of excellence but fumbles,” says Cole. “[I had to] learn the choreography but make out that it wasn’t choreography, and live it like it was the first time I was doing it.” One of the actor’s closest friends in the industry, Micheal Ward, plays lead Vinny, and Cole concedes he was naturally the best player, like his character. Cole’s favourite place to visit in the city was the Trevi fountain, and the wish you see Jason make in the film is the same one Cole would have made for himself at the time: Please can England win the tournament. “I was there during the [England v Italy] final and we had to change our accents. I was walking around with an American accent because you can get serious backlash with Roma and Lazio [fans] there.”

Cole’s film, which topped Netflix’s most-watched charts over Easter, sees fictional coach Mal Bradley (Bill Nighy) and his homeless players blossom representing England at a five-a-side tournament in the Italian capital. As the characters’ issues intensify, viewers are forced to confront their biases, and Jason supplies comic relief. But Cole shares a humble charisma with his character that makes you root for him as his team upsets seemingly impossible odds. Born in Penge and raised in Bromley, the actor grew up singing in a boys’ choir and crooning along to The Jacksons, Marvin Gaye and Sister Sledge. He thinks his nightclub-owning Nigerian grandma put entertainment in his bloodline, and gave up sports when he transferred to the Brit school at 16 to study theatre and film. “I’ve always been able to make friends really easily and I don’t let my colour restrict me in any way,” he explains. “Barriers that might have been there don’t exist in my mind.”

“I’ve always been able to make friends really easily and I don’t let my colour restrict me in any way. Barriers that might have been there don’t exist in my mind” – Sheyi Cole

All performers learn to take brutal rejections, which tend to have precious silver linings, in their stride. Cole’s first taste was gentle: he was just 12 when he sang Boyz II Men’s hit “End of the Road” on Britain’s Got Talent, and they told him to keep doing his thing. “I should have done ‘Baby’ by Justin Bieber,” he quips. “[But the experience] helped me because the sooner I was able to deal with it, the better.” Another bump in the road came when Cole failed to land a spot at drama school, leading him to juggle a bar job with five or six youth companies, including Open Door, for a year. Proving himself a committed artist, he was accepted by a handful of schools upon reapplying. Attending Guildhall School of Music & Drama was “non-negotiable”, though, since his uncle studied music there, and he graduated in 2021.

Proud to be classically trained, Cole loves following skyrocketing actor and mentor Paapa Essiedu’s lead. “We’re just working on working together,” he smiles, pointing out the distinguished “ease and naturalism” the Black Mirror and I May Destroy You star shares with Guildhall alumni like Daniel Craig and Orlando Bloom. It was while studying here that filmmaker Steve McQueen plucked him out of class, and obscurity, for his breakthrough role as revolutionary writer Alex Wheatle in the multi-award-winning anthology series Small Axe (2020). “The way I carry myself on set is based on what [Steve] taught me,” he shares. “To lead, to be confident in oneself and ability. I have to back myself knowing that I’m employed because I’m good enough.”]

In June 2022, the Guildhall school issued a public apology after Essiedu and I May Destroy You co-star Michaela Coel spoke of a racist incident they’d been subjected to while studying there. The appalling racism is, in his view, still there and Cole wasn’t afraid to shut down class when a teacher stepped out of line. “I don’t business. When you are paying an institution to learn and better yourself, I don’t expect to get racially abused,” he says. “As soon as a teacher said [the ‘n’-word], I raised my hand and said, ‘You cannot say that. It’s extremely insensitive.’ It’s like, why do you say that word when you know that 90 per cent of the time, someone’s going to be upset? It comes down to privilege and that’s messed up.”

Building on impressive credits and joining incredible casts excites Cole and only gets him closer to international stardom (Cole has his eyes on a full Egot set – Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony – no less). For a long time, his phone background was an image of Sidney Poitier holding his historic Oscar, but it has since changed to beautiful Alex Wheatle fan art by Ashley Straker to mark that “momentous time” (Small Axe was his first major role). The actor and Aml Ameen stan was happy to play Josh in the Kidulthood star’s directorial debut, Boxing Day (2021), to get film studios’ attention, but reckons he is most recognised for a single Atlanta episode, 2022’s “The Old Man and the Tree”, where he plays a young artist scamming a wealthy white investor out of his money. “I was lucky enough to work with LaKeith Stanfield, and have a few days inside Donald Glover’s head – the coolest guy,” he says of the role, which left him with a bad case of impostor syndrome, swiftly remedied by the showrunner and musician. “The first time I met him in the make-up trailer I was like, ‘Thank you so much for allowing me to be here. I owe you a lot.’ He replied, ‘Stop all that, man. You deserve to be here more than anyone else.’”

The actor appreciates being named on the Forbes 30 under 30 list, Dazed 100 and in numerous ‘rising star’ round-ups in recognition of his outstanding work, but isn’t getting carried away. “I’m obsessive: I look through reviews, tweets and articles first thing and before bed when I should be giving thanks to my saviour,” he says, adding that “I’m quite resilient in that I’m not too shook if people don’t like a film”. Next up is a small but important role in Maxine Peake’s new short film, then maybe theatre. “The inspiration [for Peake’s film] came from Sarah Everard’s kidnapping and murder,” he explains. “My character is a catalyst of change, fuelling the ‘What would I do if I’d been approached by someone and had no way out’ thought in Maxine’s head.”

Away from acting, Cole is carving a path as a musician. The multifaceted storyteller is a tenor vocalist who loves to harmonise but doesn’t want to be pigeonholed. His “Someone Like You” Adele cover from 12 years ago is still on YouTube and he wasn’t ready to share anything else until “With Me”, an original song he released with Graver last year that captures sacred moments filming for Steven Soderbergh’s show Full Circle in New York. As we bask in the heady afterglow of a rare and dramatic Chelsea win, the actor passes over his iPhone earphones so I can listen to some music he’s been working on. “Heartbreaker”, released after we chat in May, is catchy and dancefloor-worthy, an amalgamation of funk, disco, R&B and soul that smoothly derides the offender as “a true manipulator”. “I just want people to dance, to really lose themselves in my music and experience the story,” says Cole, pointing out the gap for a male UK R&B artist delivering sensual songs that he could potentially fill.

“I’m obsessive: I look through reviews, tweets and articles first thing and before bed when I should be giving thanks to my saviour”

Actors swiping character mementoes is standard practice: why wouldn’t you keep something tangible to honour your alter ego? One advantage of portraying some particularly stylish brothers is that Cole can archive and style bespoke pieces in real life. “I wear Alex Wheatle’s gold crucifix necklace with a brown shirt in summer and the orange-and-black Jordan space pants from Atlanta to the gym now,” he says, alluding to his strong fashion interest and love of trainers. His style is maturing with age and he says he wants to draw less attention to himself, gesturing to the tonal Burberry mac, Axel Arigato trousers and chunky Balenciaga Triple S sneakers he turned up in. “I wore shorts to The Beautiful Game premiere because I wanted to incorporate sports and fashion,” he says. “Specifically [London-based] Sierra Leonean brand Labrum as it’s important to show where I’m from.”

There’s no quarter-life crisis on the horizon with Cole turning 25 in June and, as the actor knuckles down on projects due for release next year, he says he might just celebrate with a cheeky Nando’s. “If everything goes to plan, I should be able to buy a house,” he says. “I want to release three singles and do a major studio film [this year].” Any downtime revolves around music, film, the pub or football. “Big up Dalston Lane studios. They had a jazz launch two days ago and it was inspirational: I’ve never been in a room with so much musical talent in my life.” Cole is very spiritual and says a potential return to church to quell future anxieties is also on the cards. “I should pray more and read my Bible more. There are a lot of coincidental parallels between real life and what is portrayed [in my work as an actor]. There’s got to be some form of being or entity aligning everything.”

Chelsea FC have blown hot and cold this season. In February, Cole and I both trekked to Wembley to watch them lose the 2024 Carabao Cup final against Liverpool in extra time. “The amount of opportunities we had – ridiculous,” the actor says, shaking his head before asking if I’m going back there for the Blues’ FA Cup semi-final versus Manchester City. Probably not, I answered at the time – it might turn toxic. But, as all football fans know, it’s the hope that kills you in the end. Maybe the infamous ‘Wembley curse’ is real, but thank God, I think to myself as we say our goodbyes, that Cole is proving a more consistent winner than his football club right now.

Grooming TAKUYA UCHIYAMA using BUMBLE AND BUMBLE., photographic assistants RORY COLE, styling assistants STOYAN CHUCHURANOV, ALVARO MERINO DE MENDOZA, ELOISE COLLET, production assistant GRACE CUTHBERTSON