Who is Adam Nagaitis, the Lancashire actor who's made it big in America & now stars in The Responder

A whole host of stars on American TV screens are actually from over this way,

Adam Nagaitis but if you don’t know much about him, we’ve got you covered with this fact file:

Early life

Adam was born in Chorley on June 7, 1985 to Barry Nagaitis, a quantity surveyor and chartered engineer, and Susan (née Doran), who went on to divorce. Adam also has a sister called Kate who is two years his senior.

In 2000, when he was just 14, Adam secured his first acting career, playing a minor character in the television series Children's Ward.

In his late teens, Adam studied at Runshaw College nd whilst there, aged 17, his dad sadly died after he was hit by a bus whilst shopping in Manchester.

At the age of 19, Adam moved to America where he began his training at the prestigious Stella Adler Studio in New York, having read about it in celebrity autobiographies as a teenager.

Speaking in an interview with IndieLondon, Adam said: “I think I was the first British person to go to Stella Adler. And they were a bit surprised that this young man from Chorley in Lancashire had turned up before them [laughs]. But I had learnt a Hamlet speech on the plane and made up my contemporary speech because I didn’t know anything about plays. I was a movie guy, so I had to improvise a bit. But they were the most inspiring people I’ve met, these two interviewers. And I was stood with the Empire State building behind me out of the window, doing these speeches in front of these two people who were genuinely encouraging. I then got back on a plane, went home and then received an email the next day inviting me to take up a place on the course. So, I went and lived in New York.”

In 2009, Adam then enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and he graudated with a BA in Acting in 2012.

Early career

A year after graduating from RADA, Adam starred in an episode of Law & Order, and in 2014, he featured in three episodes of Happy Valley and four films: the British thrillers 71’ and Snow in Paradise, the comedy film The Inbetweeners 2 and the indie film Peterman (original title In The Blood).

Over the next two years, he had roles on a variety of TV shows including Code of a Killer, Banished, You, Me and the Apocalypse, Houdini & Doyle, To Walk Invisible, as well as the films Suffragette (starring Carey Mullligan and Helen Bonham-Carter) and The Man with the Iron Heart (starring Jason Clarke and Rosamund Pike).

In 2018, Adam had his biggest TV role yet, starring in series one of the American supernatural show The Terror, which won ‘Best Television Series – Genre’ at the Satellite Awards. That same year he starred in the film Commuter alongside Liam Neeson.

A year later he featured in two televison mini series: Chernobyl and A Christmas Carol.

Latest projects

In 2021, Adam had a main role in the Netflix film Gunpowerder Milkshake alongside Karen Gillan and Lena Headey, as well as a part in the Hollwood film The Last Duel, directed by Ridley Scott and featuring Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Adam Driver and Jodie Cromer.

Last year, Adam also had roles in British TV drama The Gold and the American new spinoff series The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon.

His latest film venture, is then the Britisher thriller film called American Star which was only released in February and stars fellow Lancashire actor Ian McShane in the lead role.

Adam also currently stars in series two of the British TV show The Responder alongside Martin Freeman.