If you’ve spent any time at all watching Peaky Blinders, you probably spent a good chunk of it wondering if the guys playing John Shelby and Michael Gray were related in real life. They look similar. They have that same specific, coiled-spring energy. And honestly, they just seem to get each other on screen in a way that’s hard to fake.
Well, they are.
Joe and Finn Cole aren't just colleagues; they are brothers from a family of five boys in Kingston upon Thames. But unlike the toxic, backstabbing dynamics of the Shelby clan, the Cole brothers’ real-life rise to fame is a much more wholesome story of "older brother helps younger brother find his feet."
The Kingston Roots and a Scrapped University Plan
Joe is the oldest. Finn is the fourth. Growing up in South London, acting wasn't really the "family business." Joe has joked in interviews that most of his friends are plumbers. For a while, it looked like Joe might follow a traditional path, but after failing to get the grades he needed for university—twice—he decided to just go all-in on the National Youth Theatre.
It worked.
By the time Peaky Blinders started casting its first season, Joe was already building a reputation. He’d done Skins (as the terrifying Luke) and some gritty indies. When he landed the role of John Shelby, he was effectively the trailblazer.
Finn, meanwhile, was still at Esher Sixth Form College, stressing over A-levels in Economics and Theatre Studies. He didn't really have a plan. He’d worked a few odd jobs and even thought about working on boats like his dad. But watching Joe made the "impossible" dream of acting feel like a local possibility.
That Famous Peaky Blinders Audition
This is the part of the story that most people get wrong. Joe didn't just "hand" Finn a job. It was more of a "here's the door, now go kick it down" situation.
During the production of Season 2, Joe saw the character description for Michael Gray: 18 years old, "Shelby good looks," and a specific kind of intensity. He saw Finn.
Finn was broke. He couldn't even afford the train ticket from London to Birmingham for the open audition. So, Joe stepped in. He didn't call the producers and demand they hire his brother; he sat Finn down at their parents' house, coached him on the lines, and filmed a self-tape on his phone.
"If you learn the lines, learn the scenes, and do the prep, I'll film you," Joe told him.
The tape was sent to the casting director, Shaheen Baig. Within days, Finn was on set. The two brothers spent several seasons together on the show, though Joe’s exit in Season 4 (an iconic, if heartbreaking, hail of bullets) meant their paths eventually diverged.
Life After the Shelby Empire
If you think these two are just "the guys from that one show," you haven't been paying attention lately. Both have worked incredibly hard to step out of the flat-cap shadow.
Joe Cole’s Post-Peaky Path:
Joe has a penchant for the intense. He won a British Independent Film Award for A Prayer Before Dawn, where he played a real-life boxer in a Thai prison. It was a brutal, physical performance that proved he could lead a movie by himself. Since then, he’s been the face of Gangs of London as Sean Wallace and played Harry Palmer in the remake of The Ipcress File.
By 2026, Joe has leaned even further into prestige drama. He’s currently involved in I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, a project from director Clio Barnard. He also has a McQueen biopic, The Queen of Fashion, in the works where he plays the legendary Alexander McQueen—a role that requires a level of vulnerability we haven't seen from him before.
Finn Cole’s Hollywood Pivot:
Finn went West. Almost immediately after Peaky Blinders took off, he landed the lead role of "J" in the American TNT series Animal Kingdom. He spent six seasons playing a kid who goes from an outsider to a cold-blooded criminal mastermind in a California surf-crime family.
More recently, Finn has been getting a lot of buzz for Last Breath (2025/2026), where he stars alongside Woody Harrelson and Simu Liu. It’s a survival thriller about a saturation diver trapped on the ocean floor. To prepare, he actually did two weeks of intensive scuba training. He also made his stage debut in Red Speedo at the Orange Tree Theatre, proving he’s got the range for live performance, not just the "brooding TV guy" look.
The Dynamic: Competition or Collaboration?
People always ask if there’s a rivalry. In an industry this competitive, you’d expect some friction, but they seem to avoid it by having slightly different "vibes."
Joe is the gritty, character-actor-turned-leading-man. He’s got a bit of a jagged edge. Finn is more of a classic leading man with a quiet, simmering intensity. They don't usually go for the same parts.
The coolest thing about their relationship is the transparency. They talk shop. They run lines. When Finn was first starting out, Joe was his mentor. Now, they’re just two of the most successful British actors of their generation who happen to share a last name and a childhood home.
How to Follow Their Careers in 2026
If you're looking to keep up with the Joe and Finn Cole trajectory, here is how you should prioritize your watch list:
- Watch "A Prayer Before Dawn" (Joe): This is essential viewing to understand why Joe is considered one of the best of his generation. It’s light on dialogue but heavy on everything else.
- Check out "Locked In" on Netflix (Finn): This thriller shows Finn playing a much more complex, morally ambiguous character than he did in his early years.
- Look for "Last Breath": If you want to see Finn hold his own against Hollywood heavyweights like Harrelson, this is the one.
- The McQueen Biopic: Keep an eye out for news on The Queen of Fashion. This is likely to be Joe's "awards season" play.
The legacy of the Cole brothers is a reminder that sometimes, the "nepotism" in Hollywood is actually just a story of family members pushing each other to be better. They didn't start with a famous name. They started in Kingston with a phone camera and some lines to learn.
Practical Next Steps:
If you're a fan of their work, the best way to support their current trajectory is to seek out their independent projects rather than just re-watching Peaky Blinders. Joe's work in The Damned (2024) and Finn's transition to the stage mark a shift into "serious" actor territory that warrants a closer look at their 2026 releases.