Jonny Labey

Jonny Labey (born 15 January 1993) is a British actor, known for portraying the role of Paul Coker on the BBC soap opera EastEnders.^[1]

Jonny Labey
Labey in 2016
Born	(1993-01-15) 15 January 1993 (age 32) Jersey, Channel Islands
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2010–present
Television	EastEnders (2015–2016) Hollyoaks (2024–present)

Early life

Labey is from Grouville, Jersey. He attended Grouville School and Victoria College.^[2] He began dancing aged 5 and appeared in his first stage show aged 8 as part of the Jersey Amateur Dramatic Club.^[3] In 2011, he left Jersey to take a BA course at the Doreen Bird College of Performance in Sidcup, London,^[2] graduating in 2014. His cousin is fellow actor Philip Labey, known for starring as "Acorn" in various television advertisements for Oak Furnitureland alongside Stephen Critchlow in the mid-2010s.^[3]

Career

After graduating, Labey appeared in stage shows including In the Heights and White Christmas. He appeared in Leon Lopez's film Soft Lad.^[3] Labey joined the cast of EastEnders in 2015, in the role of Paul Coker, the grandson of Les Coker (Roger Sloman) and Pam Coker (Lin Blakley).^[4] The character falls in love with Ben Mitchell (Harry Reid), but was later killed off in a homophobic attack.^[5] Labey appeared in EastEnders between 1 June 2015 and 8 September 2016, appearing in 106 episodes. His first role after leaving EastEnders was as the lead character, Rupert Brooke, in the play Verge of Strife, staged in Edinburgh in August 2016.^[6] In 2017, he was a contestant on ITV's Dance Dance Dance.

In October 2019, he began competing in The X Factor: Celebrity.^[7] He was given a safe seat along with Jenny Ryan and Try Star in week 1, but was eliminated in week 2 after landing in the bottom 2 with Martin Bashir as the result went to deadlock. He finished in tenth place. In 2022, he portrayed Jamie Renton in an episode of the BBC soap opera Doctors.^[8]

Labey joined the cast of Hollyoaks in June 2024 as Rex, a gangster and Hannah Ashworth's pimp.^[9]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	Soft Lad	David	Film
2015–2016	EastEnders	Paul Coker	Series regular; 106 episodes
2015	Children in Need	Himself	Performed in "EastEnders Does Top Hat" medley
2017	Dance Dance Dance	Himself	Winner (First of the series)
2017	Taking The Next Step	Judge	CBBC talent show
2019	The X Factor: Celebrity	Himself	Contestant
2022	Doctors	Jamie Renton	Episode: "Ancient History"
2022	Dare To Dream	Theo	Short film
2022	Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators	Toby Philkes	Episode: "If Music Be the Food of Love"
2024–present	Hollyoaks	Rex Gallagher	Series regular

Discography

Singles

As featured artist

Title	Year	Peak chart positions		Album
		UK [10]	SCO [11]
"Run" (as part of The X Factor Celebrities 2019)	2019	87	3	Non-album single

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Result	Ref.
2015	Inside Soap Awards	Best Affair (shared with Harry Reid)	Nominated	[12]
2015	Digital Spy Reader Awards	Best Newcomer	Second	[13]
2016	Inside Soap Awards	Best Partnership (shared with Reid)	Nominated	[14]