Michael Socha

Michael Socha is one of the main actors of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, portraying the role of the Knave of Hearts.

Life and Career
Socha was born in Derby, Derbyshire as the eldest child to Robert and Kathleen Socha (brother to actress Lauren Socha, former star of Channel 4's comedy-drama series, Misfits), where they raised him in the suburbs of his county, Littleover, and he attended St. Benedict Catholic School. At the age of 11 Socha unsuccessfully auditioned for the lead role in a school musical, and the following year, his mother read in a local newspaper about a play being cast by the Chellaston Youth Players. She asked her son and daughter if they wanted to try out for it, and both did. Socha's motivation for auditioning was his anger at being denied a role in the musical and his desire to prove his teachers wrong about his acting skills. He went on to win the lead role of Bugsy Malone in the play and acted in several plays for the group, but by his own admission, he did not take acting very seriously. At the age of 14, Socha enrolled in a young actors' workshop but was denied entry, however, upon his second audition, the program relented and allowed him in after time. This workshop is what Socha credits as having the impact on him to work hard at acting, and he soon landed his first professional part in a short film, and other small parts soon became available to him.

His first job after leaving school was in a manufacturing factory. He disliked it and quit, and enrolled at Burton College, a further education school. He worked at two other factories after leaving school, as well as at a car wash. He also worked as a laborer for his uncle's bricklaying firm, mixing mortar for the bricklayers. But as he was constantly taking off work at the last moment to attend auditions he quit working full-time and dedicated himself to acting.

Socha's first breakthrough role came in 2006 when he was cast as Harvey the bully in Shane Meadows' skinhead subculture film, This Is England. In 2008, he was cast in Kennith Glenaan's BAFTA Scotland award-winning film, Summer, where he acted opposite Robert Carlyle (Mr. Gold/Rumplestiltskin). The following year, he appeared in two different BBC One dramas, Casualty and Paradox, as well as the Channel 4 made-for-television film, The Unloved. His next big break came in 2010 when Shane Meadows asked him to reprise the role of Harvey the bully for a four-part television series for Channel 4, This Is England '86, which follows the lives of the film's characters three years after the events originally depicted. It aired in September 2010. That same year, Socha appeared in an episode of the hit television comedy Married Single Other, as well as the film Bonded by Blod. Socha also appeared in the This Is England Christmas special, and in a music video with American soul music singer Lauren Pritchard.

In 2011, Socha appeared in BBC Three's hit supernatural series Being Human, receiving good critical notice as the innocent young werewolf Tom McNair, During his time on Being Human, Socha says he became good friends with co-star Russell Tovey and Robson Green. Socha has admitted that he can get carried away while performing some of his more physically demanding scenes (such as running naked through the woods during his transformation scenes). He has received at least seven minor injuries requiring medical treatment and reporting to authorities whilst shooting the show's third series. Socha was upgraded from a recurring role to the main cast for the fourth series of Being Human, after the previous main cast, including Russell Tovey, left the show. The fourth series started airing in February 2012. In 2013, Socha reprised his main role as Tom alongside co-stars Damien Molony and Kate Bracken, and appeared in the show's final ever episode when it finished its run that year.

Michael Socha is confirmed to portray the Knave of Hearts in the 2013 Once Upon a Time upcoming spin-off, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.

Personal Life
As of October 2010, Socha had a girlfriend, Faye, whom he had dated for more than five years, and with her, he fathered a son named Elis Michael Socha.