A My Family star looks unrecognisable, 20 years later (Picture BBC)
00s child star Gabriel Thomson looks worlds away from the role he once played 24 years ago.
The Michael Harper actor shot to fame in BBC sitcom My Family, which ran for 11 series from 2000 to 2011.
He starred alongside Robert Lindsay and Zoe Wanamaker, who played his parents Ben and Susan, and his on-screen siblings Nick and Janey played by Death In Paradise’s Kris Marshall and Daniela Denby-Ashe.
Back in 2000, the BBC also reported that Gabriel almost had a chance at beating Daniel Radcliffe to the role of Harry Potter.
He had previously held roles in the 1999 film adaptation of Great Expectations and ITV drama Painted Lady in 1997, as well as starred alongside Jude Law and Rachel Weisz in Enemy at the Gates.
However, after his stint on My Family, Gabriel took a step back from acting, and he now looks very different.
My Family ran from 2000 to 2011 (Picture: BBC/DLT)
Gabriel played Michael Harper (Picture: BBC)
He has a very different life now! (Picture: Instagram/Gabe Thomson)
After a few feature and short film roles in recent years, and a run with the British Shakespeare Company, Gabriel moved on to studying law, to be a human rights barrister.
He previously told FE Week: ‘I had grown up acting, pretty much falling into the role on My Family so when that finished I took a moment to ask myself “Is this really what I want to do for the rest of my life? Is this my calling?”
‘There are so many young actors out there that are really passionate and really want to make it and I think that somewhere over the years I lost some of that passion.’
The then-28-year-old had missed out on his A Levels due to his acting career, but returned to education at City and Islington College.
‘It was nice going from being a celebrity to a normal every day lad. It is nice to go back and get stuck into something completely different,’ he said.
Gabriel stepped back from acting after My Family (Picture: Instagram/Gabe Thomson)
‘After the first initial shock of the other students seeing me around the college and going “look it’s him from My Family”, no one cared really, they just got on with it. We were all in the same boat really to get to university and everything else, so that was great.’
The star also keeps followers updated on social media, where he frequently shares pictures and videos raising money for various charities by running marathons.
In May, Gabriel ran 550 miles across Spain for the Red Cross, aiming for a marathon a day, and also spoke about his sobriety journey.
Alongside various clips of the journey, he wrote: ‘I never quite punctuated the end of my Camino de Santiago journey – so here we go!
‘I had an inexpressibly incredible time running the 550 miles of the Camino Frances across the north …read more
Source:: Metro
