At 27, Jordan Conway has already done something that very few actors twice his age can claim.
He wrote, starred in, produced and assistant-directed his own show in London’s West End, becoming the youngest person on record to do all four at the same time. The show was Laurel and Chaplin: The Feud, which was physical theater built around the real-life differences between Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel and Jordan played Chaplin.
The reviews were strong. The most far-traveling quote came from Charlie’s grandson Spencer Chaplin, who saw the show and later said that Jordan was “the best incarnation of my grandfather that I’ve ever seen.” London Out News added: “If Jordan Conway, who plays Charlie, isn’t a global superstar in five years, I’ll eat Chaplin’s bowler.”
That was 2024. In the two years since, Jordan has been very busy proving the baller’s move correct.
arena year
Most West End actors who receive such a notice head straight for another prestigious stage project. Jordan did something different. He took Buddy the Elf on the road.
Elf: The Musical is the stage adaptation of the Will Ferrell Christmas film, and for two consecutive seasons Jordan has played the lead role in an international touring circuit, taking the production to Monte Carlo, Abu Dhabi, Ireland and major UK area venues. The reviews have seen his reputation go up. Black Country Radio called him “an absolute sensation as Buddy”. Fashion Mommy went with “a true star in the king of advertising, the talented Jordan Conway.” Bomb on a Seat gave the show four stars and described Jordan’s Buddy as “the embodiment of innocence and mischief”.
The pivot from Chaplin to Buddy looks like a business choice on paper. In practice, it is a performance. Chaplin is a silent film with underlying physical comedy. Buddy is a wide-open serious comedy laced with tenderness. Playing both of them consecutively, one after the other, is the kind of range casting directors notice.
Meanwhile, Jordan also played Peter Pan in the arena spectacular tour opposite Boy George’s Captain Hook. That’s three leads in three different productions in less than 36 months.
A father-son creative team
Jordan works closely with his father John Conway, an experienced producer who has been in the business for over 40 years, has established credits at QDOS Entertainment (once the UK’s largest pantomime producer), and has built a catalog of over 400 productions spanning Las Vegas, Broadway, London and Beijing. John was an early pioneer of the arena spectacular format, transforming traditionally regional theater into something that could fill venues such as Wembley and the Birmingham NEC.
It is a working partnership that does not depend on nepotism. John casts extensively and has a long-standing “panto family” model of returning artists. Jordan earns his roles the same way other actors do, by auditioning and performing.
offstage
Jordan’s scope extends far beyond live performances. After winning Best Supporting Actor awards at festivals in Los Angeles, St. Tropez and Italy for his performance in the critically acclaimed feature Grimaldi: The Funniest Man in the World, he made his BBC television debut in the BAFTA-winning comedy series So Awkward, where he played Young Grimaldi, the son of the title role opposite the late Barry Chuckle. He also appeared in the 1950s period film Faded Glory opposite David Essex, playing London boxer Trevor Grey.
Off-camera, Jordan is a filmmaker and animator. He studied film production at The Met and created animated stage backgrounds for several Conway productions, including Elf: The Musical and Peter Pan: The Arena Spectacular. Their music video Seaside was premiered at the British Film Institute on the Southbank in London after being voted one of the ten best short films of the year.
On the stand-up circuit, he has opened for Jason Manford at the Cambridge Theater in the West End and supported Bradley Walsh and Paul O’Grady at the Birmingham Arena. In 2021, he launched his own comedy show, Crazy Comedy Company, a four-act program that toured the UK summer season and headlined at Butlins Holiday Resorts for two consecutive years, performing to combined audiences of approximately 250,000 people.
what will happen next
Later this year, Jordan will face Charles Dickens Scrooge: A Cirque ExtravaganzaOpening at Blackpool Opera House before the Christmas season at the London ExCe, before a national tour. The production re-imagines the Victorian ghost story through the Cirque Extravaganza format the Conway team has spent the last decade developing, combining traditional narrative theater with aerial circus, acrobatics, illusions and large-scale stagecraft.
Playing Dickens himself, rather than Scrooge or one of the ghosts, is an inspired piece of casting. The framing device places Jordan on stage as the storyteller who guides the audience into the story, a role that requires presence, pace, and the ability to hold a room together without the crutches of costume comedy. This is his most traditional dramatic role since Chaplin.
Whether Jordan’s next decade looks like Chaplin, looks like Will Ferrell, or looks like something no one has created a blueprint for yet, is a question the industry is starting to ask.
For now, Jordan is doing what he’s always done. Working, touring, writing, producing, and quietly accumulating the kind of performance credits that make careers rather than headlines.
Off stage, he is an ambassador for Kids in Mind, a UK charity focused on children’s mental health and well-being.
Scrooge: A Cirque Extravaganza opens at Blackpool Opera House, coinciding with the Christmas season at the prestigious London Excel in December 2026. Tickets are on sale now scroogecirque.com. National tour locations to be announced.
