Bart Edwards

Bart Edwards,

Edwards is a British actor and voice-over artist, born in 1989 in Guildford, Surrey, England. Trained at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, his career spans BBC soaps to international drama. Best known for playing Duny/Emperor Emhyr var Emreis in The Witcher, Jasper Hunt in UnREAL, and Jonathan Kay in the award-winning Norwegian series State of Happiness.

Bart Edwards’ Path from Guildford to Nilfgaard

Something in the specificity of Bart Edwards’ acting stands out immediately – the ability to make a cursed man sympathetic, and then later reveal him as a monster without ever feeling like a cheat. That dual quality defines the most talked-about work of his career: the role of Duny, also known as Emperor Emhyr var Emreis, in Netflix’s The Witcher. Edwards first appeared as the tragic, hedgehog-cursed Urcheon of Erlenwald in season one, a figure audiences came to root for. The reveal at the close of season two – that this same man grew into the ruthless White Flame, Ciri’s own father plotting to use her for imperial prophecy – landed as one of the series’ most discussed twists. The performance asked audiences to reconcile two completely different people living in the same body, and Edwards pulled it off across multiple seasons.

Training, Early Work, and Building a Career

The foundation for that level of commitment was laid early. Edwards attended Tring Park School for the Performing Arts before going on to train at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, one of Britain’s most respected acting conservatories. His first professional television credit came in 2008 on EastEnders, where he played Olly Greenwood across ten episodes. From there, he worked steadily through British television – a guest role on Peep Show’s final series in 2015, appearances in Call the Midwife and Stan Lee’s Lucky Man in 2016, and a small part in Warner Bros.’ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them that same year.

UnREAL, State of Happiness, and International Range

Two roles demonstrated his capacity to hold serious dramatic weight in extended arcs. The first was Jasper Hunt in season three of the Lifetime drama UnREAL in 2018 – a morally complicated figure in a show built around the machinery of exploitation television. The second came in the Norwegian series Lykkeland, also known as State of Happiness, which ran from 2018 to 2022. Edwards played Jonathan Kay in that production, which made its debut at the first Cannes International Series Festival and won two awards there. Working on a Norwegian-language production as an English actor required a different kind of preparation, and the role expanded his international profile considerably.

The Joneses and Voice Work

Alongside his screen work, Edwards is represented by The Joneses Voice Agency in London, a specialist voice-over agency based in Covent Garden. His Instagram lists the agency directly, pointing to an active presence in the UK commercial voice-over space. The Joneses roster tends toward actors with strong, distinctive delivery – Edwards’ natural register has been described by the agency as “inspiring, husky and cool.” This side of his career sits alongside his screen credits rather than replacing them.