But he's far from the only screen face to hail from – or have connections to – Sunderland.
Here we look at 12 more stars of the big – and small screen – with links to Wearside.
13. Laura Elphinstone
Viewers could have been forgiven for thinking Laura, from High Barnes, was one of the unluckiest faces on telly last year, as she was seen meeting various sticky ends three times within a matter of weeks.
The 36-year-old cropped up in the last two episodes in the fifth series of Line of Duty as Detective Inspector Michelle Brandyce, finding herself on the end of a major tongue-lashing from Vicky McClure's Kate Fleming, then ordered to put in a transfer request after a procedural error puts a major inquiry at risk.
Viewers then spotted her in The Bells, the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones, playing a mum trying - and tragically failing - to protect her daughter from the carnage as Daenerys Targaryen takes her revenge.
Then to cap it all, she was caught in the middle of the worst nuclear accident in history as Oksana in HBO Sky Atlantic drama Chernobyl.
Other roles have included Doctors, Call the Midwife, and Holby City. Photo: Independent Talent