Ryan Kelly

Who is Ryan Kelly?

Ryan Kelly is a Scottish born actor best known for playing the role of Jack "Jazzer" McCreary in the BBC Radio 4 soap The Archers, a part he has played since 2000.

Kelly was born in Glasgow, but moved to the Midlands at the age of three. Born without eyes and, as a result, blind from birth, he attended Exhall Grange School in Coventry and the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford, where he studied drama. In 1997 he became the first totally blind student in the history of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School after beating 3,000 other applicants to win a place. In 2000 he was selected for the part of Jazzer in an open audition with eight sighted actors.

On 22 November 2011 Kelly was the inaugural recipient of the Tyzack Award at the Ability Media International awards. The award recognises writers, producers and performers who "transcend the stereotypical".

Kelly married Sonia Blakemore in 2004. The couple first met while teenagers at school. They have one daughter.