Skandar Keynes

On his father's side, Keynes is of English descent, and is the grandson of physiologist Richard Keynes, the nephew of two Cambridge professors, the historian Simon Keynes, and the neuroscientist Roger Keynes, the cousin of Catholic writer and apologist Laura Keynes,[8][9] and the great-great-nephew of economist John Maynard Keynes. His great-great-great-grandfather was naturalist Charles Darwin. Keynes' great-grandparents were Nobel Prize laureate Edgar Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian and Hester Adrian, Baroness Adrian.[10]

On his mother's side, Keynes is of Lebanese, Persian and Turkish descent.[11] His maternal grandfather was Lebanese writer Cecil Fadlo Hourani, who was an advisor to the late Tunisian president Habib Bourguiba. The Hourani family were immigrants to Manchester from Marjeyoun in southern Lebanon. Cecil's two brothers were Albert Hourani, a historian of the Middle East, and George Hourani, philosopher, historian, and classicist. His maternal grandmother, Furugh Afnan, was the great-granddaughter of Bahá'u'lláh, founder of the Baháʼí Faith, making Skandar a great-great-great-grandson of Baha'u'llah.[12] Lebanese nationality law states that citizenship is passed on patrilineally, so Keynes is legally a foreigner in the country he considers his second home.[13]

Skandar Keynes’ acting career began when he was 9 years old with a role as a 'boy in rags' in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Macbeth (2001) for British television.[14] It was followed with a supporting role of a Victorian waif in the BBC2 television documentary Queen Victoria Died in 1901 and is Still Alive Today (2001).[15] His first notable film part was at the age of ten playing the role of young Enzo Ferrari in the biopic film Ferrari (2003), directed by Carlo Carlei, which depicts Ferrari's rise from a successful race driver to one of the most famous entrepreneurs of all time.[16]

Keynes achieved international prominence in the role of Edmund Pevensie in the major motion picture The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) directed by Andrew Adamson. It was released in December 2005 to critical and high commercial success, grossing more than $745 million worldwide. Unlike the others who had endured an 18-month lengthy casting process, Keynes was cast within weeks.[17] In 2004, after the producers saw 2,000 young hopefuls, Keynes won the role of Edmund whose story is especially dramatic as his character is central to themes of betrayal, redemption, and forgiveness.[16] He performed his own complex stunts; jumping into the ditch, sword fighting, and horse riding. He also voiced his character in the video game The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In 2006, Keynes was awarded the CAMIE Award (Character and Morality in Entertainment) for his portrayal.

He reprised his role as Edmund in Prince Caspian, directed by Andrew Adamson and released in May 2008 to generally positive reviews, grossing $419.7 million worldwide. He enjoyed the action-oriented stuntwork in the film. Whereas the previous film was shot predominantly in New Zealand and a few in Central Europe, Keynes reveled in touring "really stunning places" in New Zealand, Prague, Slovenia, Poland, and Czech Republic within seven months of shooting.[18] For his performance, he was nominated for Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actor and Best Performance in a Feature Film – Young Ensemble Cast at the 30th Young Artist Awards. Keynes also voiced his character in the video game The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

He returned as Edmund in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third installment of The Chronicles of Narnia, directed by Michael Apted and released in December 2010, grossing $415.7 million worldwide. In preparation, Keynes trained to earn his Professional Association of Diving Instructors license for underwater scenes.[19] In 2011, the cast was nominated for Best Performance in a Feature Film – Young Ensemble Cast at the 32nd Young Artist Awards.

In May 2014, Keynes was cast to voice the antagonist Sir Allan Kerr in Heirloom Audio Production's award-winning audio adventure In Freedom's Cause, a historical novel by G.A. Henty which recounts how the 14th-century Scottish hero William Wallace, famously portrayed by Mel Gibson in Braveheart, was a strong man of God.[20] Keynes also appeared as himself in its promotional short film.[21] The drama was released in November that year, winning five of the six categories it was nominated for at the 2015 Voice Arts Awards —the Oscars equivalent of the audio arts: Outstanding Production, Outstanding Casting, Oustanding Audio Engineering, Audiobook Narration – Inspirational/Faith-Based Fiction, and Audiobook Narration – History.[22][23] In January 2016, Keynes announced his retirement from acting.[24]

In January 2015, Keynes completed a three-month internship at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. During his stay in Amman, Jordan, he assisted in the research and writing of Living in the Shadows: Jordan Home Visits Report 2014, a study that found evidence of a rapid deterioration in the living conditions of Syrian refugees in Jordan as the Syrian conflict entered its fifth year.[25][26] The report is based on data from home visits covering almost 150,000 Syrian refugees living outside of camps in Jordan. Published on January 14, 2015, it has been widely reported in the media and cited by foreign policy think tanks.[27]

Keynes then worked at the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom as a parliamentary researcher and foreign affairs adviser to Crispin Blunt, a British Conservative MP and former Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee (2015-2017), until January 2018.[2][3][4] In November 2015, he joined the committee on its visit to Beirut for an inquiry on the UK's role in the fight against the ISIL. He also accompanied committee members Daniel Kawczynski and Stephen Gethins at the European Parliament forum in Brussels in February 2016.[3] In December that year, he participated in the IISS Manama Dialogue at the 12th Regional Security Summit in Bahrain. Keynes asked about practical ways by which they could move constructive dialogue forward having identified shared interests with Russia in defeating extremism and ending bloodshed in Syria, given the "disagreements with the Russian leadership on the causes, solutions, and desired end states of these two problems".[2] In February 2017 on behalf of the Qatar All-Party Parliamentary Group, he visited Qatar to meet ministers and officials, visit world cup sites, and discuss issues of bilateral relations and regional crises.[28] From 2016 to 2017, he has also accompanied Blunt in diplomatic visits to Cairo, Tunisia, Kurdistan, and Baghdad.[29][28] Since then, Keynes has been working as a political adviser.[30]