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"Could you believe me if I said I'd been right out of the world — outside this world — last summer?"
Eustace, to Jill Pole
This article covers a subject that does not exist in the Chronicles.


Skandar Keynes pic

Skandar Keynes.

Alexander Amin Casper "Skandar" Keynes is an English actor, best known for his portrayal as Edmund Pevensie in the 2005-2010 The Chronicles of Narnia (film series).


Biography[]

Early life[]

His mother, Zelfa Hourani, is Lebanese; and his father, Randal Keynes, is a British author. He has an older sister, Soumaya, a journalist and economist, who worked for eight years as the Britain economics editor at The Economist magazine. She currently is the economics columnist at the Financial Times[1][2] They grew up in Islington, London.

Ancestry[]

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,[3][4] 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.[5]

On his mother's side, Keynes is of Lebanese and distant Persian and Turkish descent.[6] 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. Lebanese nationality law states that citizenship is passed on patrilineally, so Keynes is legally a foreigner in the country he considers his second home.[7]

Education[]

Keynes attended the Anna Scher Theatre School, after going to Thornhill Primary School. He then studied at the all-boys City of London School where he was awarded the Merit prize in the 2006 European Kangaroo competition, the City of London Corporate Scholarship (2008), The Geoffrey Clark Prize for Services to Drama (2009), and The Bennet Brough Prize for Chemistry (2010).[8] He passed his A-level exams in spring 2010 with A*s and As in biology, chemistry, mathematics, further mathematics and history.[9][10]

In October 2010, Keynes began his degree in Arabic, Persian and Middle Eastern History at Pembroke College, Cambridge.[11] He consistently attained first-class results. Thus, in first year he was awarded the Marie Shamma'a Frost Prize in Oriental Studies (Arabic) and the College Scholarship;[12] in second year the College Prize and the Foundation Scholarship which made him an elected member of the Faculty Board of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (2011-2012);[13][14] and in senior year the EG Browne Prize in Oriental Studies.[15] He spent his third year studying in Lebanon to perfect his colloquial Arabic and wrote about his experiences on a weekly column in The Tab.[16][17] His dissertation presented a comparison between the teaching of history in Iran and Saudi Arabia which required him to translate school textbooks from both countries.[18] Achieving Firsts in both Parts of the Tripos, Keynes graduated with a Double First Class Honours BA degree in Middle Eastern Studies (Arabic and Persian) in June 2014.[12][13][15][19]

Politics[]

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.[20][21] 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.[22]

Keynes then worked at the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom as a parliamentary adviser to Crispin Blunt, a British Conservative MP and former Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee (2015-2017), until January 2018.[23][24][25][26] 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.[24] In February 2016, with committee members Daniel Kawczynski and Stephen Gethins, he attended the European Parliament forum in Brussels which focused on conflicts in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region and discussed the then upcoming NATO Summit in Warsaw.[23][27] In December that year, he participated in the IISS Manama Dialogue at the 12th Regional Security Summit in Bahrain and posed a question on the practical ways by which they could move constructive dialogue with Russia forward having identified shared interests in defeating extremism and ending bloodshed in Syria, considering their "disagreements on the causes, solutions, and desired end states of these two problems".[28] In February 2017, on behalf of the Qatar All-Party Parliamentary Group, he visited Qatar to meet ministers and officials, visit sites in development for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and discuss issues of bilateral relations and regional crises.[29] From 2016 to 2017, he accompanied Blunt in diplomatic visits to Cairo, Tunisia, Kurdistan, and Baghdad.[30][29] Since then, Keynes has been working as a political adviser.[31]

He is a fan of English football club Arsenal, along with his Narnia co-star, Anna Popplewell.

Personal life[]

Keynes plays the guitar, flute, and cornet. He won a 1500-metre long race competition in 2006,[32] and also ran 42 km at the 2012 Beirut Marathon in aid of Prostate Cancer UK.[33] He earlier attained a green belt in taekwondo and did extreme sports through bungee jumping in New Zealand at the Nevis Bungy, Sky Tower, Ledge Bungy, Shotover Canyon Swing, and from a jet.[32][34][35] He plays cricket and football, and is a supporter of Arsenal Football Club.[32] At Cambridge, he was a Rugby varsity player and played football with Freddie Highmore.[15]

Filmography[]

Year Title Role Notes
2001 Macbeth Boy in Rags Royal Shakespeare Company TV production
Queen Victoria Died in 1901 and is Still Alive Today Waif TV documentary
2003 Ferrari Enzo Ferrari at 8 years old TV film
2005 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Edmund Pevensie
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Video Game) Video Game
2008 The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Video Game) Video Game
2010 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
2014 The Extraordinary Adventures of G.A. Henty: In Freedom's Cause Sir Allan Kerr Audio Drama
In Freedom's Cause Himself Promotional short film (3 min.)

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Skandar's name came from Iskandar, the Arabic version of Alexander.

External Links[]

  1. Soumaya Keynes.
  2. Soumaya Keynes | Financial Times (en-GB).
  3. West, Ed (2013-06-13). Descendant of Darwin Becomes a Catholic Apologist. The Catholic Herald. Retrieved 2013-07-09.
  4. I'm a Direct Descendant of Darwin...and a Catholic (en) (2013-06-26).
  5. Peter Townend, ed., Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 105th edition (London, U.K.: Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1970), page 27.
  6. Skandar Keynes - Interviews Personal Facts (2015-11-09).
  7. Elali, Nadine (29 September 2012). "A second home in Lebanon: Talking to Skandar Keynes", NOW Lebanon. 
  8. The Chronicle, City of London School. Keynes Archive — The Chronicle 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2010.
    • For European Kangaroo Merit prize: Template:Cite magazine
    • For City of London Corporate Scholarship: Template:Cite magazine
    • For The Geoffrey Clark Prize for Services to Drama: Template:Cite magazine
    • For The Bennet Brough Prize for Chemistry: Template:Cite magazine
  9. Gadelrab, Roisin (2009-03-13). Evolution of screen heartthrob Skandar. Islington Tribune.
  10. Skandar Keynes (en).
  11. Robinson, Melia. Former Child Actor Reveals What It's Like To Be A Student At Cambridge (en-US).
  12. 12.0 12.1 Pembroke College Annual Gazette 2011 (2017-04-07).
  13. 13.0 13.1 Pembroke College Annual Gazette 2012 (2016-03-04).
  14. Part II: Members of University Bodies - Cambridge University Reporter Special No 8 (2011-12).
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 Pembroke College Annual Gazette 2014 (2016-06-15).
  16. Skandar Keynes: Week 1 (en-GB) (2013-04-27).
  17. Skandar Keynes Archives (en-GB).
  18. Keynes, Skandar. Student Profile - Asian and Middle Eastern Studies.
  19. Skandar Keynes Graduation (en).
  20. Skandar Keynes - News A Three-Month Internship at UNHCR (2018-10-29).
  21. Living in the shadows: Jordan Home Visits Report 2014 - Jordan (en) (14 January 2015).
  22. UNHCR, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2015-01-14). Living in the shadows - Jordan home visits report 2014 (en).
  23. 23.0 23.1 Committee on Foreign Affairs, European Parliament (22 February 2016). List of Participants - "Toward the NATO Summit in Warsaw" and "Conflicts in the MENA region" - Brussels February 2016.
  24. 24.0 24.1 Foreign Affairs Committee, House of Commons. Formal Minutes Session 2015 - 2016. parliament.uk.
  25. House of Commons - Register Of Interests Of Members' Secretaries And Research Assistants as at 25 January 2018: Abbott, D to Davey, E.
  26. The hook site, The hook (11 January 2022). Actors children who gave up hollywood.
  27. AFET, European Parliament (23 February 2016). Toward the NATO Summit in Warsaw and Conflicts in the MENA region (en).
  28. Template:Cite journal
  29. 29.0 29.1 House of Commons - Register Of Interests Of Members' Secretaries And Research Assistants as at 14 December 2017: Abbott, D to David, W.
  30. House of Commons - Register Of Interests Of Members' Secretaries And Research Assistants as at 22 December 2016: Abbott, D to Cunningham, A.
  31. Narnia child star Skandar Keynes looks like THIS now - as he swaps films for Tory politics | Films | Entertainment | Express.co.uk.
  32. 32.0 32.1 32.2 Skandar Information Page (en-us).
  33. Skandar Keynes - News Beirut Marathon 2012 (2018-12-23).
  34. Q&A: Skandar Keynes returns as Edmund in "Chronicles Of Narnia" sequel.
  35. Skandar Keynes is Edmund Pevensie (2007-10-19).
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