EXCLUSIVE Revealed: The hero stepfather who Stephen Graham credits with protecting him from racist bullies and helping him accept his mixed race identity - as he now speaks for the first time
Hes the man Stephen Graham credits with saving him from racist bullies growing up on the streets of Liverpool - and helping him understand his mixed-race heritage.
Hes the man Stephen Graham credits with saving him from racist bullies growing up on the streets of Liverpool - and helping him understand his mixed-race heritage.
And now, Mike Fazakerley, the stepfather Adolescence star Graham adores - and calls simply pops - has spoken for the first time about that pride and the profound bond they share.
In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, Mike reflected on their relationship that began when Graham was just a small boy who was confused about why he was being bullied by white boys over his West Indian background.
Grahams biological grandfather was part of the Windrush generation who moved to the UK in the Sixties from Jamaica, but died before the actor was born.
His mother Mary and father Stephen Kelly separated when he was young – and the actor was searching for a father figure and some understanding as to why he was being picked on when Mike came into his life.
Now, reflecting on his success with the Netflix hit where he plays the father of a 13-year-old boy who murdered a girl from his school, Mike said: I am highly proud of what hes achieved in his career and highly proud of what hes doing now with Adolescence.
I watch all his work and Ive watched Adolescence.
Stephen is brilliant, he is a true talent. Unquestionably one of this countrys finest.
Stephen Graham, Mike Fazakerley, Stephens mother Mary and Stephens half-brother Nathan Fazakerley
Mike Fazakerley, Nathan Fazakerley and Stephen Graham are pictured together
Mike married Stephens mum Mary in 1989 when he was just ten - and was with her until her death in 2022.
Speaking from the Liverpool home he shared with Mary, Mike went on: Its just sad that his mum isnt here to wallow in Stephens glory, thats the only downside.
Before Mike came into his life, Stephen struggled to come to terms with his mixed-race identity.
While his stepfather was born in Africa and Grahams paternal grandfather was from Jamaica, Graham says his advice and guidance helped him understand his background.
He now describes himself as just a mixed-race kid from a block of flats in a little place called Kirkby.
Stephen once explained: On first glance, I dont look mixed race. But I know my own heritage and culture and I have been brought up to have pride in that, in who I am.
And that pride came from Mike - as it was only when Stephens Pops, who is also mixed race, moved into their family home after falling in love with his mother, that the future actor says he learnt of the history of his culture.
Speaking on BBC Desert Island Discs in 2019 he said: There were times growing up where I would be slightly unsure of where I fitted in. Sometimes Id be accepted by my white cousins and then my black cousins wouldnt really, you know what I mean. So it was kind of like where do I belong?
Stephen Grahams half-brother Aston Kelly and Grahams biological father Stephen Kelly
He helped me see who I am and what I am is good enough. He helped me find my own way and I got that sense of self in many respects from my mother, finding your own way.
Mike addressed this aspect of their deep connection today, telling MailOnline: Regarding his heritage, we know who we are, weve always known who we are, and it doesnt impact on our lives.
Stephen told Lauren Lavern: Pops is mixed race so that is where I learnt all the history of my culture and where I am from and what I am about.
Pops dad is African and my dads dad is Jamaican but Pops is African. He taught me about Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X. He taught me the history and the cultural aspect of where I came from which was beautiful.
One Christmas, Stephen ended up taking a DNA test that his wife had bought him to trace his ancestry.
It showed that the actor is 22 per cent African - from his birth father, who was mixed race and whose own father had come over to Britain from Jamaica - and a load of Scottish, tons of Irish and some Caribbean islands as well sprinkled in.
But with his mixed-race father not part of his upbringing and being alone with his white British mother it was hard for Stephen to understand all this - until Mike came into his life.
Just this week in an interview wept as he showered praise on Mike, saying: To help you achieve your goal, or to believe in the dream you have. It takes that one person and my [step] dad was that person…And my mum.
Throughout his school years, Stephen endured racism, with the N-word being flung towards him or being called little monkey boy.
Confronting the situation head-on, his petite mother stormed over to the house of the child who had been racially abusing Stephen and told them I am not having it.
Growing up in the small Merseyside town, at just eight-years-old Stephens knack for acting became apparent as he took a starring role in his primary schools production of Treasure Island.
Stephen is hitting the headlines again as his new Netflix show Adolescence is soaring to success
It was at that moment his social worker mother and chief paediatric nurse stepfather were told by other parents in the audience: Your Stephens got some talent.
From that moment, his path towards serial Bafta nominee was drawn up and he was introduced to the Everyman Youth Theatre, kicking off what Stephen calls his love affair with film.
Speaking of his stepfather, who worked as a mechanic before training as a paediatric nurse, said: My stepdad, but hes the man that raised me. I love my biological dad to bits, but my pops raised me.
With his supportive family surrounding him, he headed off for college at 18 to get his BTec in theatre studies before being accepted into Rose Bruford College - a prestigious drama school on the outskirts of London.
When he turned 20, however, he had a breakdown after dabbling with method acting at school which resulted in what he describes an induced psychosis.
Its a wonderful practice and I threw everything at it. I had a couple of incidents and then I felt like I couldnt handle it anymore. It was like an induced psychosis, Stephen told The Times.
The practice had compounded his grief of losing his Nan when he was 14 years old as well as the loss of a younger brother, who was still born.
Stephen takes on the role of Eddie Miller, the dad of a young boy called Jamie (Owen Cooper), who is suspected of stabbing one of his classmates Katie (Emilia Holliday)
Id been through these few traumatic things and never really grieved, he told the BBC.
I was in the big wide world on my own and it wasnt easy. I was very close to my mum and dad and I think with the kind of intense work we did, tapping into emotions that Id never really tapped into before, he said.
Returning home to Merseyside, Stephen had a breakdown and tried to take his own life by putting a nose around his neck.
The rope snapped and he eventually came round, after hearing his Nans voice.
I tried to hang myself. I went in and it was very calculated. I kicked the chair. And then I heard my nannas voice, and I know this sounds strange and weird and whatever, but its my truth, he explained.
She shouted Stephen! And I thought Id gone, you know what I mean, because Id tried to do that, and I just came to and opened my eyes. Thankfully the rope had snapped.
After that his parents had concerns about Stephen returning to acting school but he persisted, instead choosing to use his heartache and own experiences to shape his work.
The actor is drawn to real stories about real people often those who live on the edges of society and are marginalised.
It was this perhaps that led him to his breakthrough role as the fascist skinhead Andrew Combo Gascoigne in the 2006 film This Is England.
He would often come home and cry my eyes out after filming intense scenes for the movie.
For me, that was where I really learned to dive into a character, Stephen said.
Looking back on his time on the show, Stephen said the script stirred painful memories of the racist abuse he endured in his youth.
As a mixed-race actor, the role was in part traumatic for Stephen who later admitted losing himself in the character causing him to drink from the stress and later enter a work lull.
To add insult to injury, far-right and neo-Nazi groups then started to use images of him portraying Combo on social media websites.
To take something I created and use that as an image for their views and opinions is a load of w**k, he told The Guardian in 2019.
He told High Life Magazine: Working with De Niro and Pacino on The Irishman was incomprehensible.
Watching those masters was my education. When I was 15 and decided to give acting a proper go, the first thing my dad did was walk down to the video shop and rent three films: The Deer Hunter, Taxi Driver and The Godfather.
He wasnt messing about! We watched them over the weekend and he said, Thats how you do it properly.
He believes his biological fathers father came over on the Windrush but told the Guardian though Im not 1,000,001% sure on that.
He has starred alongside Robert De Niro, been directed by Martin Scorsese and is now once again back in the spotlight for his powerful Netflix hit Adolescence.