James Sutton / Hollyoaks

A character standing out on today's crowded television landscape is no easy feat; managing to do so on an ensemble show with fifty characters is a minor miracle. Yet that is exactly what twenty-five-old James Sutton has managed to do in his two-and-a-half years on the U.K. soap opera Hollyoaks.

Sutton joined the show in September of 2006 as newcomer John Paul McQueen, a then-seventeen-year-old school boy confused about his sexuality. In the ensuing two-and-a-half years, John Paul has gone on an emotional roller coaster involving dating girls, falling for his best friend Craig Dean (Guy Burnet), and having a tumultuous secret relationship with Dean before the two ultimately parted ways. That was followed by John Paul’s current relationship with Kieron Hobbs (Jake Hendriks), a Catholic priest whose relationship with John Paul was recently revealed while he wed a straight couple.