Michael Malarkey

Biography:

Michael Karim Malarkey, born on 21 June 1983, is a British-American actor and musician. He is widely recognized for his portrayal of Enzo St. John in the television series The Vampire Diaries.

Malarkey was born in Beirut, Lebanon, to an Irish-American father, Jim Malarkey, and a mother, Nadia Bushrui, of Palestinian and Italian heritage. His grandfather, Suheil Bushrui, was a renowned Palestinian-Lebanese poet and became the first Arab national to hold the Chair of English at the American University of Beirut, a position he occupied from 1968 to 1986. The eldest of three brothers, Malarkey was raised in Yellow Springs, Ohio. In 2006, he moved to England to train at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

He began his career on the London stage, performing in numerous theatre productions. His work included leading roles in Spring Storm by Tennessee Williams and Beyond the Horizon by Eugene O’Neill at the Royal National Theatre, an adaptation of The Great Gatsby in which he played Jay Gatsby, and a performance as Elvis Presley in the original London cast of Million Dollar Quartet.

Malarkey went on to appear in a variety of film and television projects, securing recurring roles in the RTÉ series Raw and the comedy Mr. Sloane, alongside Nick Frost. He was also cast as the lead in The CW pilot The Selection before joining The Vampire Diaries in its fifth season as Lorenzo “Enzo” St. John in a recurring role. Due to the character’s popularity, he was promoted to series regular from season six through the show’s final eighth season.

In 2017, Malarkey appeared as Dizel in an episode of Amazon Prime Video’s Jean-Claude Van Johnson. The following year, he was announced as part of the cast of Crackle’s crime drama The Oath, playing the role of Sam Foster.

In 2019, he portrayed Cinch Barton in the thriller film A Violent Separation and starred the same year as Captain Michael Quinn in Project Blue Book on The History Channel. In September 2021, it was revealed that he would have a recurring role as Deputy Harvey in the second season of ABC’s crime drama Big Sky. He later appeared in Westworld and Quantum Leap in 2022, followed by a role in the third season of Law & Order: Organized Crime in 2023. In February 2024, Malarkey was announced as a main cast member for the second season of Netflix’s conspiracy thriller The Night Agent.

In addition to acting, Malarkey has an established music career. After graduating from high school, he joined a local hardcore band called Shadyside, eventually becoming its lead vocalist. He spent five years touring and recording with the group in Nashville while teaching himself to play the guitar.

As a solo musician, Malarkey released two EPs in 2014 and 2015 before debuting his first full-length album, Mongrels, on 8 September 2017, supported by music videos for the singles “Uncomfortably Numb” and “Mongrels.” He followed this with the EP Captain Solitaire in 2018 and released his second studio album, Graveracer, in January 2020.

Malarkey has been married to English actress Nadine Lewington since 2009. The couple have two sons, born in 2014 and 2019, and later appeared together in an episode of Project Blue Book.