Biography
Date of Birth
5 December 1991, London, England, UK
Birth Name
Alexander Amin Casper Keynes
Height
5' 8" (1.73 m)
Mini Biography
Skandar Amin Casper Keynes (born 5 September 1991) is an English actor best known for starring as Edmund Pevensie in the 2005 film adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He returned in the role of Edmund in the film's sequels The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Keynes was born in London, to writer Randal Keynes and Zelfa Cecil Hourani, and has a sister called Soumaya. Through his father, Keynes is the great-great-great grandson of the famous scientist Charles Darwin. His paternal great-grandfather, Edgar Douglas Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1932.
His maternal grandfather, Cecil Fadlo Hourani, is a famous writer, and the brother of Albert Hourani, also a well-known writer and professor. Skandar's father is of English descent and his mother is of Lebanese, as well as Persian and Turkish, ancestry. He attended the Anna Scher Theatre School from 2000 to 2005, and the all-boys City of London School.
Trivia
He grew six-and-a-half inches while filming The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005). He had to get his armor fixed weekly.
Can ride a horse.
Plays the cornet and flute.
Attended Anna Scher Theatre School, 2000-2005.
Studies Taekwondo.
The name Skandar is of Turkish origin meaning Alexander; oddly enough his character Edmund Pevensie in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) is obsessed with a delicacy called Turkish Delight.
He auditioned for the role of Simon in Nanny McPhee (2005), prior to being cast as Edmund in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005). Thomas Brodie-Sangster won the role of Simon.
Is the great-great-great grandson of naturalist Charles Darwin.
He has an elder sister named Soumaya Keynes.
He is the son of Zelfa Cecil Hourani and author Randal Keynes. His father is of English descent. His mother is of one-half Lebanese, one-quarter Persian, and one-quarter Turkish ancestry.
He passed his A-level exams at the City of London School, a private all-boys school, in spring 2010 with both A*s and As in biology, chemistry, maths, further maths, and history. In October 2010, Skandar entered Cambridge University to study Arabic, Middle Eastern History, and Persian.
Attended the same school as actors Daniel Radcliffe and Harry Michell.
Was banned from eating sugar products on set during the filming of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) due to hyperactive tendencies.
Plays cricket.
Loves playing video games.
He was trained to sword fight by sword trainer Allan Poppleton while working on the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) and also learned to ride a horse.
Enjoys playing football and is a supporter of Arsenal Football Club.
Despite his mother's Lebanese roots, his family's practice of vacationing in Beirut every summer, and his years of weekend language classes, he admitted to The New Yorker magazine that he "doesn't speak Arabic all that well."
His father is the great-nephew of famed economist John Maynard Keynes, thereby making Skandar the great-great-nephew.
A piece in the July 31, 2006, issue of The New Yorker magazine reported that Keynes and his family had flee Beiruit shortly after arriving there for their annual summer vacation when the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah conflict started. The family decided to leave when Skandar's grandfather had men, possibly Hezbollah militants, come to the house and asked him about the identities of the British visitors.
Cambridge, UK: Studying at Cambridge University (year 2). [December 2011]
Quotes
"When it's all over I won't miss the bruises he gave me to impress girls, or the occasional scar which will give me a story to tell my grandchildren, but I'll definitely miss the pranks and the laughing and all the making fun of each other. I'll miss the funky advice he gives me about everything -- football, girls, video games, clothes. Most of all, I'll miss having an older brother." (on costar, William Moseley)
"For safety reasons during the rehearsal we had to use a rubber ball, which has a really strange bounce that made it hard to hit. Then when we were finally using the real ball for the scene, Will bowled it wide of me every single time so I couldn't hit it. I was furious. Then Andrew started to doubt that I could actually play cricket, and he asked me to pretend to hit the ball for the rest of the rehearsals. On the next ball, I hit it as hard as I could. It smashed into some of our lighting, and the crew yelled, "Skan-DAR!'" (on the cricket scene)
"He's magical. He's great with children. Amazingly fun and cool and funny. Lots of hair too." (about director Andrew Adamson)
When I first met Georgie, she was very eager to talk. Georgie is great. She's small and hilarious. To laugh at. I mean with - to laugh with.
I can counter everyone but Andrew. One day, because he's always taking the mick out of me, I'm going to have the best comeback ever. I'm going to call him up thirty years from now and say, 'Hey, Andrew, remember when you said this? Well...'
Well, let's see. Edmund is the black sheep of the family, the outcast. He's always trying to get up to the level of the older two by putting down Lucy. He's very immature and full of resentment. - on his character, Edmund Pevensie, in the Chronicles of Narnia
I prefer my character over all the others. I really think I have the best character. Of course, he's a lot like me. He is the tyrant of the family, which I am, and, yep, he succumbs to temptation very easily. Edmund is the black sheep of the family, always teasing Lucy. But, in the end, Narnia makes him good. He goes through the most radical change, starts to appreciate his family. The adventure really changes him into a better person. (Narnia production notes)
