The writer and actor on his secret food obsession, Lessons in Chemistry on TV and the best place in London for a nap

The actor and writer Malachi Kirby was born in London in 1989. He enrolled in a drama group at the Battersea Arts Centre aged 14 and later attended London’s Identity School of Acting. He was shortlisted for outstanding newcomer at the 2011 Evening Standard theatre awards, for Mogadishu . On TV he has appeared in the 2016 remake of Roots , Black Mirror , and as Darcus Howe in Steve McQueen’s Mangrove ; his film work includes Boiling Point and Wicked Little Letters . Kirby, who lives on the outskirts of London, stars as Hezekiah Moscow in the Disney+ series A Thousand Blows , set in the world of illegal boxing in the Victorian East End. It starts on 21 February.