British actor Malachi Kirby hasn’t been out for a while. “I’ve been keeping my head down, I’ve been working so much,” he told GQ from his hotel in central London. “I was really lucky that the Hollywood strikes didn’t affect my workflow. But I haven’t been out in ages. I haven’t been doing press or anything, and I’m ready to jump back in. It’s been a year or so.”
Tonight 34-year-old Kirby, who shot to fame after his breakthrough roles in 2016’s Roots and Steve McQueen’s Small Axe, which led him to scoop his first BAFTA award, is attending his first-ever GQ Men of the Year, which is being held at the Royal Opera House. “I’m super excited,” he says. “But I’m going to be really honest, I don’t love doing press or red carpets. I hate having my picture taken. It’s weird, I know, as I’m in front of a camera all day long because of my job, but to be honest it’s the part of the job I don’t like all that much.”
That being said, the Battersea-born actor, who has been quietly working away on projects such as the upcoming Anansi Boys and post-industrial revolution drama A Thousand Blows, is ready to jump in front of the camera. For GQ Men of the Year 2023 Kirby has been dressed by Dior, who he has been building a relationship with over the years. For the Mangrove premiere at London’s BFI Southbank back in 2020 he slipped into a simple black suit from the French maison, and tonight it’s a similar story. “I like things that make me comfortable, but have a little twist,” Kirby says. He has slipped into one of Dior creative director Kim Jones’s designs, which comprises a suit jacket with a strap that stretches across the chest. “It’s not too loud, but it does the trick.”
