He’s the man Stephen Graham credits with saving him from racist bullies growing up on the streets of Liverpool – and helping him understand his mixed-race heritage.
And now, Mike Fazakerley, the stepfather Adolescence star Graham adores – and calls simply ‘pops’ – has spoken for the first time about that pride and the profound bond they share.
In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, Mike reflected on their relationship that began when Graham was just a small boy who was confused about why he was being bullied by white boys over his West Indian background.
Graham’s biological grandfather was part of the Windrush generation who moved to the UK in the Sixties from Jamaica, but died before the actor was born.
His mother Mary and father Stephen Kelly separated when he was young – and the actor was searching for a father figure and some understanding as to why he was being picked on when Mike came into his life.
Now, reflecting on his success with the Netflix hit where he plays the father of a 13-year-old boy who murdered a girl from his school, Mike said: ‘I am highly proud of what he’s achieved in his career and highly proud of what he’s doing now with Adolescence.
‘I watch all his work and I’ve watched Adolescence.’
‘Stephen is brilliant, he is a true talent. Unquestionably one of this country’s finest.’
Adolescence creator Stephen Graham was racially abused by white teenagers for his mixed-race heritage while growing up in Liverpool. He has said previously that his stepfather Mike Fazakerley helped him understand his family background. Here Graham and Mike are pictured with Graham’s mother Mary and his half-brother Nathan Fazakerley
Graham shares a close bond with Mike – the man he simply calls ‘pops’ – who came into his life when he was ten when Mike met Graham’s mother. Now Mike (left) has spoken of his pride at his stepson’s acting achievements
Graham is enjoying some of the finest success of his acting career to date in the role of Eddie Miller, the dad of a young boy called Jamie (Owen Cooper), who is suspected of stabbing one of his classmates Katie (Emilia Holliday) in the Netflix hit Adolescence
Mike married Stephen’s mum Mary in 1989 when he was just ten – and was with her until her death in 2022.
Speaking from the Liverpool home he shared with Mary, Mike went on: ‘It’s just sad that his mum isn’t here to wallow in Stephen’s glory, that’s the only downside.’
Before Mike came into his life, Stephen struggled to come to terms with his mixed-race identity.
While his stepfather was born in Africa and Graham’s paternal grandfather was from Jamaica, Graham says his advice and guidance helped him understand his background.
He now describes himself as ‘just a mixed-race kid from a block of flats in a little place called Kirkby’.
Stephen once explained: ‘On first glance, I don’t look mixed race. But I know my own heritage and culture and I have been brought up to have pride in that, in who I am.’
Mike married Stephen’s mum Mary in 1989 when he was just ten – and was with her until her death in 2022.
Speaking from the Liverpool home he shared with Mary, Mike went on: ‘It’s just sad that his mum isn’t here to wallow in Stephen’s glory, that’s the only downside.’
Before Mike came into his life, Stephen struggled to come to terms with his mixed-race identity.
While his stepfather was born in Africa and Graham’s paternal grandfather was from Jamaica, Graham says his advice and guidance helped him understand his background.
He now describes himself as ‘just a mixed-race kid from a block of flats in a little place called Kirkby’.
Stephen once explained: ‘On first glance, I don’t look mixed race. But I know my own heritage and culture and I have been brought up to have pride in that, in who I am.’
And that pride came from Mike – as it was only when Stephen’s ‘Pops’, who is also mixed race, moved into their family home after falling in love with his mother, that the future actor says he ‘learnt of the history’ of his culture.
Speaking on BBC Desert Island Discs in 2019 he said: ‘There were times growing up where I would be slightly unsure of where I fitted in. Sometimes I’d be accepted by my white cousins and then my black cousins wouldn’t really, you know what I mean. So it was kind of like where do I belong?
Graham’s biological father is Stephen Kelly. Graham’s grandfather moved to Britain from Jamaica as part of the Windrush generation, but split from Graham’s mother when Graham was just a young boy. Here Stephen is pictured with Graham’s half brother Aston Kelly
Graham has found happiness with his wife Hannah Walters who makes a brief cameo appearance in Adolescence
‘He helped me see who I am and what I am is good enough. He helped me find my own way and I got that sense of self in many respects from my mother, finding your own way.’
Mike addressed this aspect of their deep connection today, telling MailOnline: ‘Regarding his heritage, we know who we are, we’ve always known who we are, and it doesn’t impact on our lives.’
Stephen told Lauren Lavern: ‘Pops is mixed race so that is where I learnt all the history of my culture and where I am from and what I am about.
‘Pops’ dad is African and my dad’s dad is Jamaican but Pop’s is African. He taught me about Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X. He taught me the history and the cultural aspect of where I came from which was beautiful.’
It showed that the actor is 22 per cent African – from his birth father, who was mixed race and whose own father had come over to Britain from Jamaica – and a’ load of Scottish, tons of Irish and some Caribbean islands as well sprinkled in’.
But with his mixed-race father not part of his upbringing and being alone with his white British mother it was hard for Stephen to understand all this – until Mike came into his life.
Just this week in an interview wept as he showered praise on Mike, saying: ‘To help you achieve your goal, or to believe in the dream you have. It takes that one person and my [step] dad was that person…And my mum.’
Throughout his school years, Stephen endured racism, with the N-word being flung towards him or being called ‘little monkey boy’.
Confronting the situation head-on, his petite mother stormed over to the house of the child who had been racially abusing Stephen and told them ‘I am not having it’.
Growing up in the small Merseyside town, at just eight-years-old Stephen’s knack for acting became apparent as he took a starring role in his primary school’s production of Treasure Island.
Graham is hitting the headlines as his new Netflix show Adolescence is soaring to success
It was at that moment his social worker mother and chief paediatric nurse stepfather were told by other parents in the audience: ‘Your Stephen’s got some talent’.
From that moment, his path towards serial Bafta nominee was drawn up and he was introduced to the Everyman Youth Theatre, kicking off what Stephen calls his ‘love affair’ with film.
Speaking of his stepfather, who worked as a mechanic before training as a paediatric nurse, said: ‘My stepdad, but he’s the man that raised me. I love my biological dad to bits, but my pops raised me.’
With his supportive family surrounding him, he headed off for college at 18 to get his BTec in theatre studies before being accepted into Rose Bruford College – a prestigious drama school on the outskirts of London.
When he turned 20, however, he had a breakdown after dabbling with method acting at school which resulted in what he describes an ‘induced psychosis’.
‘It’s a wonderful practice and I threw everything at it. I had a couple of incidents and then I felt like I couldn’t handle it anymore. It was like an induced psychosis,’ Stephen told The Times.
The practice had compounded his grief of losing his Nan when he was 14 years old as well as the loss of a younger brother, who was still born.
‘I’d been through these few traumatic things and never really grieved,’ he told the BBC.
‘I was in the big wide world on my own and it wasn’t easy. I was very close to my mum and dad and I think with the kind of intense work we did, tapping into emotions that I’d never really tapped into before,’ he said.
Graham and Hannah Walters attend Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical World Premiere at the Opening Night Gala in 2022
Returning home to Merseyside, Stephen had a breakdown and tried to take his own life by putting a nose around his neck.
The rope snapped and he eventually came round, after hearing his Nan’s voice.
‘I tried to hang myself. I went in and it was very calculated. I kicked the chair. And then I heard my nanna’s voice, and I know this sounds strange and weird and whatever, but it’s my truth,’ he explained.
‘She shouted ‘Stephen!’ And I thought I’d gone, you know what I mean, because I’d tried to do that, and I just came to and opened my eyes. Thankfully the rope had snapped.’
After that his parents had concerns about Stephen returning to acting school but he persisted, instead choosing to use his heartache and own experiences to shape his work.
The actor is drawn to ‘real stories about real people’ often those who live on the edges of society and are marginalised.
It was this perhaps that led him to his breakthrough role as the fascist skinhead Andrew ‘Combo’ Gascoigne in the 2006 film This Is England.
He would often come home and ‘cry my eyes out’ after filming intense scenes for the movie.
‘For me, that was where I really learned to dive into a character,’ Stephen said.
Looking back on his time on the show, Stephen said the script stirred painful memories of the racist abuse he endured in his youth.
As a mixed-race actor, the role was in part traumatic for Stephen who later admitted ‘losing himself’ in the character causing him to drink from the stress and later enter a work lull.
To add insult to injury, far-right and neo-Nazi groups then started to use images of him portraying Combo on social media websites.
‘To take something I created and use that as an image for their views and opinions is a load of w**k,’ he told The Guardian in 2019.
He told High Life Magazine: ‘Working with De Niro and Pacino on The Irishman was incomprehensible.
Graham alongside legendary Hollywood director Martin Scorsese for The Irishman closing night party
Graham’s career going from strength to strength. Pictured: In Boardwalk Empire
Graham is pictured here alongside Sean Bean in BBC drama Time
‘Watching those masters was my education. When I was 15 and decided to give acting a proper go, the first thing my dad did was walk down to the video shop and rent three films: The Deer Hunter, Taxi Driver and The Godfather.
‘He wasn’t messing about! We watched them over the weekend and he said, ‘That’s how you do it properly.’
He believes his biological father’s father came over on the Windrush but told the Guardian ‘though I’m not 1,000,001% sure on that’.
He has starred alongside Robert De Niro, been directed by Martin Scorsese and is now once again back in the spotlight for his powerful Netflix hit Adolescence.
