About British Actor AJ Donnelly
Male British actor
AJ Donnelly is a British actor and voice artist. Born in Bedford, England, he performed for the first time at the age of 7, as Father Bear in his school’s performance of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’, having been picked out by a teacher for unknown reasons. From that first performance, he appeared in multiple productions throughout his childhood, both at school and with various community drama clubs.
AJ describes acting in his childhood simply as a necessity, never having even thought it could one day develop into a professional career. Suffering bullying and loneliness most of his childhood, both at home and at school, acting for him was a form of self-defense, a way to hide from the world and distract others from what he felt were his vulnerabilities and weaknesses, a ‘character shield’, behind which he could be anyone or anything he wanted.

AJ Donnelly, 19 years old, performing with the Bedford Marionettes in ‘The Merry Widow’
But as he developed and his confidence and personality through acting and performance grew, so did his desire to perform, continuing into early adulthood when he joined local amateur theatre group the Bedford Marionettes, where he began developing his skills in physical comedy.

AJ Donnelly, 14 years old, in his high school’s performance of ‘Murder at the Old Red Barn’
However, despite praise from peers, teachers, family, and friends, acting still did not appear to be a viable career choice. In fact, after considering the military (diabetes precluded him from signing up), anthropology (a brief distraction), law (too expensive to study), and eventually journalism (going as far as being accepted into a very good university in London), after a gap year AJ realized that another three years of study wasn’t what he wanted, and so he set his eyes on a bigger goal.
In 1999, AJ moved to China to pursue his love of martial arts. He chose a job working at a kindergarten, sold on the idea of “by the people, for the people” which was how the kindergarten introduced itself. That job took him to the transport hub of China’s train system, Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province, where despite the relatively large population and proximity to Beijing, people were not accustomed to foreigners walking around, especially ones 190cm tall and with hair braided into a queue!

AJ in 1999, practicing kung fu in a park in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province
While Shijiazhuang was a comparatively quiet city at that time, AJ’s life was not without drama, though mostly through his own actions. He freely admits that he wasn’t the nicest person whilst living there, especially with regards to many of the relationships he had. Over the years, he developed a reputation as a philanderer and two-timer, something he deeply regrets, both because of the pain he caused and the time he wasted. It is a period of his life he continues to atone for, but he knows it’s a past he can never change.
AJ was a teacher in Shijiazhuang for 3 years, before turning to business consulting. In 2004, this then developed into project management, which saw him moving to Beijing, where he was hired by a local investment firm to meet with overseas startups applying for Chinese capital. AJ worked on and off for the investment firm for 6 years, before becoming disillusioned with the company’s business practices.
He finally crossed off a childhood bucket list item when he became a reporter for a national Chinese newspaper. While his tenure as a journalist was short-lived, it was one of his happiest experiences. Around the same time, AJ started dating another British expat who would eventually become his wife. Apart from bringing love and happiness into his life, AJ also credits his wife with helping him establish the stability necessary for him to focus on pursuing his life goals.

AJ in 2011, as Leisle Arthur in ‘Love, Sex and the IRS’ in his first role for Beijing Playhouse
After more than a decade without performing, AJ returned to the stage in 2011 with amateur theatre group Beijing Playhouse’s production of the comedy ‘Love, Sex and the IRS’, playing the lead role of Leslie Arthur, and then in the Christmas panto ‘Cinderella’, playing Cinderella’s father, The Baron.
In 2013 AJ landed a small role in the Chinese TV drama ‘Rong Hong’. That was also the year that AJ took the stage name AJ Donnelly, to keep his acting work and business work separate. He eventually adopted his stage name permanently, now using it as his ‘daily name’. Since his on-screen appearance in 2013, AJ has appeared in both amateur and professional stage performances, short films, internationally released movies, TV shows, and TVCs, including in 2016 when he became the first foreigner to star in a Chinese play at the Beijing Capital Theatre, playing Mr. Sattel in the drama ‘Paifang’, directed by Yang Lixin.

AJ Donnelly with Directors Zhang Yimou and Zhang Mo
In total, as of 2025, AJ, known in China as Anzhen (translated as ‘Dark Truth’), has worked on over 40 productions, collaborating with award-winning directors such as Zhang Yimou & Zhang Mo (playing Captain Williams in ‘Snipers’), Li Shaohong (as drug cartel leader Andy in ‘Hunting’), and Andrew Lau (appearing in ‘The Battle of Shangganling’ and ‘The Dumpling Queen’). Most recently, he has worked with internationally renowned director Jiang Wen on his new movie ‘Let the Music Fly’ (portraying eccentric conductor Allenburg) and with record-breaking directors Chen Sicheng and Dai Mo on the latest entry in their hit ‘Detective Chinatown’ franchise (as Thomas Lewis in ‘Detective Chinatown: 1900’).

AJ on industry website IMDb
Aside from acting, AJ works as a voice artist, creating audio materials for educational institutes in China, the UK and Singapore, and doing movie narration and dubbing for Chinese productions such as The 800, The Foreigner, Defiance and Operation Red Sea 2.
- AJ and his wife live in the suburbs of Beijing with their two dogs, schnauzer Ruby and toy poodle Teddy.
- Not wanting to put all their eggs in one acting-shaped basket, AJ and Nic also create content for their own travel consultancy company, which promotes destinations, food and culture in China. In his free time,
- AJ is an avid gamer, carrying at least one games machine with him whenever he travels.
- AJ never drinks alcohol.
- While he was vegetarian for a decade, he now considers himself more of a ‘reducetarian’.

AJ Donnelly and his wife, Nic
While he is passionate about all forms of acting and performance and has played mostly dramatic roles including military officials, terrorists, scientists, Shakespeare, and Copernicus, his true love is comedic performance. While he so far hasn’t had a chance to show his comedic abilities on screen, he is actively pursuing more opportunities to do so. But in whatever way, he continues to be passionate about acting and to improving both his skills as an actor and career overall.
“As actors, I don’t think it’s our job to pretend to be someone. I think it’s our job to find those characters within ourselves, then simply show that side of ourselves to the world. In that way, it’s always truth that we are bringing to the audience. I started acting because I wanted to hide, to shield myself from the world behind another character. Now I act because I want to explore and expose every facet of myself through those characters.”
Click the links below to see interviews AJ has given about his life and work;
- HKIBC ‘Talk the Walk’ – Interview with British Actor AJ Donnelly
- China Daily – Interview British Actor AJ Donnelly
AJ is currently seeking representation in the UK and US. Please connect with him to discuss representation, cooperation, endorsement, sponsorship, or with any media inquires.