From Sting and Cheryl to Ant & Dec, the North East is the home region of lots of famous names who have ventured out into the world and made their names in lights.

Most of us can reel off a number of local celebrities who are now stars of the screen, music stage or other creative industries. But there are also other familiar faces whose roots might come as more of a surprise.

We’ve drawn up a list of some of them and they include Hollywood actors, regulars of TV dramas, directors, writers and musical success stories. Some may have lost their Geordie accents – if they had one in the first place – but not their sense of northern pride.

Read more: the Grange Hill cast now and them

Here is a pick of celebrities who hail from the North East but who you might not realise are from this wonderful part of the world.

Alexander Armstrong

The host of BBC’s Pointless – also one-half of comedy duo Armstrong & Miller; an actor; presenter and singer too in case you didn’t know (he’s a classically trained baritone and has released three albums) – is from Rothbury in Northumberland and his family actually has a link to Cragside’s Lord Armstrong.

He is also a president of The Literary & Philosophical Society in Newcastle and has said of it: “I’m very, very proud of my association with the Lit & Phil which has been an ornament to the North East throughout its history.”

Greg Wise

The Sense and Sensibility actor – and husband of Oscar winner Emma Thompson – is from Newcastle. He has previously told how the family was actually brought up in Northumberland, saying “we lived in Newcastle and had a weekend cottage in the country”.

He met his wife on the set of Sense and Sensibility and has gone on to star in regular TV roles, including other period drama, and last year also put in a performance on the Strictly dance floor but was eliminated in the fourth week.

Charlie Hunnam

Hollywood beckoned for the acting talent who was born in Newcastle in 1980. Hunnam went to Heaton Manor School and later moved to Cumbria.

From starring in Russell T Davies’s Queer as Folk, he was propelled to fame on landing the lead role of motorcycle gang leader Jax Teller in hit US drama Sons of Anarchy.

He apparently was set for the lead in the Fifty Shades of Grey films but left citing a packed schedule. The role was then taken on by The Fall’s Jamie Dornan and Humman later revealed: “I bit off more than I could chew and it was painful. I loved the character and I wanted to do it … It was one of those damned if you do, damned if you don’t situations.”

Other roles have ranged from Green Street to leads in 2002’s Nicholas Nickleby and in Guy Ritchie’s 2017 King Arthur: Legend of the Sword; sci-fi film Pacific Rim; 2019’s The Gentlemen and this year’s Last Looks. He lives in Los Angeles with his long-term, the jewellery designer Morgana McNelis.

Kate Adie

The war correspondent was at one time never off our screens, covering momentous events such as the Gulf Wars and the Rwandan Genocide, was born in Whitley Bay, adopted as a baby and grew up in Sunderland.

She attended Newcastle University and started out in local BBC radio. She was awarded a CBE in 2018.

Dr Miriam Stoppard

The doctor, author, TV presenter and advice columnist, with an OBE, was born in Newcastle in 1937. She studied medicine at King’s College, Durham, which later became Newcastle University, and at the RVI. She’s known as an agony aunt for the Daily Mirror and author of several books. She was previously married to playwright Tom Stoppard – and is the mother of actor Ed Stoppard – and lost her second husband Sir Christopher Hogg just last year.

Rowan Atkinson

The much-loved actor and comedian was born in Consett, County Durham in 1955 and attended Newcastle University to study Electrical Engineering. He’s regularly voted up there as one of the greatest comedians ever, thanks to the popularity of such characters as Blackadder and Mr Bean.

Other stand-out cameos include in films Four Weddings and a Funeral and Love Actually while theatre roles include Fagin in a 2009 West End revival of the musical Oliver!

Do you have any star connections? Let us know in the comments below

Brian Johnson

The rocker’s accent is a dead giveaway but then again it’s not so obvious when he’s singing. He was born in Dunston, Gateshead in 1947 and was in various bands in his twenties and thirties, including one actually called Geordie.

He eventually replaced Bon Scott as the lead singer of rock band AC/DC in 1980 and has remained with them ever since. He is an avid Newcastle United supporter, and is said to have once tried to buy the club.

Gem Archer

The name might not mean much unless you’re an Oasis fan but his face will. Archer was born in Durham in 1966 and was in several bands until, in 1999 – when caring for his mother in his home city – he apparently heard on the radio that one of Oasis’s guitarists had left the band. He was devastated on thinking that his favourite band might split up but what he didn’t know was that Noel Gallagher was already searching for the talented musician, as he wanted them to be their replacement guitarist.

When he returned to London, Gallagher asked him to join the band. He remained in the band until they split up in 2009 – and years later joined Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds as lead guitarist.

Andrea Riseborough

The chameleon-like actress can change her look at the drop of a hat and her versatility is remarkable in a mix of films and TV roles including starring as Wallis Simpson in W.E. and her BAFTA-nominated Margeret Thatcher in The Long Walk to Finchley.

Andrea Riseborough was born in Jesmond and grew up in Whitley Bay, attending Church High School and appeared in plays at the People’s Theatre. Other memorable work includes Channel 4 mini-series The Devil’s Whore and filmsMade in Dagenham, Oblivion with Tom Cruise, and 2020’s The Grudge and Possessor.

Paul W. S. Anderson

Paul Anderson was born in Wallsend in 1965, and attended the Royal Grammar School. He is best known for directing the films of the Resident Evil franchise. He is also married to actress Milla Jovovich.

Other films include Event Horizon; Alien vs. Predator and Death Race.

There are many other success stories of course with lesser-known North East roots: musician Bryan Ferry, for instance, and Pat Barker, writer of the Regeneration trilogy. She attended school in Stockton-upon-Tees, and made her home in Durham. The first novel in the triology inspired a film starring Johnny Lee Miller who gave his main character Billy Prior a Geordie accent.

Or how about actor Callum Keith Rennie – known for Canadian show Due South and the US hits Battlestar Galactica and Californication? He was born in Sunderland in 1960 before emigrating, at the age of four, with his parents to Canada.

Fellow actor Ben Price, meanwhile, who is best known for his roles as Conrad Gates in Footballers’ Wives and Nick Tilsley in Coronation Street, was born in Newcastle in 1972. He attended Gosforth High School and took acting classes at The Live Theatre.