Meet Harry Lawtey: 'Industry's' Randy, Thirst-trapping Robert

One of the smartest moves that HBO made recently was to put all eight episodes of the highly addictive series "Industry" (co-produced with the BBC) up for viewing. Set in a prestigious London bank called Pierpoint, it follows a group of new hires through their probation period, at the end of which they learn if they are to be hired. Last week the series was renewed for its second season.

What makes the show so binge-watchable is a combination of corporate intrigue – these beginners are as ruthless as their seniors – and its copious sex and drug-taking. At a crucial moment in the finale, one of the characters gets a nosebleed when pitching for a job, a sure sign of his cocaine addiction.

That character – Robert Spearing – is played by rising actor Harry Lawtey, the breakout star of its talented ensemble. (He recently signed with the influential talent agency UTA.) He certainly has a showy role: A sharp, ambitious and devilishly attractive working-class lad with a limitless appetite for drugs of any sort and sex with most anyone, male and female.

Early on, he offers to let Gus (David Jonsson), his roommate and fellow Pierpoint hire, give him a blow job to cheer him up. (Gus is brooding over his closeted boyfriend.) In another, Robert has fast eye contact with a visiting student in one of Pierpoint's men's rooms. Cut to post-hookup, when he's boasting of the sex to Jasmin, a co-worker with whom he is having a X-rated flirtation on a dating app.

Jasmin, the remarkable Marisa Abela, taunts the puppy dog Robert, first by ignoring him in the gym, then by sending him a video of her boyfriend (Jonathan Barnwell, very sexy) performing oral sex on her. This escalates to the show's most talked-about scene – in which Robert meets up with Jasmine in a public restroom during the holiday party where she masturbates him. When he shoots, she instructs him to lick his semen off the mirror. You will have to watch the show to see if he does.

You can watch Lawtey's "Industry" clips on the NSFW website Mr. Man.

Throughout the series Lawtey embodied Robert's confidence, such as when he went full-frontal in the show's first episode, directed by Lena Dunham. But in an interview on the website Bello he says, "It's funny, because there is so much about Robert that I can't relate to. I certainly can't party as hard as him! But underneath all the craziness, he's quite a sensitive person, who just wants to be liked and to make the best of his life. I think that's something that everyone can relate to."

He elaborated more on his character in an interview on the website The Rakish Gent. "Robert is very charismatic and quite charming. He has a lot of bravado and probably thinks that those qualities are really well suited to a life in banking and maybe he has a slightly outdated idea in his head about what is needed to be successful. On a personal level he uses those qualities to mask the insecurity of being a lost boy and ultimately, he seeks personal validation but he might be searching for that from the wrong people. "

Asked by Bello about what fans can expect in the future from him, he acknowledges how the pandemic has impacted his profession. "That's a tricky question in 2020! The acting industry has been completely on pause with everything that has gone on in the world. I've filmed a small part on a British film called 'Benediction' which is about Siegfried Sassoon, a famous war poet and hopefully, when things are fully up and running again, I'll be able to be part of something else exciting."

Lawtey is a graduate of Sylvia Young Theatre School and Drama Centre London. "Prior to 'Industry,' Harry has appeared in Netflix's 'The Letter for the King', ITV's 'Marcella' and in the film 'City of Tiny Lights' opposite Billie Piper and Riz Ahmed. As well as these dramas, he was also the star of a Burberry campaign and of a Sam Smith music video, 'Too Good at Goodbyes'," writes the website The Rakish Gent.

Did Lawtey ever consider working in high finance?

"Absolutely not," he told the website NME. "It's ironic really, because I became an actor so I wouldn't have to wear a suit every day and sit at a desk. Now, in my first major job, I've found myself wearing a suit every day and sitting at a desk for six months."

Check out these pics from Lawtey's Instagram: