Nick Blood

British actor Nick Blood enjoyed a string of well-received appearances on U.K. television series like "Trollied" (Sky 1, 2011- ) and "Him & Her" (BBC Three, 2010-2013) before crossing the Atlantic to play a roguish mercenary on "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." (ABC, 2013- ). Born March 20, 1982 in London, England, Blood became interested in acting at the age of seven after joining a local drama club. After training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Blood's career took off in 2009 when he made his professional stage debut in "The Priory" at the Royal Court Theatre. Blood also made his first television appearance in a two-part episode on the long-running police drama "The Bill" (ITV, 1983-2010), and also found time to launch his own theater company, WE.BUY.GOLD. that same year. He co-wrote and starred its first production, "Inches Apart," which won the Old Vic New Voices Theatre 503 Award and enjoyed a brief stage run in 2009. Blood soon settled into regular work as a series regular and guest performer on television series like "Material Girl" (BBC One, 2010) and the popular sitcom "Trollied," while also maintaining his stage career, most notably as former Beatle Stu Sutcliffe in a West End production of "Backbeat" from 2011 to 2012. The following year, he returned to television, playing a former boyfriend who comes between series leads Sarah Solemani and Russell Tovey in the comedy "Him & Her," and a police officer in the World War II crime series "The Bletchley Circle" (ITV, 2012-2014). In 2014, Blood made his American TV debut as the Marvel Comics character Lance Hunter, a British mercenary recruited to work for the American spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. in "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Hunter and his former wife and partner, Bobbie Hunter, a.k.a the superhero Mockingbird (played by Adrienne Palicki), proved popular additions to the program and were briefly considered as the leads for a spinoff series. However, the new "S.H.I.E.L.D" show was shelved for an indefinite period, allowing both Blood and Palicki to return to the parent program. During this time frame, Blood was also featured in the UK police drama series "Babylon" (Channel 4, 2014- ), produced by Oscar-winning filmmaker Danny Boyle.