Brian Vernel

Brian Vernel is a Scottish actor best known for his film role as Bala-Tik in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), as Odda the Younger in the TV series The Last Kingdom (2015), and Billy Wallace in British gangster series Gangs of London (2020-).

A native of Glasgow, Vernel attended St Mungo's Academy in Gallowgate before training at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama) after a one-year general arts foundation course at Glasgow University.

He played the role of Bala-Tik in the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Vernel's character spoke in a Glaswegian accent.

Vernel played the main role of Billy Wallace, junkie brother of London drug cartel boss Sean Wallace, played by Joe Cole, and working alongside Michelle Fairley, who played his mother, in Gangs of London, between 2020-2022. Vernal also played the role of Irus in Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey'.