Kieron Moore Photograph by Tristan Fewings/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA If you don't know rising British actor Kieron Moore yet from his roles in Vampire Academy, Masters of the Air, The Corps and ITV hit crime series Code of Silence, opposite Rose Ayling-Ellis, you can now catch him in the latter on BritBox in the U.S. and Canada, where it premiered on July 24. In the show, Moore portrays Liam, a complex and, shall we say, ambiguous character, who meets protagonist Alison (Ayling-Ellis), a determined deaf woman working in a police canteen who gets recruited to use her lip-reading skills in a covert operation. As the story of Code of Silence unfolds, Moore hints at and slowly reveals all sorts of layers to Liam. Related Stories News The Exiles of Tehrangeles Movies Stellan Skarsgard to Receive Honorary Heart of Sarajevo at Sarajevo Film Fest The 28-year-old from Manchester didn't have a chemistry test with Ayling-Ellis, but playing multi-layered characters seems natural to him. After all, he is not only enjoying the challenges of acting, but also used to be a boxer and writes poetry, among other interests. Next up, fans can see him as queer fetish camboy Aaron in Elliot Tuttle's drama Blue Film, in which he stars opposite Reed Birney, which has been selected for the competition program of this year's 78th edition of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, which unspools next month. Below, Moore chats with The Hollywood Reporter via Zoom about his varied interests and how they help him when it comes to acting, Code of Silence, which has been renewed for season two, Blue Film, his experience on Sex Education and why he enjoys continuously challenging himself. Your Code of Silence character, Liam, is difficult to get a handle on early. Can you talk a bit about how you developed this role, which is your first leading part on TV? There are levels to him. The first thing is you must trust in yourself. You have to have an opinion. As limited as I am in my acting experience, I have to know that character more than all of you. Lead director Diarmuid Goggins (Kin, Black Cab) and I got along like a house on fire. We had great chemistry, just because I trusted him. He was looking out for my character, but he also appreciated when I was saying to him: "You have a million pots on the stove right now, while I only have one, and that is Liam. I spend more time with him, so you have to trust me." Something a friend said to me one time has also always stuck with me: You can't be everything in every character; you'll get opportunities to show different things. So who is Liam? Liam is intelligent but has a difficult past, and when you've got his level of intelligence, you kind of outthink yourself sometimes. That was constantly on my mind with him. It's like a mask. He puts up all these walls with the gang he works with. But then with Rose's character, Alison, he just lets them crumble a little bit somehow. Kieron Moore in 'Code of Silence.' Courtesy of ITV So you can relate to Liam or recognize some of his characteristics? I think with Liam, it was quite easy to get into this mode of lying to everyone. In my personal life, it's always a bit of a struggle coming back home to Manchester, because I love my family, but there's a certain routine. It's not so much that they stay the same, but that I've changed. So, there's that thing of being what people expect you to be and want you to be. And I have a dad who is the most unreadable person in the world, but you feel him, and I felt him as a kid. My mother is the opposite - she wears everything on her face. With Liam, more than anyone that I've played so far, I was naturally bringing in this self-awareness. And he puts on this kind of mask. But once you get to episodes five and six, hopefully you get to understand that he's burdened, and you may find yourself being upset with him about some things but also rooting or hoping for him. How do you think about viewers' role in making sense of Liam? I guess with every character you play, when you truly feel that you know who they are, you realize that everyone struggles to understand who they are, and that gives all of us an opportunity to learn something about ourselves. I write poetry. That has always been my thing. I love poetry. I would usually write a poem and keep it to myself. But family members or others have stumbled upon my poems or I've shared poetry with my friends, and they often go: "Oh, you must have meant this!" And I actually didn't, but I'm so glad that you found something else in it. Kieron Moore Courtesy of Bella Howard You have developed a reputation for playing complex characters. And you have different sides to you as a person too. You just mentioned poetry, and I heard you also used to be a boxer? How nice to be a contradiction! [Laughs] Boxing is my first love. My dad's Kieron Moore. I'm Kieron Moore Jr. My dad always wanted to be a boxer, but his mum and dad said no. One day, my mum let me take out a videotap