Robert Emms (born Robert James MacPherson; 20 May 1986) is a British film, stage and television actor, known for portraying Pythagoras in the BBC One fantasy-adventure series Atlantis, and Leonid Toptunov in the HBO miniseries Chernobyl.

Emms was born in Horley, Surrey, England. He went to a local secondary school, Oakwood School, Horley.^[1] He studied at the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology from 2002 to 2004, and then the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) from 2004 to 2007.^[2]

In March 2009 Emms played the lead role of Albert in the National Theatre's production of War Horse.^[3][4][5] After Steven Spielberg saw him in War Horse at the New London Theatre, he was cast as David Lyons in Spielberg's film adaptation of the play.^[6][7]

In June 2011 Screen International named him as a 'Star of Tomorrow'.^[8]

His other film work includes Kick-Ass 2 alongside Jim Carrey,^[9] and Rick 'Broken' Buckley in Broken directed by Rufus Norris for BBC films.^[10] He appeared as the Elizabethan playwright Thomas Dekker in Anonymous directed by Roland Emmerich, in^[11] Tarsem Singh's version of the Brothers Grimm's Snow White, in Mirror Mirror, with Julia Roberts and in the BAFTA-nominated film The Arbor, directed by Clio Barnard.^[12][13] More recently he has portrayed Vitas Gerulaitis in the film Borg/McEnroe directed by Janus Metz Pederson (alongside Shia LaBeouf).^[14]

Emms' notable television appearances include Happy Valley by Sally Wainwright,^[15] The Street by Jimmy McGovern,^[16] and Scott & Bailey.^[17] In 2015, Emms played the part of Smitty, the artistic grandson of Petunia Howe, in the three-part BBC series Capital based on John Lanchester's novel of the same name.^[18] Most recently he portrays John Gerard in the BBC series Gunpowder alongside Kit Harington and Liv Tyler. He also played Pythagoras in the series Atlantis for the BBC.^[19]

Emms played Jack in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) and the third season of Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous (2021).