Joey Batey

Joey Batey (born 1989) is an English actor, musician, singer, and songwriter. He portrays the bard Jaskier in the fantasy series The Witcher, where he sang "Toss a Coin to Your Witcher", as well as other songs featured in the series.

Joey Batey
Joey Batey in December 2019
Born	1989 (age 35–36)[1] Newcastle upon Tyne, England[1]
Education	Robinson College, Cambridge L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq
Occupation(s)	Actor, musician
Years active	2008–present

Early life and education

Joey Batey was born in Newcastle upon Tyne.^[1] He has said he grew up in a "musical family" and has always been around music.^[2] He studied at Robinson College, Cambridge and L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq.^[3] Whilst at Cambridge, he co-wrote and performed the comedic sketch show Good Clean Men with Alex Owen, Ben Ashenden and others.^[4][5]

Career

Batey's film debut was in the 2013 British thriller, Murder on the Home Front, directed by Geoffrey Sax.^[6] In 2014, he appeared in The Riot Club directed by Lone Scherfig.^[7] In 2017, Paul McGuigan cast him as Eddie in Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool.^[8] Batey also played in the British TV series Strike (2017),^[9] and In The Dark (2017).^[10] He appeared in the series Knightfall in 2017–2018, a 14th century period piece centered on the Knights Templar, where he played the role of Pierre, a spy after information on the Holy Grail.^[11]

Batey is a vocalist and musician for the indie folk band The Amazing Devil, as well as the primary writer and composer.^[12] He and collaborator Madeleine Hyland met while acting for the Royal Shakespeare Company and together they formed the band in 2015,^[13] producing what Batey has described as music that “sad people can listen to at train stations.”^[14] The band has released three albums including Love Run (2016),^[12] and The Horror and the Wild (2020).^[15] Their most recent album, Ruin, was released on 31 October 2021.^[16][17]

Since 2019, Batey has played the character of the bard, Jaskier, in Netflix's adaptation of The Witcher, based on the Polish novel series of the same name.^[18][19] Batey has performed the following songs featured in the series:^[20][21] "Toss a Coin to Your Witcher",^[20] "The Fishmonger's Daughter"^[22] and "Her Sweet Kiss", as well as "Burn Butcher Burn",^[23] "Whoreson Prison Blues"^[24] and "The Golden One".^[25]

His debut novel, It's Not a Cult, a "darkly comic folk horror" is expected to be released in September 2025.^[26]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2014	The Riot Club	Eager Chap
2016	Bloody Cakes	Colin Montcrawknox	Unreleased
2017	Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool	Eddie	Uncredited
2025	The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep	Jaskier (voice)

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	Murder on the Home Front	Dixie	Television film
2013	The White Queen	Edward of Lancaster	2 episodes
2013	Whitechapel	Gavin Redman	2 episodes
2016	Mount Pleasant	Gopher	3 episodes
2017	In the Dark	Shelley	2 episodes
2017	Strike	Al Rokeby	2 episodes
2017–2018	Knightfall	Pierre	5 episodes
2018	Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators	Callum Ballimore	Series 1, episode 4: "This Rough Magic"
2018	Stan Lee's Lucky Man	Bobby Hayes	Series 3, episode 2: "Run Rabbit Run"
2019	The War of the Worlds	Henderson	Series 1, episode 1
2019–present	The Witcher	Jaskier	Main role
2022	The Witcher: Blood Origin		Guest role
2022	Billy The Kid	Patrick McCarty	1 episode

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2016	Dragon Quest Heroes 2	Cesar	Voice

Further reading

• Rivera, Starleen (31 December 2021). "The Witcher: 10 Movies and Shows Where You've Seen the Cast". Screen Rant. Montreal, Quebec: Valnet Inc. Retrieved 25 January 2022.