EastEnders star lands huge Hollywood role alongside A-list legend (2025)

Toby-Alexander Smith who played the evil Gray Atkins in EastEnders has landed a major Hollywood role starring alongside Joan Collins in an upcoming film

Since Toby-Alexander Smith quit EastEnders as the villain Gray Atkins two years ago, he has been relatively quiet.

But it seems behind the scenes, Toby-Alexander, 33, has been making waves in the industry. So much so, the actor, who is married to Emmerdale's Amy Walsh, has landed a role in a Hollywood film titled Murder Between Friends, alongside A-list royalty Joan Collins. Sharing a picture of the cast and crew on Instagram, Toby-Alexander is seen posing next to the legendary actress, who made her name in the eighties drama Dynasty.

The iconic star, 90, took to social media and wrote alongside the picture: "This was the #secret I posted about several weeks ago! Shooting #murderbetweenfriends with this fabulous #castandcrew." The film is still in production and details of Toby's character remain under wraps. Meanwhile, as Toby-Alexander continues to rise in his chosen profession, his former character Gray in the BBC soap is currently serving a life-sentence for the murders of his wife Chantelle, Kush Kazemi and Tina Carter.

Soon after leaving the soap, Toby started working as a jazz and swing singer and was available for private events. Away from the camera, Toby-Alexander is happily married to Amy, who is the sister of Girls Aloud singer Kimberley Walsh. The couple share a daughter together named Bonnie-Mae.

Posting a memory of the couple's wedding, his former co-star Lorraine Stanley recently posted unseen pictures of their wedding last year, in Montenegro. In the snaps, Lorraine gave fans an insight into the celebrations and antics on the dancefloor. On the big day, Amy, along with Toby-Alexander and their guests partied until the early hours of the morning. Lorraine captioned the pictures saying: "Best wedding ever! hank you for having us, we will tell our grandkids about this one #battered #wedding."

Lorraine and Toby-Alexander's relationship blossomed when she played his mother-in-law and was integral to his downfall amid the brutal domestic storyline. Also in attendance was Shona McGarty, who plays Whitney Dean, as well as Emmerdale stars including Natalie Ann Jamieson, who plays Amy Wyatt, Olivia Bromley, who plays Dawn Fletcher and Louisa Clein, who plays Maya Stepney.

Speaking about the big day, Amy told OK!: "It surpassed all my expectations and more. I felt so surprisingly present on the day and loved every second. Now I’m just in pure bliss." Toby-Alexander Smith first met Amy in 2019 in the audience of Strictly Com Dancing and they started dating the following year.

And in September 2021, the couple announced they were expecting their first child together. Speaking of their flourishing romance, Toby-Alexander said: "So it was about four and a half hours of, ‘You're alright? Do you want me to just wiggle around a little bit?’”

They met again in the bar after Strictly ended, and Toby finally plucked up the courage to speak to Amy, despite her being surrounded by sister Kimberley and some of her Emmerdale co-stars. He added: "I wanted to say goodbye to her and as I looked over, she had the biggest glass of red wine and a packet of roast chicken crisps and I thought, ‘That is a woman after my own heart’."

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