Biography
Jake Wood (born 12 July 1972) is a British actor and podcaster from Westminster, London. He trained at the Anna Scher Drama School in Islington and made his first television appearance in the 1984 series The Gentle Touch.
Wood is best known for playing Max Branning in the BBC soap opera EastEnders from 2006 to 2021, with a return in 2025. He had earlier appeared in the series in 1990 as the character Jackson. His other television credits include guest roles in Only Fools and Horses, Red Dwarf (as Kill Crazy), A Touch of Frost (as Pte. Kemp), Inspector Morse, One Foot in the Grave, Casualty and The Thin Blue Line. Film appearances include Flesh + Blood (1985), Vera Drake (2004) and The Illusionist (2006).
In the United States he is known as the voice of the GEICO gecko in television advertisements. He competed on Strictly Come Dancing in 2014 and co-hosts the boxing podcast Pound for Pound.
