Actor Jody Latham has made a surprising career move after starring in Shameless.
Jody, who played wheeler dealer Lip Gallagher in the Manchester-based comedy drama, is a far cry from his character's life on the Chatsworth Estate as he runs his own £18million cosmetics company.
Jody, 38, recently secured a £9.5million deal to distribute dermal fillers for cosmetic treatment, and it was his time on the Channel Four show that inspired his career move.
Speaking with The Mirror Jody explained: “I became friends with an extra.
“Years later I saw she was giving Botox and I said ‘jab me up.'
“I felt so good. I thought, ‘There’s got to be an in into this industry.' I wanted to make people feel this good.”
Jody trained to give beauty treatments such as Botox and dermal fillers and, after opening a few clinics four years ago, he decided to focus on the distribution side and set up Epitique.
Earlier this year he struck a deal with South Korean firm Jetima.
Despite becoming a millionaire entrepreneur he’s not flashing the cash - he lives in two-bedroom flat near Manchester and drives a modest car.
"I’m pumping everything back into the company," he said.
“It’s valued at £18million. We’ll see where we are in a couple of years."
Jody, who runs his business with five staff, insists he has not given up on acting.
In 2011 he played pimp Rob Grayson in a controversial sex exploitation storyline in EastEnders and in 2017 he was reunited with Shameless creator Paul Abbott on the police drama No Offence.
He played Aidan McGee in the Channel Four show set in Manchester.
Jody memorably played Lip, the eldest of Frank Gallagher's children, in the groundbreaking show Shameless which ran from 2004 to 2013.
During the COVID-19 pandemic the entrepreneur donated face masks to care homes and charities across the north west to help stop the spread of the infection through his company Safe and Protect UK.
He told us previously: "Previously my background has been in cosmetics and aesthetics distributions, besides acting.
"Because of the COVID-19 outbreak my suppliers and a lot of people in the industry turned their attentions to PPE."
