Charles was born in England, but raised and educated in the United States. At the age of ten, he made his professional acting debut in a production of 'Oliver!' starring Davy Jones of The Monkees. In 2001, he earned his Bachelors degree in History at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. That autumn, Charles returned to England to study drama at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 2004. During his attendance at RADA, he performed in more than twelve theatrical productions including Richard III, Ulysses and Speaking in Tongues. Within a year he was playing Claude, the male lead, in a revival of 'Hair' at The Gate theatre in Notting Hill. In 2006 he received critical praise for his roles as the Son of God in Oxford Playhouse's touring version of 'Paradise Lost' and as Joe Buck in a stage adaptation of 'Midnight Cowboy' at the Edinburgh Festival. British television viewers were to see lots more of him in February 2007 when he made his TV debut in the fantasy-comedy serial 'Bonkers', playing a sex-obsessed teenager unable to stop himself from bedding every woman he meets. In 2008 he was nominated for the prestigious Ian Charleson Award for his portrayal of Iago in Frantic Assembly's production of 'Othello', which led to his joining the Royal Shakespeare Company for almost 3 years where he played lead roles in 'As You Like It' and 'King Lear'. The company was invited to New York in 2011 as part of the Lincoln Center Festival, where his portrayal of Edgar in 'King Lear' caught people's attention. This would lead to appearances in a number of American television shows including 'Madam Secretary', 'Sleepy Hollow', 'Frontier', and most notably, 'The Knick', directed by Steven Soderbergh, in which Charles played yet another sex obsessed young man. In 2017, he returned to London to rejoin the Royal Shakespeare Company in their production of 'Coriolanus' and cinema audiences got to know Charles as the arrogant lothario Dr Gregory Butler in the hit feature film, 'Happy Death Day'.