Essex was born in 1984 or 1985. In 2014, Essex appeared in the video
Mr Bowler Presents - Hideaway. He has also been a
backup dancer for
Janet Jackson. The group, who had previously performed in various London schools in 2011, did their first audition for the show in June 2012 in front of an audience of 6000 people and went through to the next stage of the show after scoring four "yes" votes. In March 2016, it was announced that Essex joined the cast of the British soap opera
Hollyoaks as
Adam Donovan, who was introduced with his younger brothers
Jesse (
Luke Jerdy) and
Liam Donovan (
Maxim Baldry) as an extension of
Grace Black's (
Tamara Wall) family. Essex, Baldry and Jerdy had auditioned together. Essex's debut as Adam aired in April of that year. Essex felt very nervous when he first started on the soap, and Jerdy said that Essex was so nervous saying his lines during his first scenes that he was shaking, although he "got away with it" because it was cold. The actor had been a fan of
Hollyoaks and felt nervous meeting some of the cast as he knew them from watching the show. Initially, Essex found it strange to work with
Lisa Maxwell, who plays the brothers' mother
Tracey Donovan, as he used to watch her on television. As his character was a
hairdresser, Essex was given some lessons in the profession to help him with the portrayal. In 2018, Adam was involved in a storyline where his behaviour got darker and was involved in a mystery storyline where Adam was seen being told to shoot someone in a flash forward episode; Essex enjoyed portraying the villainous side to the character. The plot eventually led to Adam being fatally shot by his father
Glenn Donovan (Bob Cryer) in the episode originally airing on 23 May 2018. Adam's death was longlisted for "Best Exit" at the
2018 Inside Soap Awards. Essex portrayed Peter in the 2020 film
A Dark Path. Essex was then part of the cast of the play
GHBoy, which was due to be performed in December 2020 at
Charing Cross Theatre. The play explored
chemsex within the LGBTQ+ male community. ==Personal life==