The 55-year-old starred in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and is also a playwright and filmmaker, directing a screen adaptation of his play Telstar, starring James Corden, Kevin Spacey, and Con O’Neill.

Terry Stone, a fellow actor, friend, and podcaster, revealed the devastating news to social media.

Since the announcement, fans have rushed to share their support. One person writes: “Wow, he was great in Lock Stock. Hopefully, he can recover.”“A very talented guy. So sorry to hear his plight. Hope for a speedy recovery,” someone else adds.

A third comments: “We hope Nick Moran gets well soon! As Scabior, he’s a badass character, but we hope he gets out of the woods and back to health soon in real life!”Stone revealed that the Harry Potter star had to undergo emergency surgery after a pain in his body turned out to be something life-threatening.

The host of The Criminal Connection podcast tells Daily Mail: “Nick’s girlfriend was saying ‘You’ve got to get it checked out.’

“As a bloke, he said, ‘No I’ll put some deep heat on it.’ Then he went to the doctors and got sent to A&E and told ‘We need to take you in for an emergency operation because this is life-threatening.’”Stone explains that doctors had told the actor that if he didn’t have surgery immediately, he might be left unable to walk or talk again.

Moran had been experiencing pain in his neck, which he had been content to ignore until his partner pleaded with him to seek medical help.

Stone reveals he’s spoken to one of Moran’s family members who explained he had damaged his neck somehow, which was affecting his spinal cord.The Mayo Clinic states that a spinal cord injury involves damage to any part of the spinal cord. It also can include damage to nerves at the end of the spinal cord, known as the cauda equina.

The spinal cord sends and receives signals between the brain and the rest of the body. A spinal cord injury often causes permanent changes in strength, feeling, and other body functions below the site of the injury.

People who have had a spinal cord injury can experience mental, emotional, and social side effects.

Moran has since undergone surgery, which cut into his spine and removed four bones from his neck.

Stone shares: “They had to replace [bones in his neck] with artificial bone, it was microsurgery and because there’s so many nerves around the neck and spine this made the operation tricky with those awful chances of not being able to speak or walk again.”

Moran’s representative says: “Nick had urgent spinal surgery over a week ago, which carries the usual risks of such procedures.

“All went well, he is now back home on his way to a full recovery after a short stay in hospital. He would like to thank any well-wishers for their concerns.”