Layton Williams (born 13 September 1994) is an English actor, singer, and dancer, best known for playing the role of Stephen Carmichael in the television series '' Bad Education''. His first job was at the age of twelve playing the title role in ''

Billy Elliot the Musical ''Billy Elliot: The Musical'' is a coming-of-age stage musical based on the 2000 film of the same name. The music is by Elton John, and the book and lyrics are by Lee Hall, who wrote the film's screenplay. The plot revolves around Billy, a m ...

'' on

London's West End The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buil ...

. During his childhood he also played Young Michael Jackson in ''

Thriller – Live ''Thriller Live'' is a two-and-a-half-hour concert revue celebrating the music of The Jackson 5 and the solo work and life of Michael Jackson. It had already been performed in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia before ope ...

'' musical, Kylie in the BBC series Beautiful People and featured in the CBBC Documentary School for Stars, which documented life at the acting school Italia Conti. From late 2016, he began playing Angel in the 20th anniversary tour of ''

Rent Rent may refer to: Economics *Renting, an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property *Economic rent, any payment in excess of the cost of production *Rent-seeking, attempting to increase one's share of e ...

'' around the UK. The production, particularly his performance, received rave reviews. Since January 2019 he is playing the title character of

Jamie New ''Everybody's Talking About Jamie'' is a coming-of-age stage musical with music by Dan Gillespie Sells and book and lyrics by Tom MacRae. The musical is inspired by the 2011 British television documentary ''Jamie: Drag Queen at 16'' directed ...

in ''

Everybody's Talking About Jamie ''Everybody's Talking About Jamie'' is a coming-of-age stage musical with music by Dan Gillespie Sells and book and lyrics by Tom MacRae. The musical is inspired by the 2011 British television documentary ''Jamie: Drag Queen at 16'' directed b ...

'' and is currently taking the role on tour around the UK.

Early life, acting background and education

Williams was born in

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

, England to a white mother and a father of Jamaican descent. After several months of training at the Billy Elliot Academy in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, Williams debuted in ''

'' on 26 February 2007 in

. His training was documented on ''

The Paul O'Grady Show ''The Paul O'Grady Show'' is a British comedy chat show presented by comedian Paul O'Grady, first shown on 11 October 2004. The programme is a teatime chat show consisting of a mixture of celebrity guests, comic stunts, musical performances, an ...

'' in which he appeared in on 25 May 2007 and then in several morning TV shows, TV interviews, and short clips related to the musical. He is the second non-white boy, the other being

Matthew Koon Matthew Koon is a British actor and dancer. Career Koon began studying ballet at the age of 2, at the Alison Livesey School of Dance and Drama in Whitefield, Greater Manchester. At the age of 9, he auditioned for the Royal Ballet School Junio ...

, and the first mixed race youth to star in the show. He gave his finale performance in the musical on 29 November 2008; Williams is still the second-longest running performer as 'Billy' in the show's history. On 31 January 2009, 2 months after his final performance, Layton appeared on the programme ''Feelgood Factor'' on ITV, where he and two other 'Billy' actors, Tanner Pflueger and

Tom Holland Thomas Stanley Holland (born 1 June 1996) is an English actor. His accolades include a British Academy Film Award, three Saturn Awards, a Guinness World Record and an appearance on the ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 Europe list. Some publications h ...

, performed a specially choreographed version of Angry Dance from ''Billy Elliot the Musical''. Williams has studied street dance and drama at ''Carol Godby's Theatre workshop'' in Bury, Greater Manchester. He also studied ballet at ''Centre Pointe'',

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. Williams was awarded a scholarship to

Sylvia Young Theatre School Sylvia Young Theatre School is an independent school in Marble Arch, London, England. It is a specialist performing arts school named after its founder and principal, Sylvia Young OBE. Outline The Sylvia Young Theatre School was founded in 19 ...

in Marylebone, London and stayed there until 2008. He attended Broad Oak High School in Bury, his home town, but once his natural talent for the performing arts became clear he began to attend the

Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts The Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts is a performing arts conservatoire based in Woking, England. It was founded in 1911 by Italia Conti, an actress. The first production at Italia Conti Academy was the play ''Where the Rainbow Ends''. For ...

. During his time at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts Williams was featured in a children's documentary 'School for Stars' which was broadcast on the children's television channel CBBC.

Acting career

He was offered the part as Young Michael Jackson in the West End musical ''

'' where he did a few performances before he outgrew the role. Williams became well known to a TV audience as the character Kylie – acting, dancing and singing in the 2008-2009

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

comedy ''Beautiful People'', series 1 and 2. From 2012 to 2014, he played Stephen Carmichael in the BBC comedy '' Bad Education'' and also appeared in the 2015 spinoff film. Williams returned to the show for the 2022 reunion special and became the co-lead of the show's fourth series alongside

Charlie Wernham Charlie Wernham (born 3 October 1994) is an English comedian and actor who is known for auditioning on the second series of the ITV talent show ''Britain's Got Talent'' and for his role as Robbie Roscoe in ''Hollyoaks''. He also played Mitch ...

. Williams went on tour with

Matthew Bourne Sir Matthew Christopher Bourne (born 13 January 1960) is an English choreographer whose work includes contemporary dance and dance theatre. Choreographer In 2007, Bourne contemplated a gay version of ''Romeo and Juliet''. Despite the succ ...

's show '' The Car Man''. Following that he performed the part of Duane in '' Hairspray the Musical'' 2015–2016 tour. He announced that he would also be in the new 20th anniversary cast of ''

'' which toured the UK from October 2016. Layton landed the

lead role A leading actor, leading actress, or simply lead (), plays the role of the protagonist of a film, television show or play. The word ''lead'' may also refer to the largest role in the piece, and ''leading actor'' may refer to a person who typic ...

in the hit musical ''

'' in the

Apollo Theatre The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, in central London.

in London's West End, where he would play the role of Jamie for 11 months. In August 2019, it was announced Williams would be joining the tour cast of the musical, which was postponed due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, but has now resumed.The production has now been taken to Los Angeles, California, where Williams will lead the cast of ''Everybody’s Talking About Jamie'' in the show’s US debut. Williams is a strong supporter of the charities

Stonewall Stonewall or Stone wall may refer to: * Stone wall, a kind of masonry construction * Stonewalling, engaging in uncooperative or delaying tactics * Stonewall riots, a 1969 turning point for the modern LGBTQ rights movement in Greenwich Village, Ne ...

and

Ditch the Label Ditch the Label is a global youth charity, dedicated to helping young people through a range of issues, such as mental wellbeing, bullying, identity, relationships and digital literacy. They are a digital charity, which means that most of the sup ...

. He is the director of 'Pros From The Shows', which holds dance, singing and acting workshops across the UK. Pros From The Shows has also released a successful clothing line.

Personal life

Williams is gay and has spoken about coming to terms with his sexuality while working on ''Billy Elliot'' in London. He has several siblings and half siblings who are not in the public eye. His family are from Manchester though he moved away to London when he was 11 to pursue his acting career. He attended the

in London. His paternal grandparents are from Jamaica, but his father was born in the UK.

Acting credits

Film and television

Theatre

Workshops

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Layton 1994 births Living people Alumni of the Sylvia Young Theatre School Black British male actors English male child actors English male musical theatre actors English male stage actors English male television actors English people of Jamaican descent English people of Montserratian descent English gay actors LGBT Black British people People from Bury, Greater Manchester British LGBT singers