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Layton Williams
British actor From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Layton Williams (born 13 September 1994) is an English actor. He won the 2025 Laurence Olivier for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for his performance in Titanique. Williams began his career as a child actor on the West End, starring as the titular role of Billy Elliot the Musical and Young Michael Jackson in Thriller – Live. As an adult, he went on tour with Rent[1] and Everybody's Talking About Jamie.
On television, Williams is known for his roles in the BBC series Beautiful People (2008–2009) and Bad Education (2012–2014, 2022–2024). He featured in the CBBC documentary series School for Stars, which documented life at the acting school Italia Conti.
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Early life, acting background and education
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Williams was born in Bury, Greater Manchester, to a white mother and a father of Jamaican descent. He grew up on the Dicky Bird Estate.[2] His paternal grandparents are from Jamaica and his father was born in the UK. He has several siblings and half-siblings.
Williams went to London at age 11 to pursue an acting career.[3] After several months of training at the Billy Elliot Academy in Leeds, Williams debuted in Billy Elliot the Musical on 26 February 2007 in London's West End.[4] His training was documented on The Paul O'Grady Show 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 person of colour, the other being Matthew Koon, and the first mixed heritage performer to star in the show. He gave his final performance in the musical on 29 November 2008 while still being the second-longest running performer as 'Billy' in the show's history.[5] On 31 January 2009, two 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, performed a specially choreographed version of Angry Dance from Billy Elliot the Musical.
Williams took street dance and drama lessons at Carol Godby's Theatre workshop in Bury and ballet lessons at Centre Pointe, Manchester. Williams was awarded a scholarship to Sylvia Young Theatre School in Marylebone, London and stayed there until 2008. He attended Broad Oak High School in his home town Bury and then the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London. During his time at Italia Conti, Williams featured in a children's documentary School for Stars which was broadcast on the children's television channel CBBC.
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Career
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He was offered the part as Young Michael Jackson in the West End musical Thriller – Live where he did a few performances before he outgrew the role[citation needed]. Williams became well known to a TV audience as the character Kylie – acting, dancing and singing in the 2008 to 2009 BBC Two comedy Beautiful People, series 1 and 2.[6][7][8] 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.
Williams went on tour with Matthew Bourne'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 Rent which toured the UK from October 2016.[9] Layton landed the lead role in the hit musical Everybody's Talking About Jamie in the Apollo Theatre 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, but later resumed in 2021. The production also made its US premiere at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in January 2022 where Williams played also Jamie.[10]
In August 2023, Williams was announced as a contestant on the twenty-first series of Strictly Come Dancing. He was partnered with professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin. They achieved not only their first perfect 40 score, but the first of the whole series in Musicals week, which they followed up with another one in the semi-finals, as well as two in the final. They finished as joint runners-up, alongside Bobby Brazier and Dianne Buswell, losing to winners Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola.[11]
From 3 June to 21 September 2024, Williams played the Emcee in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre opposite Rhea Norwood as Sally Bowles.[12]
Williams then originated the role of Iceberg in the West End premiere of Titanique at the Criterion Theatre in December 2024, which earned him a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical for his performance.[13][14]
Other ventures
Williams is a strong supporter of the charities Stonewall and Ditch the Label.[9]
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Personal life
Williams is gay and has spoken about coming to terms with his sexuality while working on Billy Elliot in London.[3][15][16]
While on Who Do You Think You Are in May 2025, he found that his great-great-grandfather, Lance Corporal William Downing, served in the Army Remount Service in WW1 and WW2 and was part of the BEF during the Dunkirk evacuation.[2] After returning to the UK, William Downing ended up in Bury working at a PoW camp there, which is how William's family came to Bury.[2] Williams also found out that his five-times great-grandfather Edward Downing was in financial trouble and was even sent to the Queen's Bench Prison.[2]
Williams also discovered on his paternal side, that his three-times great-grandfather, Alexander Denton, was born in 1825 in Jamaica as a slave.[2] He had a twin sister called Peggy.[2] They would have been about nine years old when slavery was abolished in 1834.[2] Williams also discovered that his four-times great-grandmother, Jessy Denton, came to Jamaica sometime before 1807 on one of the slave ships from Africa.[2]
Acting credits
Film and television
Theatre
Workshops
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Awards
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See also
References
External links
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