Lydia West

Lydia Dorothy West (born 24 June 1993^[1][2]) is a British actress. She is known for her roles in the BBC One series Years and Years and the Channel 4 series It's a Sin,^[3] the latter of which earned her a BAFTA nomination.

Lydia West
Born	Lydia Dorothy West (1993-06-24) 24 June 1993 (age 31) Islington, London, England
Alma mater	Identity School of Acting
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2019–present
Children	1

Early life

West is from London. Her maternal grandparents are Irish, and her father is from Montserrat.^[4] Her mother is a nurse and her father works in charity. She has an older sister and an older brother.^[5][6][7]

West trained in ballet, tap, jazz and contemporary dance as a teenager, but quit after a foot injury. After graduating from university with a degree in business, she worked as a personal assistant and trained part-time at Identity School of Acting.^[8][9][10]

Career

Post graduation from IDSA, West was cast as Bethany Bisme-Lyons in Russell T Davies' 2019 BBC One and HBO series Years and Years.^[11][12] She starred in the 2021 Channel 4 series It's A Sin, also by Davies. She played Jill Baxter, who is loosely based on one of Davies' friends (Jill Nalder).^[8][13] Davies called her character "the heart of the story", a view echoed by Jack King of I-D who described the character as the "de facto matriarch".^[14][15] Her performance was described as a "standout" one by i.^[16]

In 2022, West appeared as Monique Thompson in the Apple TV+ series Suspicion and Reilly Clayton in Mike Myers' Netflix comedy The Pentaverate. She has roles in the films Love Again and Coffee Wars,^[8][17] as well as the series Inside Man and Gray.^[18]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2023	Love Again	Lisa Scott
TBA	Coffee Wars	Bridget	Upcoming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2019	Years and Years	Bethany Bisme-Lyons	All 6 episodes
2020	Dracula	Lucy Westenra	Episode: "The Dark Compass"
2021	It's a Sin	Jill Baxter	All 5 episodes
2022	Suspicion	Monique Thompson	4 episodes
	The Pentaverate	Reilly Clayton	All 6 episodes
	Inside Man	Beth Davenport
2023	Gray	Sara Beckham
2024	Big Mood	Eddie	All 6 episodes
2025	He Had it Coming		Lead role[19]

Audio

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2020	Doctor Who: The Sorcerer of Albion	Vivien	Big Finish: Donna Noble: Kidnapped![20]
2020	The Wizard of Oz	Dorothy Gale	Audible[21]

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref
2021	Monte-Carlo Television Festival	Best Actress	It's a Sin	Won	[22]
2022	BPG Awards	Best Actress		Nominated	[23]
		Breakthrough Award[a]		Nominated
	British Academy Television Awards	Best Actress		Nominated	[24]

Notes

1. Shared.