fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

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 on London's West End. During his childhood he also played Young Michael Jackson in Thriller – Live 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 around the UK. The production, particularly his performance, received rave reviews.[1] Since January 2019 he is playing the title character of Jamie New in Everybody's Talking About Jamie and is currently taking the role on tour around the UK.

Layton Williams
Born	(1994-09-13) 13 September 1994 (age 28) Bury, Greater Manchester, England
Occupation	Actor, singer and dancer
Years active	2007–present
Known for	Billy Elliot the Musical (2007–2008) Everybody's Talking About Jamie (2016–present)

Early life, acting background and education

Williams was born in Bury, England to a white mother and a father of Jamaican descent. 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.[2] 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 non-Caucasian boy, the other being Matthew Koon, 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.[3] 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, 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. 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 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. 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 Thriller – Live 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 comedy Beautiful People, series 1 and 2.[4][5][6] From 2012, he played Stephen Carmichael in the BBC comedy Bad Education.

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.[7] 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 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 and Ditch the Label.[7] 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.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Williams is gay and has spoken about coming to term with his sexuality while working on Billy Elliot in London.[8][9][10] 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 Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London.[8] His paternal grandparents are from Jamaica, but his father was born in the UK.[8]

Acting credits

Film and television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008–2009	Beautiful People	Kylie Parkinson
2010	School For Stars	Himself
2011	Postcode	Russell
2012–2014, 2022	Bad Education	Stephen Carmichael	Main cast (19 episodes)
2015	The Bad Education Movie	Stephen Carmichael	Film
2018	Benidorm	Airport check-in assistant
2020	The Magic of Movie Musicals	Himself
2021	The Cleaner	Bernard / "Hosea"	Episode: "The Influencer"
	Everybody's Talking About Jamie	Dancer	Cameo appearance
2022	Queens for the Night	Judge

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Theatre	Location
2007–08	Billy Elliot	Billy Elliot	Victoria Palace Theatre	West End
2015	The Car Man	Dancer	Royal Albert Hall	London
2016	Hairspray	Duane/ Understudy Seaweed J. Stubbs	UK National Tour
2016–17	Rent	Angel
2017–18	Hairspray	Seaweed J. Stubbs
2018–19	Kiss Me Kate	Bill Calhoun/Lucentio	Sheffield Crucible	Sheffield
2019–20	Everybody's Talking About Jamie	Jamie New	Apollo Theatre	West End
2021–22			UK National Tour
2022			Ahmanson Theatre	Los Angeles

Workshops

Year	Title	Theatre	Location
2021	Halls The Musical	Turbine Theatre	London

See also

• List of British actors

References

External links

• Layton Williams at IMDb 
• Layton Williams on Twitter
• Layton Williams on Instagram

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