Little-known Lydia West has shot into the public consciousness after a couple of eye-catching performances in It’s a Sin and Steven Moffat’s Dracula miniseries. We find out more about her.
West is a very private person, so not much is known about her personal life. She was born in June 1993, but not on which day, so is 27-years-old and that she is from the wealthy borough of Islington in London.
Despite her breakout success in recent months, being an actor was never part of West’s plan. She loves to dance and, in her mind, it was her destiny to become a successful ballet, jazz, contemporary, and tap dancer.
However, that dream was shattered in her late teens when she suffered a severe foot injury, breaking her toe. It wasn’t a career-ending injury, but it opened the door to acting, and we have all been the beneficiaries of that.
After completing University, West pursued her new passion for acting by attending the Identity School of Acting in London. It is a well-renowned school with luminary alumni such as Black Panther’s Letitia Wright and John Boyega of Star Wars’ fame. Due largely to her time training at Identity, she landed her first on-screen role in Russell T Davies’ dystopian drama series Years & Years alongside Emma Thompson.
While not playing a lead role, Davies was nevertheless very impressed by West and subsequently brought her in to star in his latest drama series It’s A Sin. And the rest, as they say, is history. ‘To be back with Russell’s writing for a second time in my short career felt unbelievable. And as much as my character in Years And Years is so different from Jill in It’s A Sin, it’s amazing to be able to pick up a Russell T Davies script and be able to just speak his lines,” she told Grazia.
She plays a young girl, Jill, who lives with a group of gay men during the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 90s. According to West, the show is inspired by a group of Davies real-life friends and her character is directly based on a real person, also called Jill, who, was a member of the cast of It’s A Sin too.
“Russell told me the day before the read-through that the [character] Jill is based very loosely on a real-life character called Jill, so much so that he didn’t change her name, and she will her playing my mother,” West revealed to RadioTimes.
In between Years & Years and It’s A Sin, West landed Lucy Westenra’s role in Steven Moffat’s Dracula miniseries. The show itself received generally mixed reviews, but West’s appearance in the bonkers final episode made her the talk of the town.
The plot follows Dracula to the modern day where he struggles with technology and meets and becomes infatuated with West’s character. It is, without a doubt, the best episode in the series and also the most chaotic.
It is crucial to get key roles in franchises like Dracula right because there are so much history and expectant fans behind a story that has become such a massive part of modern popular culture. Aside from this miniseries, Dracula and Lucy’s story has been told in countless films, most notably Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
The world’s most famous vampire is also set to join the extended Marvel Cinematic Universe. Reports have indicated that he will feature in the upcoming reboot of the Blade franchise. There have also been no less than five Dracula video games published, and there is even a Dracula slot that can be found at some of the best UK online casinos.
So the fact that West nailed the character of Lucy Westenra has played a massive role in her rocking to fame over the last few months. The really impressive thing is how diverse all the characters she has played so far are, and she has succeeded at pulling every single one-off. Lydia West is one to keep an eye on for the foreseeable future.
