Layton Williams facts for kids

Layton Williams (born 13 September 1994) is a super talented English actor, singer, and dancer. He's famous for playing Stephen Carmichael in the TV show Bad Education and for his amazing work in London's West End theatre. His first big job was at just twelve years old, when he played the main character in Billy Elliot the Musical in London.

As a kid, Layton also played Young Michael Jackson in the musical Thriller – Live. He was Kylie in the BBC show Beautiful People. You might have also seen him in the CBBC show School for Stars, which showed what life was like at the Italia Conti acting school. Later, in 2016, he started playing Angel in the UK tour of Rent. People loved his performance! From 2019 to 2022, he starred as Jamie New in Everybody's Talking About Jamie, first in the West End and then on tour.

Layton's Early Life and Training

Layton Williams was born in Bury, England. After training for several months at the Billy Elliot Academy in Leeds, Layton made his first appearance in Billy Elliot the Musical on 26 February 2007. This was in London's West End. His training was even shown on The Paul O'Grady Show! He was the first mixed-race young person to star as Billy in the show. Layton gave his last performance in the musical on 29 November 2008. He is still one of the longest-running actors to play Billy in the show's history.

Layton studied street dance and drama at Carol Godby's Theatre workshop in Bury. He also learned ballet at Centre Pointe in Manchester. He even got a scholarship to the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London. Later, he went to the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, where he was featured in the CBBC documentary School for Stars.

Layton's Amazing Career

Layton was offered the part of Young Michael Jackson in the West End musical Thriller – Live. He performed a few times before he grew too tall for the role. He became well known on TV as the character Kylie in the 2008-2009 BBC Two comedy Beautiful People.

From 2012 to 2014, he played Stephen Carmichael in the BBC comedy Bad Education. He also appeared in The Bad Education Movie in 2015. Layton returned to Bad Education for a special reunion in 2022 and became one of the main stars for the show's fourth series.

Layton also toured with Matthew Bourne's show The Car Man. After that, he played Duane in the Hairspray the Musical tour from 2015 to 2016. He then joined the 20th anniversary cast of Rent, which toured the UK from October 2016.

Layton got the main role of Jamie New in the popular musical Everybody's Talking About Jamie at the Apollo Theatre in London's West End. He played Jamie for 11 months! In 2019, it was announced he would join the tour cast of the musical. The tour was delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic, but it started again in 2021. Layton also played Jamie when the show premiered in the US in Los Angeles in 2022.

In August 2023, Layton was announced as a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing. He danced with professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin. They were amazing! They got the first perfect score of 40 in the whole series during Musicals week. They got two more perfect scores in the semi-finals and two in the final! They finished as joint runners-up.

From June to September 2024, Layton played the Emcee in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club in London.

Other Cool Things Layton Does

Layton is a big supporter of charities like Stonewall and Ditch the Label. He also runs 'Pros From The Shows', which offers dance, singing, and acting workshops all over the UK. They even have their own clothing line!

Awards and Recognition

Layton has won some fantastic awards for his work:

• In 2019, he won the Black British Theatre Awards for Best Male Actor in a Musical for Everybody's Talking About Jamie.
• In 2020, he won another Black British Theatre Awards as an LGBTQ+ Champion for his work with Everybody's Talking About Jamie.

See also

• List of British actors