Leo Vincent Woodall (born 14 September 1996) is an English actor. He gained recognition with his roles in the second season of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

satirical anthology series '' The White Lotus'' (2022) and in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

romantic drama miniseries '' One Day'' (2024). Woodall has since starred in the

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...

thriller series '' Prime Target'' and the romantic comedy '' Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy'' (both 2025).

Early life and education

Woodall was born in Shepherd's Bush, West London. He comes from a family of actors, including his father Andrew, stepfather, and grandmother; his parents met at drama school. He has said he is a descendant of

Maxine Elliott Maxine Elliott (February 5, 1868 – March 5, 1940) also known as Little Jessie, Dettie or by her birth name Jessie Dermott, was an American actress and businesswoman. She managed her own theater and experimented with silent films in the 1910s. ...

. Woodall attended Shene School. He wanted to go into sports, but decided to pursue acting after seeing the series ''

Peaky Blinders The Peaky Blinders were a street gang based in Birmingham, England, which operated from the 1880s until the 1920s. The group consisted largely of young criminals from lower- to working-class backgrounds. They engaged in robbery, violence, racke ...

'' when he was 19. He graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in acting from Arts Educational School (ArtsEd) in 2019.

Career

Woodall made his television debut with a guest appearance in a 2019 episode of the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

medical soap opera ''

Holby City ''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a Spin-off (media), spin-off from the established BBC medical drama '' ...

''. He also appeared in the short film ''Man Down''. That summer he was cast in the upcoming feature film ''

Nomad Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pa ...

'' out of 28,000 submissions. Filming took place in more than 20 countries. In the meantime Woodall made his feature film debut in ''

Cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet '' Prunus avium'' and the sour '' Prunus cerasus''. The na ...

'', directed by the

Russo brothers Anthony Russo (born February 3, 1970) and Joseph Russo (born July 18, 1971), collectively known as the Russo brothers ( ), are American filmmakers. They direct most of their work together, and their work has grossed more than $6.8 billion worl ...

. He played Adrian Ivashkov in the

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

series ''

Vampire Academy ''Vampire Academy'' is a series of six young adult fiction, young adult paranormal romance novels by American author Richelle Mead. It tells the story of Rosemarie "Rose" Hathaway, a dhampir girl, who is training to be a guardian of her moroi be ...

''. He joined the main cast of the

anthology series An anthology series is a written series, radio, television, film, or video game series that presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a different ca ...

'' The White Lotus'' for its second season in

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

as Jack, a young man from

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. To prepare for the role and adopt the character's accent, he watched videos of television personality Joey Essex. He was named a 2023 ''

Screen International ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

'' Star of Tomorrow. He had a recurring role in the

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series ''

Citadel A citadel is the most fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of ''city'', meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. ...

'' in 2023. Woodall starred in his first lead role as Dexter Mayhew, opposite Ambika Mod, in '' One Day'', the 2024

adaptation of novel of the same name by David Nicholls. The series tells the story of two young people who become best friends following a platonic one-night stand. Along with positive reception for the series, Woodall received critical acclaim for his performance. Writing for '' IndieWire'', Proma Khosla described him as "especially devastating", and said he was "a tornado of charisma with a permanent yet never smug smirk and a romcom smolder that should send his forbears cowering at the notion". The role was a breakthrough in Woodall’s career. In 2025, Woodall played the lead role of a mathematician in the

thriller series '' Prime Target'' and starred in '' Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy'' with

Renée Zellweger Renée Kathleen Zellweger ( ; born April 25, 1969) is an American actress. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Renée Zellweger, various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, and four ...

, playing Roxster, Jones' younger and brazen new love interest.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodall, Leo Living people 1996 births 21st-century English actors Actors from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham British people of American descent British film actors British television actors Forbes-Robertson family Male actors from London Actors educated at the Arts Educational Schools People from Shepherd's Bush People from Hammersmith