Lydia Dorothy West (born 24 June 1993) is a British actress. She is known for her roles in 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 ...

series '' Years and Years'' and the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

series ''

It's a Sin "It's a Sin" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their second studio album, '' Actually'' (1987). Written by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, the song was released on 15 June 1987 as the album's lead single. It became the duo's ...

'', the latter of which earned her a BAFTA nomination.

Early life

West is from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Her maternal grandparents are Irish, and her father is from

Montserrat Montserrat ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, wit ...

. Her mother is a nurse and her father works in charity. She has an older sister and an older brother. 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 The Identity School of Acting (IDSA) is a part-time drama school that was founded in London, England by Femi Oguns in 2003. A second branch and campus opened in Los Angeles, California in 2018. Identity School of Acting began in 2003 with 10 stu ...

Career

Post graduation from IDSA, West was cast as Bethany Bisme-Lyons in

Russell T Davies Stephen Russell Davies ( ; born 27 April 1963), known professionally as Russell T Davies, is a Welsh screenwriter and television producer. He is best known for being the original showrunner and head writer of the revival of the BBC sci-fi seri ...

' 2019

and

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 ...

series '' Years and Years''. She starred in the 2021

series ''

It's A Sin "It's a Sin" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their second studio album, '' Actually'' (1987). Written by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, the song was released on 15 June 1987 as the album's lead single. It became the duo's ...

'', also by Davies. She played Jill Baxter, who is loosely based on one of Davies' friends ( Jill Nalder). Davies called her character "the heart of the story", a view echoed by Jack King of

I-D ''i-D'' is a British biannual magazine dedicated to fashion, music, art, film and youth culture. The magazine was launched in 1980 by Terry Jones, originally as a hand-stapled fanzine it has since evolved into a glossy publication. In 2023 the ...

who described the character as the "de facto matriarch". Her performance was described as a "standout" one by '' i.'' In 2022, West appeared as Monique Thompson 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 ...

series '' Suspicion'' and Reilly Clayton in

Mike Myers Michael John Myers, (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, and filmmaker. His accolades include seven MTV Movie & TV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood W ...

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 ...

comedy ''

The Pentaverate ''The Pentaverate'' is a Canadian and American comedy television miniseries created by Mike Myers for Netflix, inspired by conspiracy theories from his 1993 film ''So I Married an Axe Murderer''. The series premiered on May 5, 2022, and consists ...

''. She has roles in the films '' Love Again'' and ''Coffee Wars'', as well as the series ''Inside Man'' and ''Gray''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Audio

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:West, Lydia Living people 21st-century English actresses Actresses from London Alumni of the Identity School of Acting Audiobook narrators Black British actresses English people of Irish descent English people of Montserratian descent English television actresses English voice actresses Actors from the London Borough of Islington 1993 births