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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Harriet Gibsone

Layton Williams looks back: ‘For the first decade of my life I was not being myself. I had a straitjacket on’

Layton Williams Billy Elliot Bury Maria Val

Born in Manchester in 1994, Layton Williams is a musical theatre performer and TV actor. Propelled from the Dicky Bird estate in Bury to the West End at the age of 12, Williams landed his first role as the lead in Billy Elliot the Musical. With a scholarship from the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, he went on to tour the UK in hit musicals Rent and Hairspray, as well as starring in TV comedy Bad Education and 2021’s adaptation of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. A finalist on 2023’s Strictly Come Dancing, Williams is currently appearing in its live tour.


This was taken in a local Bury shopping centre. The jumper would have been a George at Asda special. I look very cute, like butter wouldn’t melt.

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