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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Vicki Newman

Louis Healy's fans now ask his famous mum Denise Welch to take snaps as he becomes actor

Louis Healy is making such a name for himself in the acting world that his fans have started asking his famous mum to take their picture.

"How the tables have turned," the 21-year-old joked as he told the Mirror all about being recognised in the street.

Louis - son of Denise Welch and Tim Healy and younger brother of The 1975 frontman Matt Healy - is starring in US post-apocalyptic show The Pact and 1920s drama Hotel Portofino.

The actor, who also appeared as Danny Harrington in Emmerdale last year, said he used to only get recognised as the son or brother of his famous family members - but now he's giving them a run for their money.

Louis and his mum Denise Welch (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
She beams with pride when people ask her to take their picture with him (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

He said during an exclusive chat: "I just love seeing mum’s reaction to it because I’m not somebody who ever gets recognised and if I do it’s rarely someone recognising me from something, it’s more so if I’m with my brother or my dad or mum, I think we’re a very recognisable family.

"The other day we were walking down the street in LA and this teenage girl walked past and was really smiling and she turned and said 'Excuse me, excuse me, you guys are the Healys right?'

"Mum straight away was laughing and saying 'No matter how long I’ve not been called Healy for I’ll always be Denise Healy'.

"This young girl was saying she was a big fan of The 1975 and knew I was an actor and wanted a picture.

"It was just really random because we were just walking down a random street in LA."

And Louis said his mum, Loose Women and former Coronation Street star Denise, is always left beaming with pride whenever someone wants a picture with him.

His show The Pact is available to watch now on The Roku Channel - available through NOW - and he says landing the part was a whirlwind.

He plays Adam, the son of Sol, who is leading a group of people through a post-apocalyptic world.

It was filmed back in 2018, not long after he landed representation in America.

When another young actor dropped out of the show days before filming was due to begin, his manager asked him to fly out to Romania in just two days for at least six weeks to take the role.

Despite some reservations - then aged just 17 - Louis went and said he had an incredible time.

He said: "I was only 17 so a bit nervous and reluctant. It was a scary proposition but in the back of my mind I knew it was a good thing for my career so I went.

"There were tears and I was sad at first and calling mum, it really was on the Wednesday night I found out and on the Saturday I was flying, and it wasn’t like I was going to Spain, I was going to a country like Romania and shooting in the middle of nowhere so it felt a long way from home.

Louis as Billy in Hotel Portofino (Instagram)

"I hadn’t even read a script and went because my manager said it was a great opportunity.

"I felt a bit down at first but as soon as I started filming and got to know the rest of the cast it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had."

He added: "Romania is such a beautiful country and because we were filming in the middle of nowhere it really did feel like we were a pack of survivors.

"I got to learn hand-to-hand combat and how to handle guns for film and I was just like a sponge, drinking it all in.

"I was playing an American too, it’s the first and only time so far. Because they told me I had the role so soon before I left I didn’t have time for dialect coaching or anything so I had to just go with what I knew.

"Everyone else there was American so I could just sort of copy them."

Louis is also starring in Hotel Portofino - a complete change of direction.

The show, currently airing on Britbox in the UK and Sky Italia in Italy, is coming to ITV later this year in a primetime Sunday night slot and to PBS in America.

Proud mum Denise with Louis and Matt (Rex)

In it, he plays Billy, a bellboy and son of the cook at a hotel in Italy opened by a British family in the 1920s.

"It probably couldn’t be more different to The Pact, which is so great, especially with them coming out at similar times," Louis said.

"It’s all about the dramas that occur after a lot of upper class guests arrive - it’s very Upstairs, Downstairs."

He added: "The ones downstairs, we’re all from Scarborough so I was doing a Yorkshire accent and everyone upstairs is very posh, sort of pinkies out while drinking their tea.

"It’s very similar to a show my dad did called The Grand and he played a similar sort of character.

"It kind of touches on a lot of the political issues in Italy at the time with Mussolini and the fascist uprising that was happening in the 20s, so a lot of the storylines are around that.

"It touches on some great things."

And before the show - filmed in Croatia - has even aired on ITV, it's been commissioned for a second series, with Louis flying out in June to film more episodes.

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