Aimee Lou Wood

Aimee Lou Wood (born 3 February 1994)^[1][2] is an English actress. After early stage roles in Mary Stuart (2016–2017) and People, Places and Things (2017), Wood made her screen debut on the Netflix series Sex Education (2019–2023), which won her the British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance.

Aimee Lou Wood
Wood in 2023
Born	(1994-02-03) 3 February 1994 (age 31) Stockport, Greater Manchester, England
Education	Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (BA)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2016–present

Wood subsequently had roles in the films The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (2021) and Living (2022), the BBC Three comedy series Daddy Issues (2024–present), as well as stage productions of Uncle Vanya in 2020 and Cabaret in 2023. She has also starred in the third season of the HBO anthology series The White Lotus (2025).

Early life and education

Aimee Lou Wood was born in 1994 in Stockport, Greater Manchester, and grew up in Bramhall.^[3] Her mother works for Childline and her father is a car dealer.^[4][5] Her sister Emily Wood is a makeup artist.^[6]

Following their parents' divorce, Wood attended Cheadle Hulme School.^[7] She then took a foundation course at the Oxford School of Drama,^[8] and went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Acting from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 2017.^[9]

Career

Wood began her professional acting career in 2016 by working on stage productions, making her debut as a handmaiden in the play Mary Stuart,^[10] performed at the Almeida Theatre in London until 2017.^[11] Following this, she starred as Laura in the production People, Places and Things, a role that was performed numerous times by Wood on a tour across the UK.^[12]

In 2019, Wood made her screen debut as Aimee Gibbs, a main character in the Netflix comedy-drama series Sex Education, where she co-starred alongside Asa Butterfield, Emma Mackey, Ncuti Gatwa and Gillian Anderson.^[13][14] She had originally auditioned for the part of Lily Inglehart, which was ultimately given to Tanya Reynolds,^[9][13] but accepted the role of Aimee when she was offered it. The series went on to receive critical acclaim,^[15][16] and Wood's performance earned praise.^[17] At the 2021 British Academy Television Awards, she won the British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance,^[18] which is both her first accolade and her first award received from a major association;^[19][20] she earned another nomination for the award at the 2022 British Academy Television Awards. Amidst her work on Sex Education, Wood has continued to take roles in theatre, reasoning that "I know a lot of screen actors who think they left it too long to go back on stage and now they have really bad stage fright."^[21]

Wood (second from left) performing in the 2020 play Uncle Vanya.

In 2020, Wood played Jess in Hen, a short film directed by James Larkin.^[22] That same year, she was cast as Sonya Serebryakova in Uncle Vanya,^[23] which was recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic at the Harold Pinter Theatre and obtained both a cinematic release as well as a BBC national release in the same year.^[24][25] the production and Wood's performance were lauded by critics. Of her portrayal of Sonya, WhatsOnStage wrote that "she is a glorious, kind, gentle girl ... Her attempts at cheerfulness in the face of so much crushing disappointment are almost unbearable. [Wood] positively shines."^[26] Wood narrated an audiobook of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, released 3 September 2020 by Penguin Audio.

In 2021, Wood joined the jury of the British Short Film Awards and announced the winner later that year.^[27] She made her feature film debut as Claire Wain in the 2021 biographical film The Electrical Life of Louis Wain,^[28][29] which earned positive reviews from critics. She landed her first lead film role opposite Bill Nighy in the Oliver Hermanus drama feature Living, a British remake of the 1952 Japanese film Ikiru, which premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and earned acclaim.^[30][31]

Wood replaced Mia Goth for upcoming thriller film Sweet Dreams when she played Dorothy. ^[32]

Personal life

Wood resides in South East London.^[33]

Wood was in a relationship with her Sex Education co-star Connor Swindells, who in the series portrays Adam Groff, from January 2019^[34] to March 2020.^[35]

Wood has revealed to have struggled with her body image, revealing in a 2020 interview with Glamour magazine that "I have suffered with body dysmorphia my whole life. I remember before the first sex scene, I thought, 'Right, okay. I'll start eating salads every day,' and I just didn't. That was such a turning point for me, making that decision to go, 'Actually, I'm not going to alter how my body looks before this scene because this is how my body looks.'"^[36]

Wood has shared how she gained confidence about her distinctive teeth, a feature which she had suffered bullying for, thanks to a Rimmel lipstick advert; "When Georgia Jagger did 'get the London look' and she had the gap teeth, that was a huge moment. I thought ‘No, I am going to put red lipstick on and I am going to draw attention to it.’"^[37]

Acting credits

Film

Key

†	Denotes works that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2020	Hen	Jess	Short film	[22]
	Uncle Vanya	Sonya Serebryakova	Cinematic release of the stage play recording
2021	The Electrical Life of Louis Wain	Claire Wain		[28]
2022	Living	Miss Margaret Harris		[30]
2024	Seize Them!	Queen Dagan		[38]
TBA †	Sweet Dreams †	Dorothy		[39]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2019–2023	Sex Education	Aimee Gibbs	Main role, 32 episodes	[17]
2024	Alice & Jack	Maya	Miniseries	[40]
2024–present	Daddy Issues	Gemma	Main role; also executive producer[41]	[42]
2025	The White Lotus	Chelsea	Main role; Season 3	[43]
	Toxic Town	Tracey Taylor	Miniseries	[44]
	Film Club †	Evie	Main role; also co-creator	[45]

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2016–2017	Mary Stuart	Handmaiden	Almeida Theatre, London	[11]
2017	People, Places and Things	Laura	UK tour	[46]
2018–2019	Downstate	Effie	Steppenwolf Upstairs Theatre, Chicago Royal National Theatre, London	[47]
2020	Uncle Vanya	Sonya Serebryakova	Harold Pinter Theatre, London	[25]
2023	Cabaret	Sally Bowles	Playhouse Theatre, London	[25]

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2020	The Stage Awards	Best Actress in a Play	Uncle Vanya	Nominated	[48]
	Ian Charleson Awards			Second	[49]
2021	British Academy Television Awards	Best Female Comedy Performance	Sex Education	Won	[18]
2022				Nominated	[50][51]
	National Comedy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Role		Nominated	[52]
	British Independent Film Awards	Best Supporting Performance	Living	Nominated	[53]
2023	British Academy Film Awards	EE Rising Star Award		Nominated	[54]
2024	WhatsOnStage Awards	Best Takeover Performance	Cabaret	Won	[55]
2025	Royal Television Society Programme Awards	Comedy Performance - Female	Daddy Issues	Nominated	[56]