# Aimee Lou Wood

Aimee Lou Wood (born 3 February 1994) 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 a British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance.
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), as well as stage productions of Uncle Vanya in 2020 and Cabaret in 2023. She has since 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 the upmarket Greater Manchester suburb of Bramhall. Her mother works for Childline and her father is a car dealer. Her sister Emily Wood is a makeup artist.
Following their parents' divorce, Wood attended Cheadle Hulme School. She then took a foundation course at the Oxford School of Drama, and went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Acting from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 2017.

## 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, performed at the Almeida Theatre in London until 2017. 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.
In 2019, Wood made her screen debut as Aimee Gibbs, a main character in the Netflix comedy-drama series Sex Education, where she co-stars alongside Asa Butterfield, Emma Mackey, Ncuti Gatwa and Gillian Anderson. She had originally auditioned for the part of Lily Inglehart, which was ultimately given to Tanya Reynolds, but accepted the role of Aimee when she was offered it. The series went on to receive critical acclaim, and Wood's performance earned praise. At the 2021 British Academy Television Awards, she won the British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance, which is both her first accolade and her first award received from a major association; 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."
In 2020, Wood played Jess in Hen, a short film directed by James Larkin. That same year, she was cast as Sonya Serebryakova in Uncle Vanya, 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. 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." 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. She made her feature film debut as Claire Wain in the 2021 biographical film The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, 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.
Wood replaced Mia Goth for upcoming thriller film Sweet Dreams when she played Dorothy.

## Personal life

Wood resides in South East London.
Wood was in a relationship with her Sex Education co-star Connor Swindells, who in the series portrays Adam Groff, from January 2019 to March 2020.
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.'"
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.’"
In light of the Gaza war, Wood was one of over two thousand to sign an Artists for Palestine open letter addressed to Joe Biden, President of the United States, calling for a ceasefire and accusing western governments of "not only tolerating war crimes but aiding and abetting them."

## Acting credits
### Film

Key :
| † | Denotes works that have not yet been released |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2020 | Hen | Jess | Short film |
| 2020 | Uncle Vanya | Sonya Serebryakova | Cinematic release of the stage play recording |
| 2021 | The Electrical Life of Louis Wain | Claire Wain | |
| 2022 | Living | Miss Margaret Harris | |
| 2024 | Seize Them! | Queen Dagan | |
| TBA † | Sweet Dreams † | Dorothy | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2019–2023 | Sex Education | Aimee Gibbs | Main role, 32 episodes |
| 2024 | Alice & Jack | Maya | Miniseries |
| 2024 | Daddy Issues | Gemma | Main role; also executive producer |
| 2025 | The White Lotus | Chelsea | Main role; Season 3 |
| 2025 | Toxic Town | Tracey Taylor | Miniseries |
| 2025 | Film Club † | Evie | Main role; also co-creator |

### Stage

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

## Accolades

| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
| 2020 | The Stage Awards | Best Actress in a Play | Uncle Vanya | Nominated |
| 2020 | Ian Charleson Awards | Ian Charleson Awards | Uncle Vanya | Second |
| 2021 | British Academy Television Awards | Best Female Comedy Performance | Sex Education | Won |
| 2022 | British Academy Television Awards | Best Female Comedy Performance | Sex Education | Nominated |
| 2022 | National Comedy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Role | Sex Education | Nominated |
| 2022 | British Independent Film Awards | Best Supporting Performance | Living | Nominated |
| 2023 | British Academy Film Awards | EE Rising Star Award | EE Rising Star Award | Nominated |
| 2024 | WhatsOnStage Awards | Best Takeover Performance | Cabaret | Won |