# Will Sharpe

William Tomomori Fukuda Sharpe is an English actor, writer, and director. After writing for comedy shows and appearing in the medical drama Casualty (2009–2010), he made his feature directorial debut with Black Pond (2011). He starred in the Channel 4 comedy-drama Flowers (2016–2018), the BBC Two series Defending the Guilty (2018–2019), and Giri/Haji (2019), the latter of which earned him a British Academy Television Award.
Sharpe went on to direct the film The Electrical Life of Louis Wain and the Sky Atlantic miniseries Landscapers (both 2021). He also starred in the second season of The White Lotus (2022), earning a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

## Early life and education

Sharpe was born in London and raised in Tokyo until the age of eight. His mother is Japanese.
After returning to the United Kingdom, he studied at Winchester College. Sharpe then studied Classics at the University of Cambridge, where he was the president of the Footlights Revue.

## Career

Sharpe graduated in 2008 and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company for their 2008/2009 season. Sharpe spent a year at the RSC and appeared in such plays as The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, and The Tragedy of Thomas Hobbes, in which he played a young Isaac Newton. He played the character of Yuki Reid in the BBC medical drama Casualty.
In 2009, he directed and co-wrote, along with his friend Tom Kingsley, the short film Cockroach. The pair's first feature-length film, Black Pond, was shown at the Prince Charles Cinema in London from November 2011. Shortly after, he was co-nominated for a BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for the film.
Sharpe is known for writing, directing, and starring in the dark comedy-drama Flowers, which premiered on Channel 4 in 2016. Starring Olivia Colman, Julian Barratt, Daniel Rigby and Sophia Di Martino, Flowers is a black comedy that tackles mental health, and follows the four eccentric members of the Flowers family as they navigate their lives together, and their own inner demons. The first series won a BAFTA Television Award for best scripted comedy, and the second series aired in 2018 to widespread critical acclaim.
In 2020, Sharpe won a BAFTA Television Award for his supporting role as Rodney Yamaguchi in BBC drama Giri/Haji—a role The Independent called 'one of the most riotously funny turns since Richard E Grant stepped out as Withnail.'
Sharpe directed and co-wrote the 2021 biographical comedy-drama film The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the artist Louis Wain.
In 2022, Sharpe joined the cast of the HBO series The White Lotus in its second season, set in Sicily, as Ethan Spiller, a newly wealthy tech entrepreneur on vacation. This role earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
In 2023, Sharpe was announced as the director of the film adaptation of Japanese Breakfast frontwoman Michelle Zauner's memoir, Crying in H Mart. In 2025, Zauner shared that Sharpe had stepped down from the project.

## Personal life

His brother is composer Arthur Sharpe, who has written music for The Darkest Universe, Black Pond, and Flowers. Will Sharpe has type two bipolar disorder.
Sharpe is married to actress Sophia Di Martino, with whom he has been in a relationship since 2009. They have two children, born in 2019 and 2021.

## Filmography

Key :
| † | Denotes works that have not yet been released |

### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2009 | Cockroach | Kiyoshi | Short; also writer and director |
| 2011 | Black Pond | Tim Tanaka | Also writer and co-director |
| 2016 | The Darkest Universe | Zac Pratt | Also writer and director |
| 2021 | The Electrical Life of Louis Wain | — | Writer and director |
| 2022 | The House | Elias (voice) | Segment: "III" |
| 2024 | A Real Pain | James | |
| 2024 | Emmanuelle | Kei | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2008 | Never Mind the Buzzcocks | — | Writer |
| 2008 | The Wrong Door | Various | 3 episodes |
| 2009–2010 | Casualty | Yuki Reid | 51 episodes |
| 2011 | Sirens | Student | Episode: "I.C.E." |
| 2012 | Sherlock | Corporal Lyons | Episode: "The Hounds of Baskerville" |
| 2012 | Dirk Gently | David Cho | Episode #1.2 |
| 2014 | The Life of Rock with Brian Pern | Himself | Episode: "Jukebox Musical" |
| 2014 | Babylon | Rick | Episode: "Hackney Wick" |
| 2016–2018 | Flowers | Shun | 12 episodes; also writer and director |
| 2017 | W1A | Michael Chung | 3 episodes |
| 2018–2019 | Defending the Guilty | Will Packham | 7 episodes |
| 2019 | Giri/Haji | Rodney Yamaguchi | 8 episodes |
| 2021 | Landscapers | — | Miniseries, writer and director |
| 2022 | The White Lotus | Ethan Spiller | Main role (season 2) |
| TBA | † Too Much | Felix | Post-production |
| TBA | † Amadeus | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Lead role |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Association | Category | Project | Result |
| 2012 | Evening Standard British Film Awards | Most Promising Newcomer – shared with Tom Kingsley | Black Pond | Won |
| 2012 | BAFTA Film Award | Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer | Black Pond | Nominated |
| 2017 | BAFTA Television Award | Best Scripted Comedy | Flowers | Nominated |
| 2020 | BAFTA Television Award | Best Supporting Actor | Giri/Haji | Won |
| 2022 | BAFTA Television Award | Best Director – Fiction | Landscapers | Nominated |
| 2022 | BAFTA Television Award | Mini-Series | Landscapers | Nominated |
| 2022 | Saraqusta Film Festival | Best Script | The Electrical Life of Louis Wain | Won |
| 2023 | BAFTA Television Award | Best Supporting Actor | The White Lotus | Nominated |
| 2023 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | The White Lotus | Nominated |
| 2023 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series | The White Lotus | Won |