The actor is preparing to officiate in the fourth part of the saga, the trailer for which was unveiled on Tuesday, November 12. Portrait of an actor with a tormented past, launched to attack the big screen.
He still doesn't consider himself a celebrity. And this, despite the approximately 9.9 million views garnered by his Netflix series A day – all in the space of a week. After winning over subscribers to the streaming platform, Leo Woodall is preparing to take the big screen by storm. The English actor will indeed be appearing in Bridget Jones 4 : Full of lazinessthe trailer for which was revealed on Tuesday, November 12. He plays Roxster, a 28-year-old young man who seduces the 52-year-old heroine, now a widow and mother of two children.
The springboard The White Lotus
Translucent eyes, defined jawline and dazzling smile: no doubt, Leo Woodall's charm is about to work again. Revealed in season 2 of The White Lotus in the guise of a seducer involved in a murderous plot, the actor has already been announced for the casting of four different projects for the year 2025 alone.
He will therefore officiate in Bridget Jones 4but also in the Apple TV + thriller Prime Target. He plays a man named Edward Brooks, a brilliant mathematics researcher whose work could give him the key to computers around the world. Leo Woodall will also star in the thriller Tuneralongside Dustin Hoffman, and in the historical drama Nurembergsigned James Vanderbilt.
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A success that the actor has difficulty assimilating. To the point that he still can't explain how he was able to join the cast of The White Lotus. Especially since he responded to the ad two weeks late. “This should not have happened to me at that time,” he indicated in the columns of Guardian February 4. The White Lotus is a program in which there are stars, and I was not one of them. I hadn’t even appeared on television yet.” Before adding: “I was lucky that Mike White (the showrunner, Editor’s note) didn’t care about notoriety. I auditioned, I passed, he liked it. It changed my life!”
A paparazzo on a bicycle
Now followed by 1.1 million subscribers on Instagram, Leo Woodall publishes on his account photos of the Glastonbury festival, an excursion with his filming partner Ambika Mod, a boat trip or his evenings with friends . This very shy person believes, moreover, that he does not suffer the pangs of fame.
But he remains aware that the situation could change. He thus entrusts to Guardian that he was recently followed by a paparazzo on a bicycle, during a getaway to New York with his partner, Meghann Fahy, known for her role as Daphne in The White Lotus and Merritt in A perfect couple. Leo Woodall met the 34-year-old actress – six years his senior – on the set of the series by Mike White, and has been in a relationship with her since 2022. A romance made official at the end of February, which he prefers not to to land. “I'm a lucky boy,” he simply says on this subject.
Another indicator of this sudden spotlight: Leo Woodall is today courted by the fashion world. He notably attended Loewe's fall-winter 2024 fashion show, and posed in knight's armor and gold pants for a brand campaign. The actor simply concedes, and with humor, that fame has made him “more snobbish” when it comes to the choice of hotels where he stays. A notoriety which, he admits, also offers him “more freedom”. Out of the question, however, is letting rhinestones and sequins go to his head. “If that were the case, I would become an insufferable bastard,” he jokes.
“Dark years”
It must be said that Leo Woodall has come a long way. The actor was, of course, born into a “fairly chic middle-class family”. He nonetheless experienced “dark years”. The one who was born on September 14, 1996 in London, grew up in a family of actors, alongside his older brother and sister. His status as the youngest makes him, he says, a bit of a “spoiled” child. And if his father, the actor Andrew Woodall (seen in supporting roles, notably in the films Solo : A Star Wars Storyet Johnny English, the return), remembers him as a “taciturn” little boy, Leo Woodall recalls happy young years, during which he sometimes played at imitating Aragorn, from Lord of the Rings (2001).
His life took a darker turn at the age of 11. In middle school, the teenager suffered harassment in a “violent school”, where he was alternately “slammed against a wall”, hit in the chest and threatened with a knife. From then on, Leo Woodall, who is bored on the benches of the establishment, withdraws into himself. “I shaved my eyebrows,” he recounts in the British daily. I shaved my head. I wore a hoodie all the time, I changed the way I spoke. It was a sort of survival instinct, I think. To adapt. But I wasn't nice. I gave up. My mother was worried.”
The young man becomes, in his own words, a real “terror”. Fortunately, the teenager ends up making new friends – “boys who play ping-pong at lunchtime, and whom we considered geeks”, he explains to the British daily -, and leaves the establishment. As a young adult, Leo Woodall vaguely considered a sporting career. On a daily basis, he smokes weed and works in a bar.
The revelation Peaky Blinders
An episode of Peaky Blinderswatched at the age of 19, will change the situation. It's decided: Leo Woodall will become an actor. And this, despite his father's eternal advice: “Whatever you do, never become a fucking actor.” His family nonetheless remains a great support. “They had known so many actors in their lives, in the family and outside, and they knew how difficult it could be,” he analyzes today. I was so nervous about what they would think of me as an actor (…) But they were always wonderful and supportive.”
The young man joined the Arts Educational School (ArtsEd), from which he graduated with a degree. We subsequently see him in a secondary role, in the medical soap Holby City. The following summer, this fan of The Bear is chosen from 28,000 candidates to officiate in the film Nomad, the plot of which has not yet been revealed. In 2021, it is directed by the Russo brothers in the drama Cherrythen embodies the bad boy Adrian Ivashkov in the series Vampire Academy. The sequel propelled him to the forefront. He officiates in The White Lotusthen slips into the shoes of Dexter Mayhew, a young man who befriends a certain Emma Morley, in the romantic film A day.
His character will become a renowned presenter, before losing his mother and sinking into his addictions, then reuniting with his childhood sweetheart. A role which marks the consecration of Leo Woodall. The latter prefers, as usual, to keep his feet on the ground. Asked by ELLE UK on what he would like to do in 10 years, the actor responds soberly: “I hope to be healthy and happy. I hope that I will continue to work, and that people will not get tired of me.” And we are already betting on the opposite.
