Lydia West has recalled landing her first acting job.
The 30-year-old British actress has reflected on her start in the entertainment industry and explained that after graduating from university, she took on various jobs that didn’t interest her.
“I was hating life,” she told Cosmopolitan. “I had just come out of a really disruptive relationship and went through a period of being like, ‘I need to change lots of things, but what can I actually do?’ I joined an amateur theatre company, which was like therapy before I knew what therapy was.”
Lydia then landed a role in a stage production, got her first agent and a place at the prestigious Identity School of Acting.
“It just escalated very quickly,” the actress recalled, noting that she landed her first major role in the dystopian drama Years and Years. “When I got the part (in 2018), I was still working as a PA, and my boss was like, ‘You can just be ‘on call’ part-time.’ So I was filming in Manchester, while also answering his emails and doing his online shopping.”
Lydia went on to appear in a number of shows, including Dracula and the 12-time BAFTA-nominated It’s A Sin.
“It was the most electric set – we had this sparkly energy while we were making it,” the actress recalled of working on It’s A Sin. “We had no idea if it would reach a mass audience – historically queer-based shows don’t tend to do that. It came out at the perfect time in lockdown, when everyone was glued to their screens and wanting original, brilliant content.”
Lydia can currently be seen on-screen in the TV show Big Mood opposite Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan.