Born in Manchester in 1994, Layton Williams is a musical theater performer and TV actor. Williams was propelled from the Dicky Bird estate in Bury to the West End at the age of 12, landing his first role as a leading man in Billy Elliot the Musical. On a scholarship from the Italia Conti Academy of Theater Arts, he toured Britain in the hit musicals Rent and Hairspray, and starred in the TV comedy Bad Education and the 2021 adaptation of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. Williams, a 2023 Strictly Come Dancing finalist, is currently on his live tour.
This photo was taken in a local Bury shopping centre. The jumper would have been a George at Asda special. I look really cute, like butter wouldn’t melt.
I was a good child. Very energetic, always running around. The kind of person who wanted to play with everyone. My older brother and I were about the same age, joined at the hip, and we wore the same clothes. He was wearing the exact same sweater in his mall photo.
I have seven brothers and one sister. During the week I lived with my mother and on the weekends I saw my father. It was a very beautiful but confusing family dynamic. Me and one of my brothers look nothing alike. We have different fathers. Sometimes people didn’t believe we were siblings. I’d have to say, ‘Uh, yeah. We share the same bedroom, and he’s really annoying.’
In the 90s there wasn’t much representation for guys like me. I was a chav, but inside was a diva desperate to come out
I’ve always been an entertainer; the one who uplifts the spirit of people. My favorite thing to do during pre-professional performance was learning the dances from music videos. MTV was the only chance I had to see the Spice Girls’ Wannabe – there was no laptop to watch it on YouTube. When it came on, I had to be in the moment and learn as much of the choreography as I could before it ended, then wait another 24 hours to see it again. Then there were the Barbies. I made them outfits and did their hair. I was a very expressive little boy.
As I got older, I realized that I had to become my own role model because there wasn’t much representation for guys like me in the 90s. I was a chav, but inside was a diva desperate to come out. Instead of sparkly trousers, I wore my McKenzie tracksuit and acted like one of the boys on the estate. Queer kids grow up pretending to be someone else for as long as possible until they feel like they will be accepted. I wasn’t myself for the first ten years of my life. I was wearing a straitjacket.
When I went for the role of Billy Elliot, I was the only person who auditioned who looked like me. It was a room full of white guys, and I felt reluctant to go in. It wasn’t normal for me to be in spaces where I was the only black person. My estate included all walks of life, so the whole experience felt unfamiliar. Not only that, but I had no idea what an audition was and I had never done those dance moves before. I felt like I didn’t belong. But I did my own thing, my own moves. I faked it until I made it, and I was hired because of my talent.
I would party. I went out and lived the years I didn’t get when I felt oppressed
I was none the wiser that there would be a hoo-ha about me becoming the first black Billy or Jamie when I got those roles; I just did it. Looking back, I think that was quite iconic. The best part was leading by example and inspiring people, young guys. There was a moment when I auditioned for the boy who would take over from me in Jamie. They were holding open calls and when I went into the building I saw hundreds of kids lining up around the corner – white boys, black boys, people from all backgrounds. It made me feel very proud. If I hadn’t had this part, would that line have looked like this? I’m not sure that would be the case.
I moved to London when I got thisThe role of Billy, and two years later a couple of ladies, Maria and Val, took me in. They were a lesbian couple. Suddenly I was living in a gay house and it was normal to just be myself. I can’t emphasize enough how beautiful that was. I lived with them for over ten years and only moved a few years ago. There were no rules. I could dress and express myself however I wanted. I went from needing to hide away to living with this amazing couple who were the perfect example of love. I would wear these little heels to cook my breakfast. Knock-clap-knock in the kitchen.
I’ve also embraced the Topshop era. I would go there and buy something pink. I was obsessed. Whatever piece I could get my hands on that would make me different, I would want it. I remember getting dragged for wearing Converse and Ugg boots. Now all the boys wear them!
Besides Maria and Val, I started meeting people in London who showed me the life I could one day have. When I was training at Italia Conti College in central London, I was at GAY, the club in Soho, every Friday and Saturday night. I would party. I went out and lived the years I didn’t get when I felt oppressed. It was the best to see people who were open, wonderful and happy. That was the most important thing for me: happiness.
That said, I’m not always the bam-bam-bam, ready-to-slay mode Layton. As artists, especially as gay people, it’s important for people to know that we are three-dimensional. Of course there is a heightened version of me. On Strictly I felt like I had to be “on”. But I have a softer, cooler side, a side that only my friends and family get to see.
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The concept of privacy has become very important recently. We have been testing for the past six months [Williams received criticism online and in tabloids claiming his dancing background gave him an unfair advantage on Strictly]. A lot of people could have succumbed to the amount of attention I was getting, and there were times when I lay in bed, the tears were flowing, and I thought, “How am I going to handle this?” But I got to a point where I had to believe that as long as my family and friends accepted me, that was all that mattered.
My childhood also prepared me. I’m so used to being controlled. When I was twelve I was running an entire West End company, the star of the show. Then the TV jobs came along and I was in that machine. It wasn’t like I was Lindsay Lohan, but working in this industry from a very young age gave me a thick skin. I am now ready for all eventualities.
I always thought my path to entertainment was some kind of escape from my childhood. But since then I’ve done a 360: I absolutely love being from Bury. I recently went back and waltzed around the estate. People stopped me and said, “We are so proud of you, our Bury boy!” That wasn’t true when I was growing up, but now I can face my situation, walk with my head held high and say, “Come take a selfie, darlings!”