The Bridgerton star on making his RSC debut, extreme audience reactions to A Little Life, and why people love romance
The actor Luke Thompson, 35, was born in Southampton, grew up in France and trained at Rada. He was nominated for two awards for his first professional role in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare’s Globe. After 10 years in theatre, his screen breakthrough came playing Benedict Bridgerton in the Netflix hit Bridgerton, which will return soon for its third season. On stage, he recently played Willem in A Little Life, opposite James Norton, and is now making his RSC debut as Berowne in Love’s Labour’s Lost.
You recently won a WhatsOnStage award and were nominated for an Olivier for A Little Life. Was that gratifying?
It’s a lovely cherry on the cake of that experience. It’s easy to have an opinion on awards when you haven’t been nominated but actually they mean a lot. I’ve devoted a lot of time and thought to getting better at acting, so it’s incredibly meaningful to be recognised like that.
