Luke Newton plays Colin Bridgerton in Bridgerton.
Biography[]
Luke grew up in Shoreham-on-Sea, Sussex. After his parents separated, his mother, Michelle, remarried in 2006.[1]
Luke comes from an artistic family. Luke's father, Lee Griffiths, was a singer who won series 6 of the competition series Stars in Their Eyes by impersonating Bobby Darin. His mother is chair of the Brighton & Hove Operatic Society and his two maternal aunts performed on West End. Luke first wanted to act at the age of 6, after watching his two maternal aunts portray Fantine and Éponine in Les Misérables. Despite being afraid of the sounds of explosions during the war scenes, he watched the show night after night.[2] Luke wanted to portray Gavroche, but was told that he was too tall for the part. Years later, Luke learned that Jonathan Bailey portrayed Gavroche in the show and that he may have watched him.[3]
Early on, Luke considered a career in musical theater over screen work, because he has dyslexia and ADHD, which affect his ability to read scripts.[4] Luke was scouted by an agent in Brighton while he was in a local production of Billy Elliot.[2]
In 2012, at the age of 18, Luke formed the boy band South4 with his friends from the BRIT School - Oli Reynolds (then Evans), Joel Baylis, and Henry Tredinnick. The band signed a reported £1 million record deal with the Eagle Music label and released a single named Cougar Town.[5][6]
From 2016 to 2018, Luke portrayed Ben Evans in The Lodge, a Disney Channel musical series.[7]
In 2018, Luke auditioned to play Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings. He struggled to understand the script's blend of contemporary and period elements, but he sent in an audition tape anyway and was eventually offered the role of Colin Bridgerton. At the time, he had been working in a bar and living on a friend's sofa after a breakup. He had been struggling to find acting gigs for several years.[4][2]
Career[]
Filmography[]
- Viana the Legend of the Golden Hearts (????)
- The Shape of Things (2023)
- Youth in Bed (short) (2019)
- Lake Placid: Legacy (short) (2018)
- Twist and Pulse's Halloween Thriller (short) (2014)
Television[]
- Bridgerton (2020-2024)
- The Lodge (2016-2017)
- Doctors (2014)
- Mr Selfridge (2013)
- Sadie J (2011)
- The Cut (2010)
Notes and Trivia[]
- Luke and his co-star Jonathan Bailey, who portrays Anthony, both originally auditioned for the role of Simon Basset, the Duke.[8][9]
- Luke's favorite cocktail is a margarita.[8]
- Luke went to Beyoncé's concert with Jonathan Bailey.[8]
- Luke has a younger sister named Lauren.[8]
- Luke's favorite scene in season three is when Penelope and Colin are in the market and discuss how they first met.[11]
- Luke would like Colin's inner dialogue to be narrated by Hugh Grant in the movie Notting Hill, but disguised by Michael Caine's voice.[11]
- Luke and Nicola's favorite type of fan edit are the ones that show men watching and enjoying Bridgerton, despite pretending not to like it.[11]
- Luke follows Pitbull on Instagram, but Pitbull doesn't follow him back. If Luke met Pitbull, he would thank Pitbull for welcoming him into the club of Mr. Worldwide and propose collaborating on a song together.[11]
- Nicola watched Luke perform in the play The Shape of Things.[12]
- Luke learned Spanish in school.[13]
- Luke and his co-star Nicola Coughlan had a lot of open dialogue to help each other feel more prepared and comfortable about doing intimate scenes.[14]
- When filming the episode Old Friends, after the cameras stopped rolling, Nicola and Luke continued acting out the carriage scene for several more minutes because they could not hear the director, Andrew Ahn, repeatedly yell for them to stop. According to Nicola, the carriage was like a little sound booth.[14][15]
- While Luke and Nicola were filming the carriage scene, there were burly men outside shaking the carriage, to give the appearance that the carriage was in motion. Luke and Nicola were careful not to make eye contact with the men.[16]
- While filming a scene at the ball in the episode Old Friends, Nicola Coughlan and the crew pranked Luke by playing Cougar Town, a song from Luke's former boy band, South4. A full video of the prank is available on YouTube.
- In 2024, Luke Newton was one of first people to text Nicola on her birthday.[14]
- Luke grew out his side burns for the show, and hard a hard time letting them go afterwards.[14]
- Nicola and Luke both agree that modesty garments are the least glamorous part of the show.[14]
- Before filming the kiss scene in How Bright the Moon, Nicola and Luke had a trial run in the trailer with an intimacy coordinator.[14]
- If Luke could cast anyone to join the Bridgerton cast, he would choose Lydia West.[14]
- Luke and Nicola tried Canadian chips for a Netflix video. Luke's favorite was Lay's ketchup chips.[19]
- Luke is most proud of filming joyful scenes with the family and emotional scenes when something dramatic happens.[10]
- Luke would like to be in a show like After Life, where there is a lot of improv. He loves to laugh and be on the edge of laughing in a scene.[10]
- Luke's favorite memory of filming season three of Bridgerton is from the episode Forces of Nature, when Luke Thompson, who portrays Benedict, ripped his trousers several times from squatting to pull the hot air balloon rope. Eventually, the crew gave up and gave Luke underpants that were the same color.[10]
- Luke's favorite outfit from Bridgerton is the jacket he wore on arrival of season three, in the episode Out of the Shadows.[10]
- Luke was often asked by fans if scenes from the book, such as the carriage scene and mirror scene, made it into the show.[10]
- In future episodes of Bridgerton, Luke would like to see the Cuff It song that went viral on TikTok.[10]
- Luke has said that he feels like he has two left feet when filming Bridgerton dance scenes.[20]
- Luke lives in West London. His classic night out used to involve going to Freedom and then going to Balans at 3-4am to get breakfast food. His new go-to food is pizza takeaway.[21]
- After Luke's final intimacy day with Nicola, they celebrated by eating a large pizza.[21]
- Luke first met Nicola in the summer of 2019 at a dance studio and they hugged. Nicola immediately revealed to Luke that she would be portraying Lady Whistledown and they talked about the future of their roles.[21]
- Luke found out he and Nicola would be portraying the romantic leads in season three while he was at a pub and producers requested him to jump on a Zoom call immediately, which he took in a car.[21]
- Initially, the news that Colin and Penelope's story had been moved forward by one season could not be revealed to the press, though Nicola and Luke did tell their families. There was a press interview for season two where Luke Newton and Luke Thompson were asked about a change in the order of seasons, which made Luke Newton nervous.[21]
- The carriage scene in the episode Old Friends was filmed over several days, split over 2-3 months. It was filmed outside Hampton Court Palace, in a sound stage and outside Bridgerton House.[21]
- Due to the limited space inside the carriage, Nicola and Luke could do the scene without seeing the camera crew and cameras surrounding them, which made the scene easier to do.[21]
- If Luke were not an actor, he would be a singer because he loves singing.[22] Luke posts covers of pop songs on his YouTube channel. His cover of Rewrite the Stars from the movie The Greatest Showman has over a million views.[23]
- For Luke, the least glamorous day of filming Bridgerton was while filming season three. It was on the hottest day ever recorded in the UK and he had to wear a shirt, waistcoat, jacket, and overcoat.[24]
- Due to Colin's love of traveling, Nicola bought Luke a themed t-shirt that says "Chaps on tour 1813" on the front. Nicola has not seen Luke wear the shirt because he only wears it in his flat as a pyjama top, so she requested a photo of him wearing it.[24]
- Luke and Nicola both agree that Nicola is the better cook. Nicola has made Luke peanut butter apple crumble and custard, because Luke is obsessed with eating crumble as a dessert.[25]
- While filming the intimate mirror scene in the episode Tick Tock, Nicola and Luke were really into the moment when the chaise lounge suddenly broke and collapsed onto the floor. They could have played it off and continued filming, but Nicola broke character by saying, "Luke, we broke the sofa" in her Irish accent, which made Luke laugh.[25]
- The sound of Luke and Nicola laughing after breaking character made it into the final cut, because laughter was in the script.[16]
- Luke loves many types of food, such as peanut butter and cinnamon rolls. If he could eat one thing for the rest of his life, it would be pasta.[25]
- Luke enjoys playing Fortnite with his friends.[25]
- Luke bites his fingernails, but it's not noticeable.[26]
- Luke and Nicola both think it's a red flag when someone prefers Anthony over Benedict, uses a 3-in-1 body wash, shampoo, and conditioner, buys their current partner the same fragrance as they bought their ex, or thinks Nigel Berbrooke is attractive.[26]
- Luke and Nicola don't like it when hotels have shampoo and conditioner combos.[26]
- Luke thinks it's a red flag when someone's phone wallpaper is a football team. Luke's phone wallpaper is a plain screen.[26]
- A Bridgerton tradition that Luke thinks we could bring to modern society is calling on people at their homes the day after dancing with them, because it shows that someone is honest with their intentions, although he acknowledges that this could be creepy. He would like callers to bring pastries and coffee.[26]
- Luke wears an Oura ring, which is visible in many of his interviews. The Oura ring tracks sleep and physical activity.[3][27]
- After filming for season three ended, Dave the security guard came up to Luke Newton and Nicola and told them that he was very proud of them and loves their story.[21]
- For season three, Luke needed to learn how to unlace a corset. He now considers himself to be a pro at it.[28]
- If Bridgerton were to cast a music icon, Nicola and Luke Newton would want it to be Harry Styles. They think he would get along with Benedict.[28]
- Nicola and Luke traveled to Bowral, Australia to celebrate the release of season three. They attended the first screening of the first episode of season 3, met fans and did photoshoots.[29]
- Luke has a tattoo of a bird on his upper left arm.[29]
- In Bowral, Australia, Luke and Nicola made Regency-inspired flower crowns. If Luke were to send flowers to someone, he would send a rose with the thorns clipped off, to show he's considerate.[30]
- If Luke had a gossip pamphlet in Regency times, he would name it The Yearly Journal.[30]
- Towards the end of the carriage scene in Old Friends, Colin adjusts Penelope's dress using only his ring and pinky finger, to avoid his index and middle fingers messing with her dress. Director Andrew Ahn and Luke Newton have confirmed that this was intentionally done to create physical authenticity and was entirely Luke's idea.[31][32][33]
- Luke Newton is left handed but pretends to be right handed when he plays Colin. He explains that this is why Colin was not good at fencing in the episode Off to the Races.[34]
- If someone were to narrate Luke's life, he would like it to be Tom Hardy in Peaky Blinders.[35]
- Luke enjoyed the challenge of flipping the dynamic, where it went from Penelope secretly crushing on Colin, to Colin desiring Penelope.[36]
- Luke loves the line from the carriage scene in the episode Old Friends where Colin declares his love for Penelope in complete honesty.[36]
- Luke was supported by Jonathan Bailey throughout the filming of season three and the subsequent press tour, despite Jonathan's busy schedule. Jonathan feels like a big brother to Luke in real life.[37]
- Luke can't wait to return in future seasons and show a new side of Colin and Penelope.[37]
- Luke liked that filming Bridgerton helped with his posture during the eight months of filming, but afterwards, his posture reverted back to normal.[38]
- Luke's mother attended the premiere of season three and sat next to Luke while watching it.[38]
- Luke and Nicola have seen people watch Bridgerton on flights.[38]
- Luke and Nicola have been asked by many fans about how to go from friends to lovers.[38]
- Nicola sends thirst trap TikToks of Colin to Luke. Nicola would save the TikToks, with the intention of sending them to Luke at a convenient time, without realizing that fans received notifications when Nicola saved their TikToks.[39]
- Luke and Nicola send each other Polin fan edits all the time. While in Verona, Luke and Nicola watched a Polin fan edit, showing their journey throughout show, and they got emotional.[39]
- Luke's favorite friends-to-lovers story is Ross and Rachel in Friends.[39]
- In Nicola and Luke's group chat, they sent each other videos of romantic scenes in preparation for the first Polin kiss. Nicola sent a video of her favorite on-screen kiss, between Jess and Nick on New Girl. The kiss inspired one of Colin and Penelope's later kisses.[39]
- Luke's first job was on the BBC Switch series, The Cut.[40]
- Luke's secret talent is tap dance.[40]
- Luke would most like to work with Tom Hardy.[40]
- Luke's favorite teacher was his tutor, Ms Browings.[40]
- For the season three press tour, Luke and Nicola went to Brazil, where they watched a Bridgerton version of Brazilian funk.[16]
- Sometimes Luke and Nicola cannot recognize the actors who portray the lords and ladies after they change into their normal clothes, because they look completely different.[16]
- Luke and Nicola both think Bert Seymour, who portrays Lord Fife, looks like a time traveller from the past. Bert had a fake mullet in season two.[16]
- When preparing for the intimate scenes in season three, the most awkward moment for Luke is when his makeup artist goes into his trailer to tan his full body, while Luke is wearing only a cup.[16]
- Luke thinks Colin's interests include travel, family and food.[41]
- According to Luke, Colin is 22 years old, as of season three.[41]
- According to Luke, Colin's occupation is a very rich stay-at-home son.[41]
- Luke thinks Colin's biggest ick is Lady Whistledown.[41]
- Luke thinks the qualities Colin looks for in a partner are loyalty and a sense of family. Colin wants to be the head of the family and share that experience with someone he cares about.[41]
- Luke thinks Colin's modern-day favorite movies would be Pirates of the Caribbean and something related to travel.[41]
- Luke thinks Colin's biggest secret would be the insecurities that he holds quite close.[41]
External Links[]
Luke Newton on IMDb
Luke Newton on Wikipedia
Luke Newton on Twitter
Luke Newton on Instagram
