Luke Thompson plays Benedict Bridgerton in Bridgerton.
Biography[]
Luke was born in Southampton and is one of three siblings. From the age of two to twenty, Luke lived in Fontainebleau, France, where his father, Colin, worked as an engineer at Disneyland Paris and his mother worked as a teacher. Growing up, Luke felt more comfortable speaking French than English. Luke originally attended a fully French school that had no extracurricular activities. From 1997 to 2005, Luke studied in the bilingual Anglophone Section of Fontainebleau, where he participated in school plays. In his first school play, he portrayed the sergeant major in Oh! What a Lovely War. As a child, Luke was shy and took on acting because he was self-conscious. He had always slightly spectated on himself, but felt that he could outsource it on stage and relax.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
At the age of 17, Luke went to Stratford-upon-Avon to do the Year Out Drama Company gap year course.[8] Luke auditioned for drama schools twice, but didn't get in. Luke believes this was because he was too desperate and didn't have enough life experience to be a "resonant instrument" and interesting to watch.[9] Luke ended up studying English and Drama at the University of Bristol for three years, where he took part in 15 plays. Having grown up in France, Luke initially felt blank speaking English and struggled to understand cultural references and colloquialisms. Luke put in extra hours with university staff to practice his English.[6][4]
Later, Luke was accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. In 2013, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Acting. During Luke's third year at RADA, he signed with an agent and landed his first professional role, which was portraying Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. As a fan of Shakespeare's plays and poems, performing at the Globe Theatre had been Luke's dream for a long time.[9] Luke was later also cast in productions of Hamlet, Julius Caesar and King Lear.[3] Luke initially wanted to start his career in theatre, because he felt that theatre was more accessible and closer, whereas screen acting felt far away. For a long time, Luke was uncomfortable performing in front of a camera and didn't like making tapes for auditions.[9]
In 2014, Luke landed his first main TV role in the BBC series, In the Club, where he portrayed Simon, an art graduate student navigating pregnancy and parenthood with an older woman.[3][10]
In 2017, Luke made his feature film debut in the movie Dunkirk, portraying a warrant officer.[3]
In 2019, Luke auditioned for Bridgerton. Luke was given the scripts for two scenes on the swings in season one. Luke loved that despite the regency feel, the swing scenes were modern and showed the bond between siblings, sitting on the swings and having cigarettes together. He sent in two tapes and three weeks later, he did an in-person audition, reading for Anthony. Luke didn't do any chemistry reads with other actors. Four weeks later, Luke was offered the role of Benedict.[6][9]
In 2020, season one of Bridgerton aired, quickly becoming one of the most popular shows on Netflix. Luke found the success destabilizing, yet satisfying and liked the idea of living in people's imaginations.[9]
In 2021, Luke recorded an audiobook for The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky, one of his favorite books. He recorded it with his brother, who is an audiobook producer.[11]
In 2023, Luke appeared in the Netflix period drama series Transatlantic, portraying Hiram "Harry" Bingham, a Vice Consul at the American Consulate who secretly issues visas to refugees.[12]
In April to May 2024, Luke portrayed Lord Berowne in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Love's Labour's Lost.[13]
Career[]
Filmography[]
- A Little Life (2023)
- Misbehaviour (2020)
- Making Noise Quietly (2019)
- National Theatre Live: King Lear (2018)
- Hamlet (2018)
- Dunkirk (2017)
- The Complete Walk: Romeo and Juliet (short) (2016)
- Globe on Screen: Julius Caesar (2015)
- The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: The Ties That Bind (2014)
- Shakespeare's Globe: A Midsummer Night's Dream (2014)
Television[]
- Bridgerton (2020-2024)
- Transatlantic (mini-series) (2023)
- Kiss Me First (mini-series) (2018)
- In the Club (2014-2016)
- The Suspicions of Ms Whicher (2014)
Notes and Trivia[]
- Luke's first acting gig was portraying Lysander in A Midsummer's Night Dream at Shakespeare's Globe.[14]
- Luke's favorite scenes to shoot in season 3 were his scenes with Hannah New, who portrays Tilley Arnold.[14]
- Luke's go-to drink is a cup of tea with cow's milk and his favorite snack to eat on set is an omelet.[14]
- If Luke were not an actor, he would be a pianist.[14]
- If Luke got shipped to a deserted island, one item he would bring with him would be his piano, so he could play it for hours to kill boredom.[15]
- Luke has stolen socks from set, which the costume department chased him up for.[15]
- If Nicola Coughlan asked Luke to bail her out of jail, Luke would find it really funny and make her stay in jail for longer.[15]
- Luke inspired himself to do acting, because it made him feel good. He finds it less stressful because he's not comparing himself to anyone.[15]
- Luke Thompson, Luke Newton, Claudia Jessie and Nicola Coughlan cannot agree on the color of Luke Thompson's eyes as they are a mix of green, grey and blue.[15]
- While filming the Pall-Mall scene in the episode A Bee in Your Bonnet, Luke broke two mallets.[16]
- While filming the episode Forces of Nature, Luke 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.[17]
- Luke's favorite outfit from Bridgerton is the hunting coat he wore in the episode Victory.[17]
- Luke is most proud of filming the family scenes in drawing room. He likes that those scenes are written in a Regency, yet contemporary way, and thinks the dynamic is fresh and lively.[17]
- Luke doesn't want any guest actor on Bridgerton.[17]
- American food that Luke would most like to try is Taco Bell.[17]
- Luke once witnessed a woman watching Bridgerton while he was standing in front of her on the Tube, the underground train in London. The woman didn't notice Luke.[17]
- In future roles, Luke would like something very different from Bridgerton, such as a spy movie, but would not want to do a horror movie as it would scare him.[17]
- Luke is a fan of Shakespeare plays and poems, but feels uncomfortable saying it, because people sometimes say they like Shakespeare to sound cultured.[9]
- Luke thinks drama school is great for exposing actors to different genres, but actors sometimes leave drama school focusing too much on doing the iambic pentameter correctly, which causes people to lose spontaneity and makes performances boring.[9]
- If Luke could go back in time to when he was in drama school, he would advise himself to relax and focus on expressing himself.[9]
- Luke thinks Bridgerton demystifies the past, showing that people today are much like those in earlier times.[9]
- Luke thinks screen acting is quite humbling for an actor, because there is very little actors can control. In theatre, actors have more control and guide the arc of the story.[9]
- Luke thinks of screen acting as cubist theatre, because scenes are often filmed out of order, but the deconstructed sections all come together at the end.[9]
- Luke doesn't use social media.[9]
- Luke tries to not let the success of Bridgerton hit him and distance himself from it, believing this approach helps him stay focused. For Luke, concentrating on his acting and continually improving his craft is precious. He views the exchange between the audience and the show as something separate from himself.[9]
- Luke's analogy is that by acting, he has contributed a drop of soap. The production company then blows this drop into a big soap bubble, which is then detached from him and has nothing to do with him anymore.[9]
- Luke would love to be in a musical and do more theatre. Luke would like to know how it feelsto lead a company or do a big theatre part.[9]
- Luke's advice to aspiring actors is to not listen to too much advice. He thinks wanting advice comes from feeling uncertain, but part of being an actor and being creative is accepting uncertainty and restlessness, which is a feeling to treasure rather than to solve. Luke quotes the concept of "blessed unrest" in Martha Graham's letter to Agnes De Mille.[9]
- Luke speaks French fluently, Italian and some Russian.[18][19]
- Luke would love to work in French one day, particularly on screen, because French cinema is brilliant and distinctive.
- Luke has a strange relationship with French. He thinks speaking French is like putting on a mask, because even though he's familiar with the language, there's a barrier.[9]
- Luke thinks acting in French would be fun to explore and make him feel more free. Since he is now more familiar with English and hasn't spoken French for a long time, he feels that he doesn't reveal as much about himself when he speaks in French, compared to English.[9]
- Luke thinks that when a woman drops their handkerchief, it's nice to pick it up and hand it to her.[20]
- Luke once wore the shoes meant for Will Tilston, who portrays Gregory. The costume department thought the shoes looked small, but Luke insisted that they were his shoes and wore them for a whole day.[21]
- Luke loves the large painting of the Bridgerton brothers on set and would like to steal it.[21]
- Luke was pranked by the hair and makeup artist, Jenny, who pretended that she accidentally shaved the back of his head. Luke believed it and was nice about it.[21]
