Olly Alexander

Olly Alexander
Olly Alexander with Years & Years at Tauron Nowa Muzyka 2014 in Katowice, Poland
Born	Oliver Alexander Thornton (1990-07-15) July 15, 1990 England
Occupations	Actor Writer Musician
Years active	2008–present

Olly Alexander (born 1984 ) is an English actor, script writer and lead singer of the band Years & Years. The band released debut single "Traps" via Kitsuné in September 2013.

Life and career

Alexander's acting career began in theatre plays and films such as Summerhill and Bright Star, which was nominated for an Oscar. He has also starred in films such as Tormented starring Alex Pettyfer, Enter the Void, and his most applauded performance was in the film Great Expectations as Herbert Pocket which starred Jeremy Irvine and Holliday Grainger. Alexander contributed to the script and music for the indie film The Dish & the Spoon which was released in early 2011.

Alexander was born Oliver Alexander Thornton in England. His mother, Vicki Thornton, founded the Coleford Music Festival. In a YouTube video uploaded from NylonMagazineTV Olly Alexander said he dropped out of school. From March to June 2013 Olly starred as Peter Pan in the West End play Peter and Alice acting alongside Ben Whishaw and Judi Dench. Olly also had a supporting role in the final series of Skins playing character Cassie's stalker in the two-part episode "Skins Pure", which aired July 2013.

He will play the lead in the musical feature film God Help the Girl which is due to be released in 2014 in which he sings and plays guitar. It is written and directed by Stuart Murdoch the lead singer of the group Belle and Sebastian.

His band, Years & Years formed in 2010 with Olly joining the band as lead vocalist after guitarist Mikey heard him singing in the shower and reckoned he had "a good voice". Olly's voice has been commented on by journalists for its unique tone with their music being described as "Nina Simone...crooning a melodic lullaby to the folktronic lovechild of Beach House and Terry Riley".

Their debut single proper "Traps" achieved support from Radio 1 and Radio 6, as well as many online publications such as The Guardian and The Fader. "Traps" also features on Kitsuné Maison's 15th compilation.

The band released their second single "Real" on Kitsuné and iTunes in February 2014 and the music video featured an appearance from Olly's Peter and Alice co-star, Ben Whishaw, and former Misfits actor, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett. They are playing a few select shows in the UK as well as festival Les Inrocks in Paris, supporting Swim Deep.

Alexander is also set to appear in the film adaptation of Laura Wade's stage play Posh alongside British actors Sam Claflin, Max Irons and Douglas Booth.

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2008	Summerhill	Ned
2009	Bright Star	Tom Keats
2009	Tormented	Jason
2009	Enter the Void	Victor
2009	Dust	Elias
2010	The Fades	Himself
2010	Gulliver's Travels	Prince August
2010	The Dish & the Spoon	Boy
2012	Great Expectations	Herbert Pocket
2013	Le Week-End	Michael
2014	God Help The Girl	James
2014	The Riot Club	Toby Maitland

Television

Year	Title	Role	Episodes
2009	Inspector Lewis	Hayden Wishart	"Allegory of Love"
2013	Skins	Jakob	"Skins Pure"
2014	Penny Dreadful	Fenton	"Resurrection" & "Demimonde"

Theatre

Year	Title	Theatre	Also starring
September/October 2010	The Aliens	Bush Theatre London	Ralf Little & Mackenzie Crook
March–June 2013	Peter and Alice	Noël Coward Theatre	Judi Dench & Ben Whishaw

External links

• Olly Alexander at IMDb