Westman was born in Lambeth, London to football coach Wallace Hermitt and lecturer Susan Westman. He spent the first ten years of his life in Brixton before gentrification pushed his family out to Streatham and later Croydon.[3] His younger brother, Myles, is also an actor. Their parents separated when Westman was a teenager. He is the grandson of football coach Barry Hermitt; Westman's paternal grandparents immigrated to England from Jamaica as part of the Windrush generation. His mother, from Gloucestershire, is of Irish descent.[4]
Westman started out in pantomimes and community theatre projects.[7] Before Hamilton, he had only acted in two professional stage productions, The White Devil at Shakespeare's Globe and Torn at the Royal Court.[5]
In June 2017, it was announced Westman was cast as the lead in the West End production of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre, a role he has since played both on the West End and on tour.[5][1] He was due to appear in a new production in Los Angeles of Hamilton from 12 March to 22 November 2020, at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, but the production was suspended on the date of its intended debut in response to the coronavirus pandemic.[8][9][10] The show eventually premiered in Los Angeles on 17 August 2021.[11][12]
Television and film
Westman made his onscreen debut with a guest role in a 2013 episode of Casualty. He appeared in the films Brand New-U (2015) and Animals (2019).[13] He has also been in several short films, such as Kebab (2014), Wilton (2016), A Poem for Every Autumn Day (2020), and Ice Cream & Doughnuts (2021).[14][15]
Westman has been outspoken about racism. In 2019, he said Britain needed to confront its colonial past, and in 2020 he was one of the big names in theatre to sign a letter to industry leaders calling for “urgent reform” to tackle racism and the lack of diversity in the profession.[21][22]
In light of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, Westman was one of over two thousand to sign an Artists for Palestine letter calling for a ceasefire and accusing western governments of "not only tolerating war crimes but aiding and abetting them."[23]
