Lawther was born in Winchester, Hampshire and raised in Petersfield.[4] He is of English and Irish descent, possessing dual British and Irish citizenship through his Northern Irish father. The son of two lawyers,[5] Lawther has described himself as having come from a "white middle-class bubble".[6] As the youngest of three children, he said that his aspiration to be an actor came from having to make up his own games to entertain himself as a child.[5] Both of his siblings live and work in the United States, with his older brother, Cameron Lawther, being an award-winning Hollywood film producer, and his older sister Ellie Lawther working in public policy.[7]
Lawther was educated at Churcher's College, a selective independent school in Petersfield. After getting into trouble for creating an illegitimate drama club at his school with friends,[8] Lawther became heavily involved in the drama programme when an official one was started. He played Ratty in The Wind in the Willows, Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night, and Lucas in The Third Bank of the River,[9] and received the Sir Daniel Day-Lewis Award by the Petersfield Town Council.[10] In 2009, a fourteen-year-old Lawther was allowed to write and direct his own full-length play based on a song by Sara Bareilles entitled Rejected Fairytales as part of his drama club involvement, where he received laudatory coverage in the local press as a "theatrical whiz kid" who would end up working as an actor in the West End.[11][12]
In 2010, he was accepted into the prestigious National Youth Theatre, where he received his only formal training as an actor.[13] He also collaborated with his brother as an actor on his short film The Fear, made when the elder Lawther was applying to film school. He did not study drama at GCSE or A level.[7] He initially planned to read History at King's College London, but ultimately gave up his place after being cast in The Imitation Game; instead, he moved to London at 18 to pursue acting professionally.[14]
Career
2011–2016: South Downs, The Imitation Game, Departure and early roles
Lawther's professional debut came at the age of 16, when he appeared as John Blakemore in Sir David Hare's South Downs at Chichester Festival Theatre. Lawther found out about an open audition for the play through his school, as the casting directors were scouting real students attending elite private schools in the South Downs for the play's public school setting. He travelled to London, where he beat hundreds of other young actors for the lead role. After a local trial run, the play then went to the West End, where he performed the role at the Harold Pinter Theatre in sold out runs whilst still studying for his A Levels.[5] He received critical acclaim for his performance and, having previously viewed acting as only a hobby, he was encouraged to pursue a career in film and theatre. Shortly thereafter, he signed a contract with a film agent.
Following his performance in South Downs, Lawther spent much of his early career playing wealthy English schoolboys. After several small television roles, he portrayed Benjamin Britten as a schoolboy in the docudrama by Tony Britten, Benjamin Britten: Peace and Conflict (2013), also featuring John Hurt as the narrator.[15] Lawther received his breakthrough film role as a young Alan Turing during his time at Sherborne School in the Academy Award-winning film The Imitation Game (2014), with Benedict Cumberbatch portraying the older Turing.[5][16][17][18] The role won him the London Film Critics' Circle Award for "Young British Performer of the Year".[19] Subsequently, he appeared in a supporting role as a maths prodigy in the critically acclaimed coming-of-age drama film X+Y, alongside Asa Butterfield and Sally Hawkins. He also starred as a young castrato in Virtuoso, a pilot produced for HBO by Alan Ball, but the show was not picked up by the network. He returned to the theatre doing various small productions in London during this period, playing a sexually precocious young gay man in The Glass Supper, and the lead in the post-apocalypticCrushed Shells and Mud.
In 2015, he starred alongside Juliet Stevenson in his first lead film role, playing Elliot in the British film, Departure, the debut film of director Andrew Steggall, filmed in a mixture of French and English.[20]
2016–present: Black Mirror, The End of the F***ing World, and wider recognition
In 2016, Lawther played the main character Kenny in "Shut Up and Dance", an episode from series three of the British science fictionanthology seriesBlack Mirror.[21] While the episode overall received mixed reviews, and Lawther himself later expressed lukewarm feelings for the episode, he received universal acclaim and significant recognition for his performance. He also performed in the mockumentary film Carnage, directed by his frequent collaborator, comedian Simon Amstell.
Later that same year, he also starred, alongside Jessica Barden, as James in the Peabody Award-winning television series The End of the F***ng World. The role also brought Lawther more acclaim from critics and further raised his profile in the entertainment industry. He would go on to reprise this role during the show's second and final season, which received a BAFTA Award for Best Drama. He also originated the role of Sam in the Stephen Daltry-directed play The Jungle, which focused on the refugee crisis in Calais, in both its London and New York productions. Lawther spent time in France meeting with refugees for this job, and ultimately found it to be one of his most challenging roles due to his character's right-wing views which were antithetical to his own.[22] Subsequently, Lawther played the lead role of Amberson in Toby MacDonald's debut film Old Boys, as well as a supporting role in the horror film Ghost Stories.
In 2021, Lawther made his directorial debut with the music video for "Fountainhead" by Linus Fenton, starring Roman Griffin Davis and sponsored by CALM.[25] In 2022, he wrote and directed the short film "For people in trouble", produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon and starring Emma D'Arcy and Archie Madekwe.[26]
Personal life
Lawther stopped using social media as he began to take more high-profile roles and considers himself to be "technophobic".[27] He has described himself as politically left-wing, and generally tries to avoid discussing his private life when possible.[28] He considers his biggest inspirations as an actor to be Ben Whishaw, Sally Hawkins, and Andrew Scott.
Lawther has been a Francophile and a fan of French cinema from a young age. He speaks fluent French and divides his time between Paris and London.[29]
Activism
In 2020, Lawther co-signed an open letter to the government of the United Kingdom to ban conversion therapy for LGBT youth.[30] In 2023, he co-signed an open letter alongside more than 1,000 artists in the British film industry calling on the arts and culture sector to demand a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, amplify Palestinian voices, and protect artists who speak out in favor of Palestinians.[31] He has also been involved in climate activism with Extinction Rebellion. He is a feminist and has critiqued the lack of diversity in the film industry.[32] He became involved with causes supporting refugees following his work in The Jungle and supports the charity Choose Love.[33]
Lawther was named as one of BAFTA's Breakthrough Brits for 2015.[35] His acting style has been compared favourably to actor Ben Whishaw,[5] whom he cites as an idol of his.[36]
