Why we love Olly Alexander

I first discovered Olly Alexander when he performed on stage in the Westend play, Peter & Alice, in the spring of 2013. Olly played Peter Pan in a play that imagined Alice Liddell Hargreaves and Peter Llewellyn Davies meeting, and how their lives unfolded in the shadow of the characters they inspired. And I was enchanted by Olly in that moment.

It was a sort of Bond reunion. Davies was played by Ben Whishaw and Hargreaves by Judi Dench, the two big name actors and only two credited on the playbill. Their performances were amazing, but also given how experienced they are as actors, they were restrained and reserved (which to be fair, is about being British). Meanwhile, down stage, Pan plays an excitable child, unrestraint and full of energy. I say to this day he stole the show. And I only wish I’d bothered to meet him.

Becoming a rockstar

Not two years later, a lot of buzz was being made about the next up and coming British band, Years and Years. While they had formed in 2010, with Olly joining soon after as the lead vocalist, their rise didn’t begin until 2014. And in January 2015, Years & Years won the prestigious BBC Sound of annual listener poll for 2015, rocketing them to stardom. After two albums as a group, Communion and Palo Santo, going into 2021 Years & Years and the third studio album will be a solo project for Olly. And it seems his star has risen the most, even blinding out his other band mates.

Olly’s music career came as a surprise to me. I had seen him on stage and looked into his acting work, which was just taking off, however slowly, when Years & Years exploded. Olly started out at 16 auditioning for Skins (he did eventually appear on the series in a two-episode supporting role as a stalker), and landed a few roles before joining the band, including a role on Tormented, with Alex Pettyfer.

Olly the actor

Olly was born Oliver Alexander Thornton in Harrogate, Yorkshire, in the North of England. He got his start in both acting and singing at a young age, then began to pursue acting full time in his teens even though he’d wanted to become a singer or musician.

From 2008 to 2015, Olly appeared in a number of independent films and significant UK tv programmes, including a role on Penny Dreadful (I stopped watch after his character’s arc ended). Le Week-end, Cheerful Weather for a Wedding and Riot Club were all great but small speaking roles for Olly. Recently Olly has thankfully returned to the screen, starring in Russell T. Davies’ It’s a Sin, a role he is very much perfect for, assuming the role wasn’t written for him. In the final few scenes of the first episode, is character Ritchie is dealing an agent, directly into camera, his hopes and dream, which very much match Olly’s own trajectory.

His fame and commitment to LGBTQ advocacy likely helped him land the role of Ritchie. A strong background in acting surely helped a lot too. He also seems to have had fun on screen, in promoting the series, and with getting to perform Petshop Boy’s It’s a Sin as a duet with Elton John at the Brit Awards.

As the frontman for Years & Years, Olly has brought a strong sense of queerness and diversity to stage. Of course he’s a wonderful singer with a unique voice, and thanks to his acting experience, has a commanding presence on stage. I look forward to hearing the next Years & Years album any day now.

Olly is also not done as an actor. He very much wants to play more gay roles, having magical powers or being a superhero. There’s also a wonderful rumour he might be the next Doctor Who, which I would love to see a gay man in the role, and also possibly for the Doctor to be gay for an incarnation. No matter what, Olly’s future looks bright.

Watch Olly in It’s a Sin on HBO Max