Aimee Lou Wood Biography
Aimee Lou Wood is an English actress whos best known for her role Aimee Gibbs in the Netflix original comedy-drama series Sex Education. Wood went to Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) where she graduated with a BA Degree in Acting (H Level).
Aimee Lou Woods Age
Aimee Lou woods was born in 1995 2nd of November. She is 23 years old as of 2018.
Aimee Lou Woods Family
Wood was born in Stockport, England. There is no much information about her family, parents and siblings.
Aimee Lou Wood And Connor Swindells
Wood has been dating her Sex Education co-star Connor Swindells. The two who play Adam Groff and Aimee Gibbs respectively confirmed that they were in real life after there were speculations that they were actually dating.
Aimee Lou Wood Career | Sex Education
Wood was involved in many productions during her time at RADA. She was involved in productions such as Scuttlers directed by Hannah Eidinow playing “Margaret”, also as “Goody” in Vinegar Tom directed by Cressida Brown. She also played Jess in the short film Hen directed by James Larkin and Yulia in Summerfolk directed by Deborah Paige and many more. Woods special skills include stage combat (BASSC), singing soprano, stand-up comedy, flamenco, dancing and writing.
In 2019, Wood made her screen debut playing Aimee Gibbs, the main character in the Netflix comedy-drama series Sex Education, opposite co-stars Emma Mackey, Ncuti Gatwa, Asa Butterfield, and Gillian Anderson. She had originally auditioned for the part of ‘Lily’ which is played by Tanya Reynolds but was more than happy to land the role of Aimee Gibbs. She is represented by agent Lizzie Newell, an Independent Talent Group.
Aimee Lou Wood And Hannah Murray
There were speculations that Wood is the same actress who portrayed Gilly from Game Of Thrones. The two actresses look similar but they are different. Hannah Murray portrayed Gilly in the film Game of Thrones while Wood portrayed Aimme Gibbs in Sex Education.
Aimee Lou Wood And Gilly From Game Of Thrones
Aimee Lou Wood Youtube
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Aimee Lou Wood Interview
Source: Teen Vogue
Teen Vogue: So many people have been sharing how much they love Sex Education. What’s been your reaction to the reception?
Aimee Lou Wood: It’s been incredible. The social media stuff, I’ve gone from a thousand followers to 90,000, all that stuff is a bit crazy and overwhelming. I believed in the show so much and I thought it deserved all of that love, but sometimes it doesn’t work out like that and things slip under the radar or whatever, but obviously, it hasn’t. I’m so glad it hasn’t because I just love the show so much. So it’s been amazing.
TV: How did you get into acting?
ALW: Well, I think I was a very strange child who wrote loads of plays and made my sister perform them. But I was quite shy, so I’d always do the writing side, and then when I went to secondary school, I didn’t have any friends, ’cause I was weird. The only way that I could make friends was by making people laugh and being funny, so it kind of grew from that. I started getting into drama club, and then my studies kind of went out the window. I was actually really studious and well-behaved but then became the class clown. But it’s kind of all happened for a reason because then I ended up going to RADA [Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]. So, yeah, basically just trying to get friends is how I got into acting.
TV: How did the audition for Aimee go and what were your first reactions to the script?
ALW: Well, I first got called in for Lily. So I’d gone in for Lily three times, and I loved her, and I thought the script was so funny. Then after that third time going in they were like, “OK, great, but can you come in for Aimee tomorrow?” When I went in for Aimee, it kind of fit straight away. It was amazing. ‘Cause I loved Lily, but something was always a little bit off. As soon as I was doing Aimee it was just like, hallelujah. I loved the description that Laurie [Nunn] put at the start, which was “a bit shallow, but with a heart of gold.” That sums her up. She has got such a heart of gold.
TV: You definitely see Aimee’s heart throughout the first season, but she struggles with the fact that she wants to fit in with the popular kids while still being friends with Maeve. How their friendship grows is really beautiful. Why is it so important to see a friendship like Maeve and Aimee’s on television?
ALW: It’s been so great because I’ve even [gotten] messages from girls being like, “Thank you for this storyline because I’ve been hanging out with the wrong people this whole time and I’ve got my Maeve.” Someone actually said, “I’ve got my Maeve and I’m gonna go and be with my Maeve now.”
I think it’s so important because a lot of the time in teen films and shows, all the girls are kind of in competition with each other, over boys or to be the top dog, basically. It’s so great to see a friendship where there isn’t any competition. I think it is so scary at school, because you want to fit in. I think that’s what Aimee’s trying to do, she’s just trying to blend in. And she thinks the best way to do that is by hanging out with the popular group. That’s where she fits the most ’cause she’s got a big house, stupid reasons.
I’m so glad that she realizes that Maeve is the sh*t. [It’s so special] seeing friendships that are actually deep with young people connecting. You know, in that first scene together and she’s talking so openly about her problems, she would never do that with the Untouchables, ever. She would never show any vulnerability. They’re both really vulnerable when they’re together and you see a completely different side of both of them when it’s only those two alone.
TV: Were there any scenes that you improvised or helped steer the direction of Aimee?
ALW: The writing is amazing enough you don’t need to ad lib, but some of the things Ben and I came up with when messing around were put in the show. Yeah, “my ham!” that wasn’t scripted. I just said that. I and Emma in real life always do northern accents with each other. So that was added in. [There were] things that I didn’t think would make it into the show because it was me messing about, but then they ended up in there. When I watched it, I was like, “Oh my god, I can’t believe ‘my ham’ is actually in it!” And everyone really likes “my ham!” I’ve been tagged in photos of ham on Instagram.
TV: So when I was interviewing Ncuti, he actually mentioned that you’re a big fan of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
ALW: Huge! Yeah, I can’t believe it because Katya has me on her Instagram. She’s my favourite drag queen of all time. And she’s put the clip of me saying “I’ve been wanking all night” on her Instagram, and then I messaged her, and she messaged me back. Today. So it’s been one of the happiest days of my life. ‘Cause Katya and Alyssa Edwards, they both acknowledged my existence.
All my friends had sent me: Get on Katya’s Instagram right now. And I thought she just had obviously put up something great. And it was me. I was screaming. I couldn’t believe it. ‘Cause I am genuinely obsessed, and people keep joking on Instagram, “I can’t wait until you’re a guest judge.” And I really seriously want that to happen. I would just, I think I’d just turn into dust. I’d just evaporate ’cause it’d be too much.
TV: You mentioned earlier the explosion on social media. Could you expound on that?
ALW: It’s weird how people think you’re the character, especially because I’ve got the same name as my character. It’s quite overwhelming because you get so many messages and you want to reply ’cause you get so many incredible, really heartfelt, beautiful messages from young girls, and young boys, where they bare their souls. It’s amazing, but it’s frustrating because you want to reply to everyone, but you simply can’t. So many people are reaching out to you, and you feel like you can’t be there for everyone. Then I have to remember that if I did try to [answer] every single message, I would be consumed by my phone.
TV: There’s been a lot of discussion about how Aimee takes ownership of her sexuality, especially as a teenage girl. What do you hope young women can learn from your character about their own bodies and sexuality?
ALW: I feel really honoured that I got to do that because the response has been amazing. We’ve all been through that phase when we were younger, and some women never come out of it, which is the mindset of, “This is for the guy, sex is for the man.” And at school, guys are seeking pleasure and girls are seeking validation a lot of the time. Like, “I’ll have sex with this person because it will validate me,” rather than, “I want to have sex with that person because I’m going enjoy it and it’s going to be great.”
And the female orgasm is basically a myth while you’re at school, it’s all about the boy. I think that someone like Aimee is so interesting because she’s got probably the most sex scenes out of anyone, and so you think, “Oh, she’s this really sexually liberated girl who’s so confident. She gets her clothes off and ba-ba-ba-ba.” But she’s actually not, she’s having sex for the completely wrong reasons, and she’s people-pleasing, and it’s out of codependency. And I love that bit with Otis when she’s, “No one’s ever asked me that before,” about Steve asking her about what she wants. I get that because I remember being that age, and if someone had asked me that, I would have been so embarrassed because I would have had no idea what to say.
It’s just so weird because you would hear boys talking about, “Oh, I watched this video last night. I had the best wank, da-da-da-da-da.” They’d be shameless about it at school, and it was all the girls being like, “I don’t know what that is. We don’t masturbate.” It was a complete taboo. I think debunking some of those myths about if a boy plugs away, a girl’s going to have a great time, but no, girls need to be like, “No, this is what I want.” So I’m really happy that that’s in the show.
TV: Did you know that Aimee and Adam’s sex scene would be the very first scene in the series?
ALW: Yeah, we got the first four episodes before the read-through. At the read-through, Connor [Swindells][and I] sat next to each other and we had never met, none of us had ever met. And we just sat there completely still, looking at a piece of paper, going, “uh, uh,” it was bizarre. So it was actually less awkward doing the proper thing than it was at the read-through. But I do love it as a beginning to the program. I think it really grabs your attention.
TV: What was it like working with Laurie Nunn, the creator?
ALW: She’s so amazing, I’m in awe of her. I can’t believe she’s created these characters, I love them so much. I was watching the past three episodes, I’d never seen them, and I was watching them and I forgot I was in it. I genuinely was so engrossed in everyone else’s story.
There have been things like The Inbetweeners and Skins, where either the sex stuff is made really silly and funny, about the boys, and whatever, or it’s glamorized and made like, “Oh my god, teenagers having sex, it’s so hot.” You know? Whereas Laurie’s gone, “No, this is actually the reality.” Because that’s what I love about Sex Education. It’s not crude. It’s just real. The reason why it’s awkward is that it’s so real. It makes you squirm, but it’s so brave. I think we were all encouraged to be brave because we saw her bravery in writing it.
TV: What do you hope to see in a second season of Sex Education?
ALW: I feel like it would go deep. I can’t wait to have more moments with Maeve, ’cause I’m free of the Untouchables now. I would love to see Maeve and Aimee together and how more real they can get with themselves and with each other.
By the eighth episode of the first season, you’re really getting to know the characters in a very multifaceted way. There is so far that you can go with all of those characters. That’s because all of their kind of personas that they present at school that they use to protect themselves with, like the jock or the mean girl or whatever, all of that is starting to crumble. I think that’s great because I feel like the second season is going to go deep.