Everything you need to know.

By Abby Robinson

Published: Wednesday, 07 February 2024 at 22:04 PM


Netflix’s One Day, which is based on David Nicholls’s book of the same name, follows the unlikely friendship-cum-romance between Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew, who meet on the night of their graduation from Edinburgh University and become an important fixture in one another’s lives.

The former is played by This Is Going to Hurt star Ambika Mod, while Leo Woodall has taken on the role of Dex.

But this isn’t the first time he’s made a big impression on screen.

For more information about Woodall and where you’ve seen him before, read on…

Who is Leo Woodall?

Leo Woodall having his photo taken by press
Actor Leo Woodall poses on the red carpet.
Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage

Leo Woodall is an actor known primarily for his television roles.

Before Netflix’s One Day, Woodall was best known for playing Jack in the second season of HBO/Sky comedy-drama The White Lotus.

He made his entrance in the fourth episode and caused quite a stir.

Read more:

How old is Leo Woodall?

Leo Woodall is 27 years old.

What nationality is Leo Woodall?

Leo Woodall is British and was born in Hammersmith, West London, England, into a “fairly posh middle-class” family (via The Guardian).

Woodall told Vulture: “I’m from West London, but there are definitely a lot of people I know from Essex [like his White Lotus character]. My stepsister’s from Essex, so it was fun to lean into that.”

What has Leo Woodall previously starred in?

Haley-Lu Richardson walks down a busy Italian street in a crop top and matching skirt with Leo Woodall in shorts a white t shirt and shirt with his hands on her shoulders and both are smiling in The White Lotus
Haley-Lu Richardson and Leo Woodall in The White Lotus.
HBO

In The White Lotus’s acclaimed second season, Woodall starred as cheeky chappy Essex lad Jack, who was holidaying in Sicily, Italy, at the eponymous luxury resort with Tom Hollander’s Quentin – a dynamic that delivered one of the season’s most talked-about moments.

Discussing how his cheeky character Jack was first described to him, Woodall told GQ: “Do you remember that episode of Friends when Joey’s written a script for Chandler and Ross to read, and he writes ‘a handsome man enters’. It was kind of like that, it was like ‘Handsome Jack walks up to the pool. Portia looks at handsome Jack’.

“There was a tagline in the breakdown of the character that was like, ‘Guy from Essex, is a magnetic person who causes some trouble in the hotel’. I wish I could paraphrase it better than that.”

Discussing his character’s more intimate scenes, Woodall noted to Vulture: “The whole job was about mentally preparing to go into the best show in the world, so everything that came with it took some mental preparation. My first day of filming was actually that sexy scene with Haley. That was the introduction to this job. Quite rock and roll!”

Prior to his turn in The White Lotus, Woodall previously appeared in an episode of Holby City, before also starring in the Apple TV+ film Cherry and the Universal series The Vampire Academy as Adrian Ivashkov.

He also appeared in a couple of episodes of the Prime Video action series Citadel.

What has Leo Woodall said about One Day?

A topless Leo Woodall as Dexter and Ambika Mod as Emma in a swimsuit sat on the sand next to one another at the beach in One Day.
Leo Woodall as Dexter and Ambika Mod as Emma in One Day.

“We both knew it was a mountain to climb,” Woodall told RadioTimes.com of adapting One Day into a TV series. “But it’s such a beautiful story, and we both auditioned four or five times, so by the time we’d started filming, we were so immersed in it already. So it was a lovely new challenge.”

He also said that he had to ditch the gym following The White Lotus for this particular role.

“I remember thinking towards the end of the process, because in The White Lotus I was going to the gym a lot and I was kind of hefty, and I remember thinking that Dex can’t be a big gym guy,” he explained.

“I thought that was maybe going to be my sort of moment of not getting it. But thankfully, I just sort of stopped going to the gym [laughs].”

Ambika Mod as Emma & Leo Woodall as Dexter in One Day lying together in a field laughing
Ambika Mod as Emma & Leo Woodall as Dexter in One Day.
Teddy Cavendish/Netflix
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Woodall also revealed that he “struggled at the beginning of One Day”.
“I was struck by how much pressure I felt being a lead,” he said. “I didn’t know if I should behave like the captain of a sports team. And I struggled with not having any kind of moment to myself, like you can’t tie your own shoelace or spit your own gum out.
“There was one day when I noticed I was being followed by a paparazzi photographer and I thought, ‘I don’t know how people deal with this on a daily basis.’ I want to be as successful as I can be as an actor, but I don’t think it would be that fun to be categorically famous.”

Is Leo Woodall on Instagram?

Yes – Woodall is on Instagram and is available at the handle @leowoodall.

At present, he has over 149K followers.

Is Leo Woodall on X (formerly known as Twitter)?

No – he’s not currently on X.

One Day is available to stream on Netflix from 8th February. Sign up for Netflix from £6.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

Looking for something else to watch? Visit our TV Guide or Streaming Guide.

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