Eliza Butterworth (born 24 July 1993) is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Lady Aelswith in the medieval drama The Last Kingdom (2015–2022). She has since appeared in the BBC Two miniseries The North Water (2020), for which she was nominated for a National Film Award, and the Sky Max series A Town Called Malice (2023).
Eliza Butterworth | |
|---|---|
 Butterworth in 2018 | |
| Born | Eliza Jane Butterworth 24 July 1993 Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England |
| Alma mater | Royal Academy of Dramatic Art |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 2014–present |
Early life and education
editButterworth was born and raised in Lincoln, England on 24 July 1993[1][2] to an English father from Lancashire and an Italian American mother from Iowa. Her parents met in Nebraska where her mother was training to be a nurse and her father, in the Royal Air Force, was stationed at Offutt Air Force Base. She has dual citizenship.[3][4]
From the age of 4 to 18, Butterworth attended Lincoln Minster School. She discovered acting through a school play and was Head Girl.[5][6] She went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Acting from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 2014.[7] Whilst training at RADA, Butterworth performed lead roles in The Daughter in Law and The Witch of Edmonton.[8]
Career
editButterworth made guest appearances as Holly in DCI Banks and Lucy Hamilton in WPC 56, both in 2015.[8] That same year, she began playing Aelswith, the wife of King Alfred the Great (David Dawson), in the BBC and later Netflix adaptation of The Last Kingdom. She started off in a recurring role for the first series before being promoted to the main cast for the subsequent four series.[9]
In 2020, Butterworth appeared as Heston in the BBC Two miniseries The North Water alongside Colin Farrell and Stephen Graham.[10] The same year she appeared as a webcam girl in the comedy film Say Your Prayers.[11] In 2021, she made her West End debut as Princess Eugenie in the 2021 comedy play The Windsors: Endgame at the Prince of Wales Theatre.[12]
In 2023, Butterworth starred in the Sky Max series A Town Called Malice,[13] playing Carly of the Lord family, in a cast which includes Jason Flemyng, Daniel Sharman and Dougray Scott.[14] The same year she was the voice of Masha in science fiction romantic comedy film The Pod Generation, which also starred Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor.[11]
Personal life
editAs of 2019, Butterworth is based in London. She is also an alto and mezzo-soprano singer, ballroom and flamenco dancer, and plays percussion.[15]
Filmography
editFilm
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | (A Very) Ham Fisted Steak Out | Erica | Short film |
| 2017 | Sometimes I Miss Them | Daughter | Short film [16] |
| 2020 | Say Your Prayers | Webcam Girl | Film [11] |
| 2023 | The Pod Generation | Masha (voice) | Film [11] |
| 2024 | Little Brown Bird | Kate | Short film |
Television
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | WPC 56 | Lucy Hamilton | Episode: "A Different Beat" |
| 2015 | DCI Banks | Holly | Episode: "Buried: Part 1" |
| 2015–2022 | The Last Kingdom | Aelswith | Recurring role (series 1) Main role (series 2–5) 45 episodes |
| 2020 | The North Water | Hester | Miniseries; 2 episodes [10] |
| 2023 | A Town Called Malice | Carly Lord | 8 episodes[14] |
| 2023 | inVERSE | Narrator | 1 episode - S2.E3 "St. Crispin's Day" |
Stage
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | The Windsors: Endgame | Princess Eugenie | Prince of Wales Theatre, London |
Awards and nominations
edit| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | National Film Awards UK | Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series | The North Water | Nominated | [17] |
References
edit- ^ Butterworth, Eliza [@elizabutter909] (24 July 2016). "Celebrating my 23rd birthday!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Butterworth, Eliza [@elizabutter909] (24 July 2017). "When you turn 24 on 24th July…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Bondoc, Alyssa (10 November 2021). "interview - eliza butterworth". Schön!. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
- ^ Smith, Corey (18 May 2020). "Is Aelswith a villain? The Last Kingdom star Eliza Butterworth weighs in". Winter is Coming. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
- ^ Hall, Anne. "Eliza's autumn is going to be epic" (PDF). The Journal Lincolnshire. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
- ^ "Lincoln Minster Alumni - Eliza Butterworth". lincolnminsterschool.co.uk. 2019.
- ^ "Rada Student & graduate profiles - Eliza Butterworth". rada.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
- ^ a b "Eliza Butterworth". emptagehallett.co.uk. 2019.
- ^ "Exclusive: The cast of The Last Kingdom talk all about Season 3 & how Netflix will change the show". heyuguys.com. 2018.
- ^ a b "Eliza Butterworth - currently filming for the BBC Two four-part thriller The North Water". monstervoice.co.uk. 2020.
- ^ a b c d "Eliza Butterworth". amazon.com. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
- ^ Barnes, Kelsey. "Eliza Butterworth". 1883 Magazine. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
- ^ Goldbart, Max (6 January 2022). "Sky Sets 'A Town Called Malice' Cast And Filming Dates". Deadline.
- ^ a b "A Town Called Malice - cast, plot and everything else about the heady 1980s crime drama". whattowatch.com. 6 January 2022.
- ^ "Actor Profile – Eliza Butterworth". mandy.com. 2019. Archived from the original on 9 February 2019.
- ^ "Sometimes I Miss Them (2017)". yukiemochizuki.com. 2017.
- ^ "Nominees for the 8th annual National Film Awards 2022 announced". National Film Awards. 20 April 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2022.