Tom Blyth

Tom Keir Blyth (born 2 February 1995) is an English actor. He took an interest in drama from a young age, studying acting at the Television Workshop in Nottingham and at the Juilliard School in New York City.

He had his first lead role in the film Scott and Sid (2018), and has since starred as Glen Byam Shaw in Benediction (2021) and Coriolanus Snow in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023). On television, he plays the title role in the MGM+ series Billy the Kid (2022–present).

Early life and education
Blyth was born in Birmingham in 1995 to Charlotte and Gavin Blyth. His father and paternal grandfather both worked in the media industry. Blyth has two younger siblings, a sister and a half-brother from his father's second marriage. Blyth spent his early childhood in Derbyshire. When his father was hired as a writer for the soap opera Emmerdale, the family moved to Tockwith, North Yorkshire.

After his parents divorced when he was 11, Blyth moved with his mother and sister to Woodthorpe, a suburb of Nottingham, to be closer to her parents. Blyth was upset by the move; his mother tried to enroll him in an acting class, though he was initially reluctant. When he was 12, he started work on a paper route as he wanted to provide for himself. He would visit his father's house and writing studio in Leeds two hours away. It was there that Blyth began to take an interest in storytelling, however his father made it clear that he detested nepotism and would not pull any strings on Blyth's behalf.

In Nottingham, Blyth attended Arnold Hill Academy and, later, Bilborough College. Blyth's mother and a family friend managed to get him an audition at Nottingham's Television Workshop. At age 15, Blyth was pulled out of school and told his father had been taken to the hospital. Blyth's father died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

After the loss of his father, Blyth returned to the Television Workshop and joined the National Youth Theatre, appearing in the productions Twelfth Night, Hay Fever, and A Clockwork Orange. Although he applied and was accepted to several drama schools, he turned them down.

In 2016, after spending a summer volunteering for an on-the-move charity fundraiser, Blyth decided to pursue acting as a career. At 21, he auditioned for the Juilliard School in New York City, where he would study on a scholarship and reside in Brooklyn. Whilst at Juilliard, Blyth appeared in productions such as Twelfth Night and Antony and Cleopatra. He was mentored by veteran actor Daniel Day-Lewis.

Career
In 2010, Blyth began his on-screen career with small supporting roles in the films Robin Hood and Pelican Blood. In the years after graduating from college, he appeared in the short films Fibs (2014), Fluffy (2015), and Wash Club (2016), all while working odd-jobs in Nottingham.

In 2018, Blyth had his first lead role as Sid Sadowskyj opposite Richard Mason in the autobiographical coming-of-age film Scott and Sid. That same year he appeared in Hazey Eyes' music video, Scars ft. Yoke Lore, as well as in the TV short Rise. Upon graduating from Juilliard in 2020, Blyth was cast as Glen Byam Shaw in the Terence Davies' biographical drama film Benediction, which premiered the following year. In 2022, Blyth began starring as the titular William Bonney in the MGM+ series Billy the Kid. For the role, Blyth learned how to ride, shoot, and talk like a "proper cowboy" with an Irish-American accent. That same year, Blyth made a guest appearance in an episode of the HBO series The Gilded Age.

On 16 May 2022, it was announced that Blyth had been cast as a young Coriolanus Snow opposite Rachel Zegler in the The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, an adaptation of The Hunger Games prequel of the same name. The film was released in November 2023. Blyth has upcoming roles in the film Discussion Materials, adapted from Bill Keenan's memoir of the same name, and an adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms.

In March 2024, it was announced that Blyth, along with Russell Tovey, will star in Plainclothes, an independent film from writer-director Carmen Emmi. The film, which is based on true events, centres around an undercover cop in the 1990s who works to entrap and apprehend gay men until he finds himself drawn to one of his targets.