Tom Blyth is headed toward a meteoric rise. Since 2022, the 28-year-old, British-born actor has starred as the titular Wild West outlaw in Billy the Kid, now in its second season on MGM+. But he'll soon reach the stratosphere in November's hotly-anticipated The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, a prequel to the Jennifer Lawrence-led Hunger Games series. In the film, Blyth plays a young and sympathetic Coriolanus Snow, the villainous president of Panem memorably played by Donald Sutherland.
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Stepping into a legendary actor's shoes in a blockbuster based on a beloved Young Adult fiction series? Nothing could be more daunting — except, maybe, playing one of the most famous Western figures in a fresh, youthful take on the icon. If Billy the Kid tells us anything, it's that Tom Blyth isn't afraid of a challenge. "It can drive you crazy," he said of the film industry, adding, "I find myself gravitating toward my family and friends, reminding myself what's important."
From his English upbringing and early film roles to his mysterious love life and level-headed perspective on Hollywood, here's everything you need to know about rising star Tom Blyth.
He Was Born in England
Tom Blyth at the 2022 premiere of Billy the Kid. (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
Tom Keir Blyth was born February 2, 1995 in Birmingham, England. His father, Gavin Blyth, a TV producer of U.K. series including Emmerdale and Coronoation Street, died of cancer in 2010. Blyth has a sister, Anya, as well as a younger half-brother, Carter.
Blyth took drama classes at Nottingham's Television Workshop for young people aged 7-21. Other notable alumni include The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey and Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything). He also joined the National Youth Theatre in London, which gave actors like Daniel Craig, Helen Mirren and Kate Winslet their starts.
He Went to Juilliard
Tom Blyth in 2018. (Tom Blyth via Instagram)
Blyth fulfilled a childhood dream when he graduated from Juilliard's prestigious Drama Division in May 2020. "I'd read about [Juilliard] when I was a kid and I knew that some of my favorite actors like Oscar Isaac and Adam Driver went there," he told U.K. magazine LeftLion in 2021.
He has been based in New York City since 2016, when he initially auditioned for the school at age 21. He's regularly photographed attending fashion shows in the city, even walking in the Hermes September 2023 show.
Early Roles
Tom Blyth in The Gilded Age. (HBO)
Despite his early training for the stage, Blyth's love of movies inspired him to pursue a career in acting. "One of the reasons I became an actor is because I love going to the cinema. I think the experience of going to the cinema is always going to be a thing we want to do," Blyth told LeftLion, adding, "Cinema is so immersive and I think, more than ever, we're craving those tangible, communal, human experiences."
Blyth's first-ever film credit was as an unnamed "Feral Child" in Ridley Scott's 2010 take on Robin Hood, which starred Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett. In 2018, he starred in the coming-of-age drama Scott and Sid, which won a National Film Award for Best British Film.
During his time at Juilliard, Blyth had small roles in major productions. He played Archie Baldwin on an episode of HBO's mega-expensive period drama The Gilded Age. He also appeared in Benediction, Terence Davies' critically-acclaimed 2021 biopic of World War I-era soldier and poet Siegfried Sassoon.
Billy the Kid Breakout
Tom Blyth in Billy the Kid. (MGM+)
In 2022, Blyth landed the title role in the MGM+ (formerly Epix) series Billy the Kid, joining a lineage of Hollywood heavies who have brought the famous Old West outlaw to life. That list includes Paul Newman (The Left Handed Gun), Kris Kristofferson (Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid) and Val Kilmer (Billy the Kid). Now in its second season, Billy the Kid is a rare, age-accurate portrait of the young gunslinger, who died at age 21.
Blyth grew up watching John Wayne Westerns, but admits he was never drawn to Billy the Kid stories before reading the Season 1 script for the series. "I'd never really seen anything about Billy the Kid," Blyth told Wide Open Country in a 2022 interview. "Despite years of watching Westerns, [I] kind of avoided watching any of the Billy movies."
In order to bring as much authenticity as possible to the role, Blyth studiously researched Billy the Kid's life. He read multiple biographies of the gunslinger and undertook on-the-ground training to bring him to life, learning to ride a horse, shoot a gun and lasso cattle. Blyth even went on a miniature tour out west, visiting the places where Billy grew up and made his name. The actor recalls one stirring experience at Billy's gravesite before production on the series began:
"I had a moment at sunset in Fort Sumner at his grave; had a personal moment where I took the mantel, so to speak, and decided to kind of allow myself to play this guy and kind of ask permission in a way."
His Mysterious Love Life
Tom Blyth in 2023. (Tom Blyth via Instagram)
Blyth keeps his private life largely out of the spotlight, but he has mentioned living with a girlfriend in interviews as late as 2022. Fans have speculated that he's dating a mystery woman featured in a sweet Valentine's Day snap the actor posted in February 2023. The black-and-white photo shows a young woman wearing sunglasses on what looks to be a New York City street. Graffiti above her head reads, "I love you babe." Blythe captioned the post, "What the monkey on the wall said," followed by a red heart emoji.
Leading a New Hunger Games Film
Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. (Lionsgate)
Blyth will enter the world of franchise film when he leads The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, in theaters Nov. 17. A prequel to the Jennifer Lawrence-led blockbusters, the film tracks Blyth's young Coriolanus Snow (memorably played by Donald Sutherland in the original Hunger Games films) and the tragedy that led the platinum-haired politician to become the villainous president of Panem we know and love. Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes also stars Rachel Zegler (West Side Story), Hunter Schafer (Euphoria) and Oscar winner Viola Davis.
Blythe tries not to think about the fact that he's toplining a beloved blockbuster franchise on the grounds that, well, "it can drive you crazy."
"When things get a bit crazy in this industry, I find myself gravitating toward my family and friends, reminding myself what's important," he told W Magazine in 2022. "It's very much about the work and not the hype of it all. Yes, it's nice to be recognized, but the main thing that I want is choice over my career. I want to be able to choose from all the fruits of the great scripts that are out there, and that's something you get when you do bigger things."
