Tom Francis

Tom Francis, born Thomas Francis Barber on 29 June 1999 in Colchester and raised in Thorpe Morieux, Suffolk, is an English actor and singer working in musical theatre on both the West End and Broadway. He trained at the Arts Educational School in West London from 2017 to 2020, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Musical Theatre. Before his formal training concluded, he had also participated in the Youth Theatre at the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds and was a member of the local Voice Squad group in that city.

Francis made his professional stage debut in 2020, playing Roger Davis in a production of Rent at the Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester, directed by Luke Sheppard. The following year he appeared as Claude in concert performances of Hair at the London Palladium, stepping into the role in place of Jordan Luke Gage. In March 2022 he reunited with director Sheppard for & Juliet at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, taking over the role of Romeo and marking his West End debut.

His most prominent stage work to date has been the role of Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard. At the Savoy Theatre in London, his performance earned him the 2024 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical, and he also performed at the awards ceremony itself. A distinctive element of the production involved a six-minute sequence at the start of the second act in which Francis, as Joe, exited the theatre to sing the title song outside the Savoy before returning for the conclusion of the number.

Sunset Boulevard transferred to Broadway's St. James Theatre in the fall of 2024, giving Francis his Broadway debut. The New York staging retained the outdoor sequence, with Francis performing through Shubert Alley in place of the Savoy's exterior. In November he took a break from the role following a vocal cord injury. His work in the Broadway production earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical, as well as a Theatre World Award in 2025. He departed the role of Joe Gillis on July 6, with ensemble member Pierre Marais assuming the part for the production's remaining two weeks.

Beyond the stage, Francis made his television debut as Clayton in the fifth and final season of the Netflix series You, and his film debut in Jay Kelly, an ensemble film directed by Noah Baumbach.