Will Attenborough

Will Attenborough is a British actor and climate campaigner born on 26 June 1991 in Hammersmith, London, England. He comes from one of the most celebrated dynasties in British theatre and film, being the son of theatre director Michael Attenborough and actress Karen Lewis, the grandson of Academy‑Award‑winning actor‑director Richard Attenborough and actress Sheila Sim, and the great‑nephew of renowned naturalist Sir David Attenborough. His family history also includes a poignant legacy of humanitarian action, as his great‑grandparents adopted two Jewish refugee girls rescued by the Kindertransport before World War II. Attenborough’s formal education was completed at Queens’ College, Cambridge, where he balanced academic studies with early stage work, launching his professional career in 1998. He first attracted critical notice playing the lead in Jeremy Herrin’s West End production of Another Country, and later shared the stage with Nicole Kidman in Photograph 51, demonstrating a range that spans period drama to scientific biopic. On screen, he has appeared in the Sam Mendes‑produced adaptation The Hollow Crown, the dystopian series Utopia, the wartime drama Denial opposite Rachel Weisz, and Christopher Nolan’s Oscar‑winning film Dunkirk. In 2019 he portrayed Ed Faulkner in The Outpost and currently stars as Oliver Hurst in BBC One’s Our Girl, adding television regularity to his résumé. Beyond acting, Attenborough has become a leading voice for environmental justice, coordinating campaigns for 350.org that secured the withdrawal of £5 billion of London City Hall pension assets from fossil fuels and prompting Equity to divest its pension fund. In 2023 he co‑founded the Green Rider campaign, empowering actors and film‑industry workers to embed climate‑friendly practices into production workflows. Openly identifying as queer, he uses his public platform to advocate for both LGBTQ+ rights and ecological sustainability, positioning himself as a culturally engaged artist of his generation.