A British actress who has been in “Sex Education” (Netflix) and other Hollywood films has discussed the influence of her appearance on her career.
Aimee Lou Wood’s portrayal of Chelsea and her distinctive style have made her a breakthrough star of season 3 of The White Lotus.
The British actress has spoken up about the effects of her unique set of teeth on her life, including her time on the Netflix series. The 30-year-old Wood has said that she was “shocked” whenever she received a callback for a television part.
“I’d always be super confident when I went to theatre auditions, but if it was a TV thing, I’d be so shocked when I got a recall,” she told the magazine in 2020.
Georgia May Jagger, a fellow Brit with a distinctive grin, became the face of Rimmel London in 2009, and she started to feel confident after that. ‘Oh, you’re a bit of a model, aren’t you?’ It happened out of nowhere, shifting from me being silly. Wood expressed his gratitude to Georgia May Jagger for her portrayal of the buck teeth.
All of Aimee Lou Wood’s comments on her teeth, from fan reactions to her inability to portray certain parts in The White Lotus, are collected here.
Wood expressed her belief that her teeth would make it impossible for her to portray an American convincingly in a February 2025 interview with On Demand Entertainment.
The teeth, it seems. By the way, no American has my teeth,” she said. “Honestly, they aren’t. I would need to have veneers. Considering that… In my opinion, it is one of the things.
The actress reminisced about a conversation she had while playing a part in a Chicago production. Following our conversation at the bar, this man said, “I knew it.” He had been chatting with me before, and I had spoken to him in this way. “I knew it,” she said.
Why? Because he said things like, “Your accent was fantastic, but I could tell you weren’t American,” Wood went on to explain. You don’t seem to be an American.
According to an interview Wood gave to The Hollywood Reporter in March 2025, working with an American cast on The White Lotus was at first scary.
“They call Hollywood home,” she said. “I live in a little flat in South East London, and being around so many people who are so forward-thinking and self-assured was a bit overwhelming for someone like me, who is very British in sensibility.”
The only thing she does, she went on to say, is make fun of herself. Even the way [White Lotus fans] are describing my teeth—the fact that I am not a fan of veneers or Botox—gives off an air of defiance.
In a 2020 interview with Stylist, Wood discussed how she had overcome “a mental barrier”—the belief that she is not “conventional-looking enough”—to play certain parts.
It’s all in my brain. “I’ve convinced myself of it,” she said.
Continuing, Wood said, “I used to be very self-assured whenever I went to auditions for the theater, but whenever it was for television, I would be so taken aback when I got the call”. At times, I would fantasize of appearing on a Channel 4 show, where I would be given an opportunity. When “Sex Education” aired, I thought, “Well, what have I watched on Netflix?” Everybody has those dazzling Hollywood pearly whites.
But Wood said that she has had “hundreds of messages” from admirers since getting the Netflix part. “People going, ‘Oh my god, you’ve got teeth like mine,” she pointed out. My classmates now think I’m awesome only because I resemble Aimee, so I’m going to school like this. Rather than “Bugs Bunny” or some such.
In a March 2025 video of her applying makeup using Merit Beauty products, Wood said that her mouth “was the thing that everyone pointed out, and it was the thing that made me different” when she was a child. But she learned to love herself as she saw other people with her appearance.
“And I’ve never seen an actress on TV with teeth like mine,” said the actress. The moment when Georgia Jagger sported the gap teeth for her ‘Get the London Look’ was monumental. I had the bright idea of using a bold shade of red lipstick to make it stand out.