Lewis Cope

Life and career

Lewis Cope is an English actor and dancer, born on 19 March 1995 in Hartlepool, County Durham. He grew up with 13 siblings and attended English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College, later training at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. His career began at age 13 in 2008, when he played Michael in a West End production of Billy Elliot the Musical. Two years later, he appeared on the BBC sketch show The Impressions Show with Culshaw and Stephenson.

He then joined the hip-hop dance group Ruff Diamond, which came second on the Sky One competition Got to Dance in 2013. Cope has acted in short films like A Six and Two Threes and Waterbabies, and on television in Hetty Feather (2019), Doctors (2019), and Vera (2021). His stage work includes Richard III, Punk Rock, Macbeth (all 2017), The Night Watch, Spilt, Candide (all 2018), F$%k Magical Michael (2019), Witness for the Prosecution (2019), and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (2022).

In 2022, he joined the ITV soap Emmerdale as Nicky Miligan, first seen as a male nanny interviewing for a job at Home Farm, later revealed to be the son of Caleb Miligan and grandson of Frank Tate and Faith Dingle. He left the show in July 2024, with his character departing alongside boyfriend Suni Sharma. Cope also appeared in an episode of Mrs Sidhu Investigates in 2023. In August 2025, he was announced as a contestant on the twenty-third series of Strictly Come Dancing, stepping in for Kristian Nairn, who withdrew due to health reasons.

He was partnered with Katya Jones. The pair earned the series’ first perfect score of 40 for a couple’s choice dance during the Halloween special, which judge Anton du Beke called “as good as any we’ve ever seen on any series.” They were eliminated in week 11, the ninth couple out, after losing a dance-off to Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin.