Meet Bridgerton's Lucas Aurelio: Discussing his LGBTQ+ Storyline, London Theatre, and All-Things-Acting
Dearest Gentle Reader, there are spoilers for Bridgerton Season 3: Part 2 ahead...
“The wine has made you rather charming,” says Bridgerton’s blue-eyed Paul Suarez as he flirts with the flustered Benedict Bridgerton. The eager anticipation for queer romance in Bridgerton has long followed the ground-breaking period-drama, and the second half of Season 3 finally explores the sexuality of the internet's favourite artsy Bridgerton brother, Benedict (Luke Thompson).
As Series 3 progresses, Benedict's captivating lover Lady Tilley Arnold (Hannah New) introduces him to her own lover, a mysterious gentleman named Paul Suarez. After some classic Bridgerton-style flirting on decadent English balconies, Benedict is invited to join the pair and finds himself exploring his own queer desires in this “party of three.”
Paul is debonair, suave and seductive. Yet, perhaps surprisingly, this enigmatic new member of the ton is played by a friendly American. Let me introduce you to the upstate-New York born, London based actor Lucas Aurelio, whose 5 years living in London have helped him to nail the "posh" British accent he delivers in the Netflix show. With credits including Netflix’s The Witcher, Laufey’s ‘Bewitched’ music video, and a role in Noah Baumbach’s upcoming feature film, the Spanish-American actor is one to watch.
I sat down with the 28-year-old in a quiet Camden pub to find out everything you need to know about this budding actor – discussing the importance of Bridgerton's LGBTQ+ representation, his love for London theatre, and all things acting.
Despite his Bridgerton character’s quiet, brooding confidence, Aurelio is charismatically candid in his daily life. Sat wearing a bobbling black hoodie, he confessed at the end of our interview that he was at the tail end of a long week, before earnestly announcing that he “just needed to dance.” He laughed upon realising his statement sounded like a line from a cheesy teen film, but he stuck by it. In moments like this, Aurelio is refreshingly unapologetic and self-assured, without teetering on arrogance.
It comes as no surprise, then, that Aurelio was always “one of those kids who was in a bunch of clubs. My parents always put me into the arts. I did dance, ballet, music and even sports.” It wasn’t until he was 12, however, that he got his first taste of performing on a stage, and this newfound passion for acting “snowballed" from there. His first musical theatre role was in his high school’s production of Cabaret, in which he played one of the ladies in the song ‘Two Ladies.’ For anyone unfamiliar with the musical, Aurelio points out that ‘Two Ladies’ “is a song about a threesome,” a parallel that makes his debut Bridgerton plot feel deliciously full circle.
Realising early on that he “did not want to study maths, science, or English,” Aurelio quips that “the only thing that made sense was to go pay $40,000 a semester for a musical theatre degree!” He obtained a scholarship for the musical theatre programme at Russell Sage College in Troy, New York, which spared him having to cough up this risky investment. However, it came on a unique condition: Aurelio was one of only 12 men doing musical theatre at the historically women's-only college. “I was constantly surrounded by women,” Aurelio tells me, laughing in shame as he realised that comment would sound “f*cking w*nky” without context.
One may be surprised to hear Aurelio opted for a musical theatre degree, especially considering that much of his recent work has been in TV and film. He simply replies that “I liked musicals, and I liked theatre. It seemed like a 2-for-1. At the time, because I wasn’t raised in New York City and I wasn’t raised around professional actors, I didn’t take into account that there may be certain biases between musical theatre and so-called ‘straight’ theatre.”
For many aspiring actors this could easily feel like a setback, especially when you consider the domination of classically trained actors on West End stages. Aurelio, however, sees the bright side of attending a “rinky-dink school.” “What college gave me was an opportunity to fail," he explains, "I have friends who went to places like RADA and Carnegie Mellon, where there’s an immense amount of pressure. The biggest agencies in the U.S. go to those schools looking for talent. My school was nothing compared to those.” Without the shoes of Oscar-winning alumni to fill, Aurelio remains characteristically grateful for his college experience, summarising that “it was an opportunity to trip and fail."
The more you chat to Aurelio, you realise he has a knack for persistence; the New Yorker does not fulfil the stereotype of a jobbing actor angry at the cutthroat industry, nor is he toxically optimistic. Rather, he takes each opportunity as it comes. After university, this took the form of spontaneously participating in the Public Works’ annual Shakespeare in the Park, an off-Broadway, community based theatre project held in Central Park.
How did Aurelio get this opportunity? A misdial made by his mum. The actor shakes his head in disbelief as he recounts how his “mom accidentally called the wrong person. She was meant to call one Suzie, and accidentally called another Suzie.” Through this unintentional connection, Aurelio was introduced to the Public Works project and took the chance to audition for its 2016 production of Twelfth Night, an experience that altered his career path immeasurably.
“That show was what made me drop everything else that I was doing” to pursue acting, Aurelio confesses. Onstage with the company, Aurelio found himself directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah, the acclaimed British playwright, director and actor who stepped down as artistic director of the Young Vic Theatre in London earlier this year. Aurelio’s ambition blossomed while observing Kwei-Armah, and the young actor admits he regularly attended rehearsals that he “wasn’t even scheduled for just to watch the leads perform.” Those leads were Tony Award winner Nikki M. James, playing Viola after performing in The Book of Mormon and Les Misérables on Broadway, and Jose Llana, playing Orsino fresh from portraying the King in The King and I on Broadway.
Seeing these professionals at work changed everything for Aurelio. He tells me how “in between restarting the run, they’d be joking and pushing each other” before they snapped back into their work. “I realised I had no interest in being in a locker room setting or anywhere else anymore; all my energy went into acting.” Through this experience, Lucas also developed his love for theatre as an art form, noting “that’s theatre. That’s the actor’s medium. That’s where we have full autonomy over our performance.”
With all this glitz and glamour of Broadway on his doorstep, I ask “why come to London?” He smiles at the question, confessing the life altering move across the Atlantic was “really all about timing.” After a period of solo travelling during university, Aurelio met a friend in London who he now considers his “closest thing to family” in the U.K. With their help, Aurelio discovered the creative scene of London warehouses, fell in love with the city’s theatre scene (which he notes offers far cheaper tickets than Broadway), and decided to take the risk of swapping yellow cabs for red buses.
Aurelio’s Spanish mother had registered him as a Spanish citizen when he was baby, allowing him not only to spend many childhood summers visiting Madrid and learning Español, but also to get a Spanish passport. After the actor finished university, Brexit loomed “right around the corner” and he realised that the move was now-or-never. “A lot of people helped me,” Aurelio gratefully reflects, “and I got a lot of lucky breaks.” In spite of the obvious hardships that come with living so far from family, the actor beams as he confesses that the move was “one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”
Bridgerton’s Lady Tilley Arnold introduces Paul Suarez as a gentleman who “spends all his time supporting the theatre,” a hobby Aurelio seems to share. In his first year in London, the actor watched over 50 shows and admits that theatre remains his first love. After mentioning that I'd seen the irreproachable Bernadette Peters in Sondheim’s Old Friends last December, the actor shared that he too is “a total Sondheimophile.” He leans back in his seat as he makes clear, “Sondheim’s the greatest of all time, and if I had a chance to do any of his major works, like if Follies or Merrily [We Roll Along…] came back, I’d jump at it.”
At this point I jumped to know if Aurelio was hiding a secret singing voice, though it turns out to be less hidden than simply dormant. “If I was told that I had an in-the-room singing audition in a week, I’d be so out of practice,” he laughs, “but I would love to do a musical again.” Something about this curly haired American—who moved across the world simply because “things aligned”—makes me think Aurelio could nail the happy-go-lucky bohemian lead character of Christian in Moulin Rouge. Though, perhaps that role falls too on the nose for an actor just starting to spread his wings.
Yet it is ultimately the project, not the medium, that Aurelio prioritises: “the project is what’s going to draw you in,” whether that is in the form of a film, TV show, play or musical. “Now more than ever” Aurelio confesses he “would love an opportunity to break into something or be part of something new,” to get his teeth into a role where he can “set the standard” as an actor. I’m admittedly surprised to hear that the New York-born actor’s “dream above all” is to work onstage at the National Theatre, but Aurelio doubles down: the National Theatre has stolen this London-based boy’s heart, even “more than Broadway.”
Aurelio’s ambition to be part of something new comes after the “honour and privilege” of working on Bridgerton. On stepping into Paul Suarez’s shoes, Aurelio tells me that much of the character work had been done for him: "the character was cultivated by the executives and the writers, I was bestowed this character to execute it in the way they needed me to.”
This is not a negative for the actor, but a learning curve that came as part of working on these “big machine” Netflix productions. Aurelio featured briefly on another hit Netflix series, The Witcher, and admits that working on Season 3 of the fantasy series was a “bizarre” experience.
“Big productions like The Witcher and Bridgerton run like a machine," Aurelio explains, “usually, everybody that you want to make a good impression on will be on set. But, for both The Witcher and Bridgerton, the captains of the ships just aren’t always there. They’re executing everything from afar.”
These machines move quickly, too. Aurelio did only “one day of shooting” for The Witcher, while the entire Bridgerton process—from auditioning with a self-tape from his North London bedroom to “kissing someone” as Suarez—spanned less than seven days. “I was on set within a week, shooting a full day,” he reveals.
These stories make clear how fast paced an actor’s lifestyle can be, and how much can change in an instant. “I remember being so tired,” Aurelio chuckles, recounting the morning he got the Bridgerton call. After a few hectic weeks of hosting family members from New York and running on little sleep, the life-changing call from Aurelio’s agent was met with a surprising initial reaction.
“I can’t tell you how understated my reaction was,” he laughs, “My agent told me he sent the tape in on Monday at noon and on Tuesday morning he called me saying ‘You 99% have the role.’ I just responded casually, like ‘Oh sure, cool.’ I decided I wasn’t going to let myself get my hopes up.”
Aurelio had good reason to be sceptical; this was his fifth time auditioning for the series and landing a role on the hit show would be any jobbing actor’s dream. Adding to his doubt was Aurelio's hectic weekend; he confesses that “on the weekend that I did the tape, I'd had two other auditions which I’d been focusing on. The Bridgerton tape was such a short, one page audition on a busy weekend. I got the tape out of the way and focused on the other two auditions.” The phrase ‘it comes when you least expect it’ may invoke eyerolls, but it seems unavoidably apt to Aurelio’s Bridgerton anecdote.
“It’s one of the biggest tv series in the world and when I was auditioning for it, I really didn’t think I was going to get it.”
Fifth-time was evidently a charm, however, and “within an hour” of the call with his agent Aurelio “was getting emails from production saying welcome.” The process was a whirlwind from there: “I had my haircut the next day, my fitting the following day, and my first run with the dialect coach right after. In less than a week I was on set kissing someone and flirting with another person, in truest Bridgerton form!”
Even when the job takes only a few fleeting days, the impact of these international TV series remains far longer. Aurelio sincerely reveals that "The Witcher amounted to 3 or 4 days in total out of my whole year, but it meant a lot to family members and friends who saw that I had achieved that.”
Far less fleeting, however, was the impression that Paul Suarez’s “unorthodox” personality left on Bridgerton fans. As well as the “pride” Aurelio feels for his work on the show, he is only just beginning to observe the important effects of the LGBTQ+ representation that his character’s plot line introduced.
Before the series dropped, Aurelio promised Paul Suarez would be “unlike any other character that has been in the show"—and seeing a classical leading man explore bisexual desires in Regency era London is certainly a fresh new step for the Netflix hit. Aurelio points out that the most important aspect of Paul’s character is that he allows the “chance for Benedict to explore his sexuality, to discover who he is and what else he might like.”
The actor admits it is hard to summarise what Bridgerton has meant to him in words, but he offers these ones: “it’s a huge honour and privilege to be in the series itself, in a production like Bridgerton, because of what it means to all different sorts of demographics around the world, from people aged 18 to 80. As well as that, there is our specific storyline as told between me, Luke and Hannah. Not only is it incredibly unique for the show, but it’s a very real story and dynamic that people still talk about nowadays." Despite the five different roles he auditioned for, Aurelio therefore firmly believes he “got the best one.”
"At the base of it, it’s going to mean a lot to a lot of people, and I feel so lucky and privileged to be a part of that story.”
Aurelio's demeanour is generally relaxed, but his eyes widen with puppyish pride as he speaks here: “I’m just eternally grateful. The storyline is really important to me, and this character is really important to me. Even if it didn’t go any further than this season, I would just remember it for the rest of my life. I hope that Paul Suarez can leave an impact on people not only from the character’s very well written story, but from an experience that resonates with them.”
Suarez certainly left an impression on fans, with one TikTok user commenting “BENEDICT AND PAUL NEED TO BE TOGETHER!!” on a fanmade video edit. With the recent announcement that Benedict is going to be the lead of Bridgerton Season 4, fans are left speculating about the impact Aurelio's character has had on the possibility for queer romance in the show's future.
To return to Season 3, it is Paul and Lady Tilley who take control of the scenes, compassionately guiding Benedict into a world of nonconformity that opens his eyes beyond the etiquette of the ton. In real life, however, Aurelio was the newcomer in this party of three. “I worked with Luke [Thompson] and Hannah [New]. They’re a bit older than me and more experienced,” Aurelio explains, “so I felt really taken under their wings. Especially because they'd already been working with each other for the last few months and I was thrown into it as the third wheel.”
“We are three very different people, but I have so much love for both of them,” Aurelio gushes. The bond between these colleagues seems to be one of the lasting upshots of his experience on the show; Aurelio attended the acclaimed London run of A Little Life at the Savoy Theatre, which starred Luke Thompson, and Hannah New posted on Instagram “Love these lads so much!” alongside behind-the-scenes images with Luke and Lucas.
This warmth was matched by the entire Bridgerton team, Aurelio assures me. “Everyone, from the crew to the cast, were so lovely. I mostly shot with Luke and Hannah but the people that I came across in between were really open, courteous and welcoming. The experience was unlike any other.”
The Bridgerton “machine” therefore seems more pleasantly magnetic than mechanic, and I ask Aurelio whether he was intimidated by the scale of the show—especially in having to adopt a British accent in one of the most watched British television shows in recent history. Aurelio admits that he “never thought [he] was particularly good at accents,” yet one day he had a revelation that he has not looked back from since. “I was watching TV shows and showreels, and some accents weren’t that good,” he admits as he laughs, “so I just thought, if they can do it, I can.”
“It’s all about fearlessness,” he notes. It is not so much that Aurelio is promoting unwarranted self-confidence here, but rather the mentality that “you just have to try it.” On his approach to acting overall, he has realised that “the best way to approach anything is from you.” For Aurelio, “you must realise you are enough. Then you can stop focusing on yourself, get out of your own way, and just say the text.” As an English Literature student, trained to analyse every word on the page, I desperately seek elaboration from Aurelio’s concise summary that “you just have to speak it.” Crediting his acting coach for this guidance, Aurelio clarifies that there are limits to your job as an actor and it takes realising them to do your job well.
“You just have to speak it. You just have to make sense of the lines, then that’s where a director comes in and says ‘Be more persuasive, more dismissive’ etcetera. But, at least to start, just say it.” This might sound easy, but it is the first hurdle many aspiring actors fall at. Aurelio shrewdly points out that over-analysing the lines—as an English Literature student might be inclined to do—or worrying too much about what the viewer may think, can get in the way of “just saying the words, in the same way you’d have a conversation.”
Do not misunderstand this to suggest that Aurelio does not research; he tells me about the many ways he might research historical figures or inspect other actors’ performances when he approaches a character. In fact, Aurelio “would love to play a character that existed historically,” desiring the meaty task of bringing life to a figure otherwise stuck in a history textbook. Even so, he stresses that the most important thing to remember is that, "it's all text."
“You can do all the research you want on a character, but once you’re on stage or performing the scene, you just have to say the words like a conversation.”
It is for this reason that Aurelio argues that “when the writing is good, you don’t have to force feed it to the audience. You don't have to present it in a way that the audience is going to understand it. By just saying the language, if it's written well enough, you trust that you are going to be able to relay the story.”
“That’s why Shakespeare’s work has dominated as long as it has,” Aurelio recognises. Here, our conversation has unlocked the actor’s passion for excellent writing, and the fire behind Aurelio’s relaxed demeanour reignites. Aurelio interrupts himself as he praises the bard’s enduring work, telling me “Shakespeare is the brink between modern day acting”—which he describes as brimming with “brilliant subtext”—and “the poetry of language itself. Shakespeare lays everything out.”
By this assessment, it is no wonder that so many actors return to Shakespearean monologues for audition tapes and clamber for roles in recent renditions. If one works with Shakespeare’s writing rather than against it, they’re carried by its metre and poetics. The actor’s job of storytelling can become a pure, rhythmic haze. Perhaps Aurelio is right, then, that “your greatest tool and ally as an actor is the text,” as working with good writing creates greater performances than over-analysing or resisting it ever could.
The inevitable flipside of this would be the projects that lack good writing, the likes of which all actors confront at some point in their careers. To this dilemma, Aurelio’s refreshingly unprejudiced perspective re-emerges: “your job as an actor is to tell the story, and if the story is not great, there is no reason for you to burden yourself with the idea that you carry the weight of it. As actors, we’re not there to soak up praise or be the centre of attention; they are by-products of what the actual goal is, to tell the story.”
Here, Aurelio unintentionally answers the age-old question that cinephiles ask when their favourite actors are in awful movies—how did they say yes to this film? For Aurelio, being an actor means forgetting embarrassment and abandoning ego; “you can’t think ‘Ugh it's not good enough, I need to give it more!’ You are enough, now just focus on telling the story on the page.” It is hard not to be won over by this actor who, while he does not phrase it this simply himself, clearly cares more about his craft than any ego-boost could shake, or any Z-list flop could deter.
Aurelio's fearless approach makes him never shy of an acting challenge, so the R.P. British accent that he worked on with his Bridgerton dialect coach became an exciting addition to his experience. But this wasn’t the first time Aurelio had to master a new accent, or even a new language, for one of his roles. Last year, Aurelio featured in the Welsh-language TV drama Anfamol, shown on S4C. Filming the comedy-drama in Cardiff was Aurelio’s “first time working with the BBC," and the actor wants "to do things like that for the rest of my life.”
“I learnt some Welsh,” Aurelio admits with a grin, “and having the Welsh culture shared with me was so special. I was immensely proud and honoured to be included in that.” Knowing that I am Welsh, Aurelio wished me “Penblwydd Hapus” on my last birthday, a testament to the fact that the actor's passion for embracing new cultures is not merely talk.
Aurelio’s chatty charisma and Paul Suarez's seductive stare have have made him a bewitching newcomer to the Bridgerton franchise. Yet, if you’re a fan of the Grammy Award winning, jazz-inspired pop singer Laufey, Bridgerton may not be the first time Aurelio’s charming chops have been put to work on your screen. The actor featured in the music video for Laufey’s 2023 single Bewitched, an “amazing” experience that Aurelio is “incredibly proud of.” “I can say wholeheartedly I’m an absolute fan,” he says excitedly, “I love her music.”
With international Netflix shows and viral music videos already under his belt, I ask the actor what is next for him. He laughs and sighs, “I’m taking each day as it comes.” With thanks mainly to Bridgerton, Aurelio has been working full-time as an actor for over a year now and is conscious that he needs to soak in every moment without expectations. As easy-going as Aurelio appears, his subtle tendency to take moments of reflection is ever-present.
“It’s been a long journey," and the actor is “really proud of where I’ve gotten and of what Bridgerton has become.” Yet, for those of us watching at home, just beginning to recognise the Spanish-American actor on our screens, Aurelio’s career is still in its promising early days.
A role in Noah Baumbach’s new film (director of A Marriage Story (2019) and Frances Ha (2012)) is far from a small step in any actor's budding career, however. As of July 2024, Aurelio updates me that he “recently finished filming” Baumbach’s new star-studded film, which features George Clooney and Adam Sandler among other household names .
“I’m incredibly excited,” Aurelio confesses – but, in classic Hollywood style, he admits he "honestly can’t say anything about that film right now.” And, with the inevitable hype that will be blowing up his inbox since Bridgerton premiered, I’m sure the charismatic actor has plenty more excitement yet to come.
You can watch Lucas Aurelio as Paul Suarez in Bridgerton Season 3: Part 2, exclusively on Netflix.
Written and edited by Georgia Gibson, Theatre Editor, as the final article of her Performer’s Corner interview series. Georgia would like to thank Lucas Aurelio for his time and interesting conversation. Strand looks forward to seeing his career progress.
