Tom Francis, who grew up near Bury St Edmunds, wins best actor in a musical Olivier Award for West End Sunset Boulevard performances with Nicole Scherzinger

An up-and-coming actor who lived in Suffolk has won a major award after starring in the highly-rated West End musical Sunset Boulevard.

Tom Francis, formerly of Thorpe Morieux, near Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury, was named best actor in a musical at the Olivier Awards which are widely recognised as the highest honour in British theatre.

The remake of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic musical, which also starred Nicole Scherzinger, was the most awarded production and took home seven awards.

Tom, 24, used to be part of Bury’s Theatre Royal Youth Theatre before going on to train in musical theatre at Arts Educational Schools (ArtsEd), in London.

He was also previously involved in the town’s Voice Squad and West Suffolk College’s Conservatoire East.

Birgitta Kenyon, 57, was Tom’s singing teacher during his teenage years and is incredibly proud and emotional following his achievement.

She said: “It’s not every day you watch someone you’ve previously nurtured reach this sort of dizzy height, so I am beyond proud and he absolutely deserves it.

“I went to see him in Sunset Boulevard and I shed quite a few tears of pride.

“Your mid-20s is a hell of an age to be entrusted with the lead in the revival of an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, by the man himself, in the West End - and get one of the top awards for it.”

Tom won Bury’s Got Talent in 2017 and Birgitta praised his determination to improve while he was a performing arts student.

“To start with, he was a lot of fun but quite random. He’d joke around and was very popular in Voice Squad,” she said.

“Later, when he decided to go to Conservatoire East, he wanted to prove he’d made the right choice and was capable of success.

“At that point he really knuckled down and put in a lot of hours into study and research.

“He absolutely thrived and started getting lead roles. It was a wonderful transition to watch.”

After training at the prestigious ArtsEd, Tom’s rise to fame includes playing Romeo Montague in the West End production of & Juliet last year.

His portrayal of character Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard led to him being cast in the same role for the upcoming Broadway adaptation of the show.

Erica Dupuy, 46, who lives in Bury, was Tom’s course director at Conservatoire East and has complimented his character and attitude while he attended from 2015 to 2017.

She said it was no surprise he had found success.

“Tom was such a fearless performer. As an actor, he had a real integrity about his performance and was willing to give everything a go,” she said.

“The thing I really remember is that he was very funny as I was always laughing a lot and he was just a very energetic and charismatic person to be around.

“I’m absolutely not surprised by his recent success at all. He's always been ambitious in a good way and has always wanted to improve to succeed.

“It’s brilliant that they’ve taken him for the Broadway version for the show. The future looks really bright for him.”