The Albert Square alumni is back on our screens
Queenie star Tilly Keeper has made a name for herself in the likes of Netflix phenomenon You, so imagine her discomfort when she was once left unable to see properly while filming a pivotal scene…
Tilly, who previous appeared on EastEnders as Phil Mitchell’s daughter Louise, is now starring in the Channel 4 drama Queenie, based on the bestselling book of the same name.
Here’s everything you need to know about Tilly Keeper from Queenie, her career, and dating rumours.
How old is Tilly Keeper? Where is she from?
Tilly Keeper was born on August 16, 1997, in Westminster, London. At the time of writing, she is 26 years old.
At just four years old, Tilly began learning ballet at D&B Academy of Performing Arts before signing for their agency aged seven. She would later become the fifth alumni from the school to appear on EastEnders (another is Lauren Branning actor Jacqueline Jossa!).
Tilly attended Bromley High School, an independent school located in Bickley, Greater London.
Who did Tilly Keeper play in EastEnders?
Tilly portrayed Louise Mitchell, daughter of soap heavyweights Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) and Lisa Fowler (Lucy Benjamin) in the BBC soap. She had some huge storylines on the soap.
Memorably, Louise saw red when she discovered her boyfriend and baby daddy Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) was also the father of her stepmum Sharon Watts‘s (Letitia Dean) baby. She exacted her revenge by helping her father and brother Ben Mitchell (Max Bowden) kidnap Keanu, leaving him for dead.
Louise left the soap with baby Peggy Mitchell in 2020, believing she would get the blame for Keanu’s murder. However, EastEnders fans know Keanu was in fact still alive. It also wouldn’t be his last time involved in a soap murder plot!
Why did she leave EastEnders?
The Sun Online announced in 2019 that Tilly was leaving the show. In a statement, Tilly said: “I have loved playing Louise Mitchell over these past few years, and I feel honoured to have been part of such an iconic show.”
She also added she would “miss my EastEnders family greatly”.
In 2023, Tilly confessed to W Magazine that at the time she had been getting “itchy” to leave.
She said: “I was 18 when I started and I’d just turned 21. All of my friends at university were graduating. I started thinking, ‘Maybe I should be moving on too’.
“It felt like a natural progression. I got the the point where I was ready to work on other things. I was seeing my actor friends getting roles and I was kind of getting a little bit itchy. So it felt like the right time to leave.”
Who plays Darcy in Queenie?
Tilly stars in new drama Queenie, the Channel 4 adaptation of the award-winning Candice Carty-Williams novel. She plays Darcy, the friend of lead character Queenie (Dionne Brown), a woman struggling after the break up of a long-term relationship.
Queenie is a sharp, honest, funny drama about 25-year-old Jamaican British woman who straddles two cultures, but slots neatly into neither.
In episode one of eight, entitled The Prodigal Granddaughter Returns, Queenie is left shell-shocked when her long-term boyfriend Tom tells her they need a break.
What else has Tilly Keeper been in? What is she doing now?
Last year, Tilly portrayed socialite Lady Phoebe Borehall-Blaxworth in Netflix hit You. Phoebe was part of the wealthy London crowd that serial killer protagonist Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) hides within.
In one terrifying scene, Phoebe attempted to seduce the dangerous Joe – little knowing his good looks disguised an evil personality.
However, Tilly remembers that scene for all the wrong reasons – after falling ill during filming. She told Glamour: “I woke up the morning that we filmed that scene with an optical migraine, so I think I could only see like the left half of Penn’s face as I was filming it!”
Tilly’s other big roles include the TV film Make Me Famous (2020), alongside Tom Brittney and Amanda Abbington.
Who are her parents?
It turns out that Tilly isn’t the only famous name in the family. In fact, her dad Peter Keeper wrote for satirical comedy Spitting Image.
Peter contributed to the writing of two seasons of the hit show in the 1980s.
Meanwhile Tilly’s mother, Amanda, is a former model. In 2017, Tilly told the Daily Express that her taste in fashion was inspired by her mother. She said: “It’s a lot to do with my mum. She used to model in her younger days and whenever I go shopping, she comes, too.”
Who is Tilly Keeper dating?
While starring on EastEnders, rumours flew that Tilly was romantically involved with her co-star Shaheen Jafargholi. Shaheen portrayed Shakil Kazemi, brother of Kush Kazemi (Davood Ghadami) on the London-based soap. Shakil was at one point involved in a love triangle with Tilly’s Louise Mitchell and Bex Fowler (Jasmine Armfield).
However, Tilly told OK! Magazine in 2019 that the pair were “just friends”.
It’s a friendship that she maintains to this day. Despite not appearing on screen together since 2019, Tilly supported Shaheen at the March 2024 launch of his BBC Three series Wreck.
Tilly is not rumoured to have dated anyone else, and is believed to be single at the time of writing.
How tall is she?
According to Tilly’s IMDb profile, she is 5’8″.
That’s the same height as her former on-screen father Steve McFadden.
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