THURSTON
JULIA
Actor & Writer
ABOUT
J​ulia Thurston is a Canadian-born American actor and award-winning playwright based in London, England on the Global Talent Visa. ​
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​Raised in New York City, she got her start as both an actor and a writer by creating and performing original work with the MCC Youth Company. She is a 2018 graduate of the BA (Hons.) Acting program at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) and is a 2022 graduate with a 1st-class MA in Acting from the Guildford School of Acting. The GSA MA Actors Showcase can be viewed online​
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Julia recently won a 2025 Off West End Award for her 2024 production of Paved with Gold and Ashes, which she wrote and performed in. More information about the play can be found here.
COMING UP NEXT: Julia will be appearing in a Rehearsed Reading of her new play East of Adelaide at XYZ in London on Saturday April 12th. Tickets and more info can be found here.
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Most recently, Julia played Kayla in the World Premiere of the play Fresh Mountain Air at the Drayton Arms Theatre, January 2025. ​
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Other recent appearances include Ophelia in Hamlet and Queen/Green/Groom in Richard II as part of the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival 2024
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She has also performed in her self-penned and published play, Paved with Gold and Ashes several times over the years, including a five-star Edinburgh Fringe production in 2023 and its Offie-winning London transfer to the Barons Court Theatre in 2024.
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Julia regularly performs improv sketch comedy with Salty Pelican Theatre Company at their monthly improv/open mic nights at Love Shack Cambridge Heath.
CV/Resumé
Spotlight Pin: 4138-9081-6080
Build: Slender
Height: 5'7"
Playing Age: 20-30
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: Blonde
Hair Length: Long
Accents/Dialects: General American*, Standard English/RP, Heightened RP, Northern English, Yorkshire, American-California, American-Southern, Scandinavian
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Special skills: US & Canadian passports (dual citizenship), ballet (intermediate), swimming, pilates, choral singing, folk singing, musical director/MD experience, ukulele (basic), sheet music reading, poetry, spoken word, drawing, oil painting, embroidery
THEATRE
2025, Stage, Kayla, Fresh Mountain Air, dir. Penny Gkritzapi, Drayton Arms Theatre
2024, Stage, Queen/Green/Groom, Richard II, dir. David Rowan, Cambridge Shakespeare Festival
2024, Stage, Ophelia, Hamlet, dir. Simon Bell, Cambridge Shakespeare Festival
2024 (ongoing), Stage, Performer, Improv Comedy, Salty Pelican Theatre Company
2024, Stage, Lucia, Paved with Gold and Ashes Threedumb Theatre/Barons Court Theatre
2023, Stage, Lucia, Paved with Gold and Ashes Threedumb Theatre/Edinburgh Fringe
2023, Stage, Inge, Permanent Tenancy, dir. Berwyn Jones/Threedumb Theatre
2021, Stage, Elizabeth, Never Lost, Never Found, GSA MA Actors "A Night of New Writing"
2021, Stage, Frances, The Light Burns Blue, dir. Phyllida Crowley-Smith, GSA
2020, Online, Lucia, Paved with Gold and Ashes, Watford Fringe Festival Online
2020, Stage, Susanna, Darling, It's Not About You, dir. Beth Fox, Tristan Bates Theatre
2019, Stage, Susanna, Sex, Relationships & Everything in Between..., (Bee in my Beanie) Lion & Unicorn Theatre
2019, Stage, Lucia, Paved With Gold and Ashes, dir. Emma Kniebe & Julia Thurston, Tristan Bates Theatre
2019, Stage, Marie, Reverence, "I'm Sorry But..." (Bee in my Beanie), Bread & Roses Theatre
2018, Immersive Theatre, Natalie, Sin City, Liverpool Arts Society​
2018, Stage, Catherine, Reasons to be Myself, dir. Matthew Harwood, Hope Street Theatre Liverpool
2018, Stage, Helen, The Love of the Nightingale, dir. Will Hammond, LIPA
2017, Stage, Niamh, Girls Like That, dir. Jonathan Glew, LIPA
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FILM
2018, Music Video, Weekday Nights by Chloe Pitchford
2017, Short Film, Alex, Hostel, dir. Kelly Litt/Nicolai Suphammer
2017, Short Film, Julie, The Things I Wish You'd Said, dir. Katie Ball
2017, Short Film, Fan, G String, dir. Matthew Bromwich/Andre Lassemo
WRITING CREDITS
2024, Stage, Paved with Gold and Ashes, Threedumb Theatre/Barons Court Theatre
2023, Stage, Paved with Gold and Ashes, Threedumb Theatre/Edinburgh Festival Fringe
2021, Stage, Never Lost, Never Found, GSA MA Actors "A Night of New Writing"
2019 & 2018, Stage, Paved With Gold and Ashes, dir. Emma Kniebe, LIPA SEB & Threedumb Theatre at the Tristan Bates Theatre
2018, Stage, My Own Estimation, dir. Ben Rivers, BareWater Productions
2017, Stage, Little House in the Big Bad World, dir. Sam Birch, LIPA 24 Hour Play Project
2017, Film, Deserving, dir. Leanne Traynor/48 Hour Film Extravaganza
2017, Stage, Darling, it's Not About You, Co-written with Sof Puchley
2017, Stage, Impressions, LIPA 24 Hour Play Project & Live at TriBeCa with Liverpool Arts Society
2012, 2014, 2015, Stage, UnCensored, written with the MCC Theater Youth Company
Production Stills
Headshots
Video
Audio
Voice Reel
Paved with Gold and Ashes
is Julia Thurston's first published play, published by Aurora Metro in 2024. It recently won a 2025 OFFIE Award in the Industry & Incluison category
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​CAN FIVE YOUNG WOMEN KEEP THEIR DREAMS ALIVE?
OR WILL EVERYTHING TURN TO ASHES?​​
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1911. New York City is flooded with immigrants from all over Europe hoping for a new life. The Triangle Shirtwaist factory is one of the most coveted places to work. Some say that in America the streets are paved with gold, full of wealth and opportunities, but is this true for five young factory workers?
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Based on a true event, taking place over the course of one Saturday in March, Paved with Gold and Ashes explores what it means to be a woman and an immigrant, each young woman daydreaming about the life she wishes to live once her promise of the American dream has been fulfilled. But battling poverty, capitalism, and unfair working conditions, their dreams may just turn to ashes.
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A five-woman play about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, Paved with Gold and Ashes was first produced at the Tristan Bates Theatre by Threedumb Theatre in 2019, with whom Julia is an associate artist. Since then, Julia has appeared as the character Lucia in all subsequent productions of the play.
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After a five-star production at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023, the play transferred to London for a two-week run at the Barons Court Theatre in January 2024.
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Praise for Paved with Gold and Ashes:
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“Thurston’s agonising and attentive descriptions of the factory fire is one of the most effective pieces of dramatic writing I have ever seen."
-Skot Wilson for Broadway Baby
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"Paved with Gold and Ashes is a masterfully crafted piece which allows a glimpse into the very real running themes of classism, racism, and sexism. It’s powerful in delivery, clear in intent, and has the potential to truly pack-a-punch.”
-Everything Theatre​
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Paved with Gold and Ashes received an OffComm Commendation by the Off West End Awards for its Edinburgh Fringe Preview performances at the Old Red Lion Theatre in 2023.
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In 2023, the play was brought to Hurtwood House School in Surrey as an in-house performance for their performing arts students.
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Most recently, a rehearsed reading of Paved with Gold and Ashes took place in Midtown Manhattan in October 2024 which was the play's North American premiere.
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The play is proudly supported by the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition
