Aimee Lou Wood, who stars in the third season of The White Lotus, has addressed the attention surrounding her appearance, particularly her teeth. The British actress noted that while she can perfect an American accent, her teeth always give away her nationality.
Wood shared with The Sun that show creator Mike White originally allowed her to audition with both an American and her natural Manchester accent. White preferred her authentic voice for the role of Chelsea, the much younger partner of Rick, played by Walton Goggins. “I can do an American accent. But Mike just wanted my Manchester one,” she said.
While discussing the distinction between British and American actors, Wood remarked that her teeth often reveal her heritage. “No Americans have my teeth,” she said. “I think that genuinely is one of the things.” She recalled a past performance in Chicago where an audience member immediately recognized she was not American, despite her convincing accent. “Your accent was great, but I knew you weren’t American. You just don’t look American,” the person told her.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Wood acknowledged that her teeth have been a point of conversation among White Lotus fans. She sees it as part of what makes her different. “Even the way [fans] are talking about me and my teeth—that I don’t have veneers or Botox—it feels a bit rebellious,” she said. “I spent a lot of my life worrying about being weird, and now I’m realizing it could be my strength.”
Wood has spoken openly about learning to embrace her appearance. On Instagram, she reflected on how she became more comfortable with her teeth. “A big thing for me growing up was my mouth because it was the thing that everyone pointed out, and it was the thing that made me different,” she said. She credited Georgia Jagger’s well-known gap-tooth look in a London Look campaign as a turning point in her confidence. “That was a huge moment. And I thought, ‘No, I am going to put red lipstick on, and I am going to draw attention to it.’”
Beyond discussions of her looks, Wood also spoke about the experience of filming The White Lotus in Thailand. She described the seven-month shoot at The Four Seasons as an intense but unforgettable experience. “Living in a hotel, that we also film in? It was like a social experiment,” she told The Guardian. While she praised the beauty of the location and the work of Mike White, she admitted that the long duration of the production had a psychological effect. “One day, I was having my hair done and Miia [Kovero, the hair and makeup artist] was like, ‘You need to go home. I don’t know who I’m talking to anymore, Aimee or Chelsea.’”
