When it comes to her teeth, Aimee Lou Wood has heard it all. And, yes, she knows that White Lotus fans are talking about them too. In a recent interview, The White Lotus star recently opened up about her gap-teeth, saying the fact that she looks different from Hollywood stars makes her feel “rebellious.”
Aimee is no stranger to acting, she's done theatre and starred in four seasons of Sex Education on Netflix, but playing Chelsea The White Lotus is without a doubt her American Hollywood breakthrough. And with that came a whole new dynamic: working with a majority American cast.
“I'm so British in my sensibility that I wasn't sure how to handle being around so many people who are so front-footed and confident,” she explained in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “All I ever do is take the piss out of myself. Even the way [The White Lotus] fans are talking about me and my teeth — that I don't have veneers or Botox—it feels a bit rebellious.”
There's no denying that her smile makes her stand out in the world of on-screen “perfection” and the veneer craze we're currently living through. And while it is rebellious, Aimee has joked that it could keep her from getting roles, American roles specifically. “It's the teeth, like no Americans have my teeth. They just don't,” she said in an interview with On Demand Entertainment, explaining why she fears she'd never be cast as an American on screen. “I'd have to get veneers.”
For the record: I think Aimee could play an American character without fake teeth, but, unfortunately, I am not a casting director.
This is far from the only time Aimee has spoken about how she sometimes worried that her teeth might affect her career. In a 2020 interview, she said that while she doesn't think it has ever actually impacted her professionally, mentally it's hard to keep those doubts at bay. “It's a myth I've told myself. I had it in my brain that I'm not conventional-looking enough and that's a mental barrier I've had to overcome,” she said at the time.
Not only has she overcome her insecurities, she's also become a role model. “I'm getting hundreds of messages from people going, ‘Oh my god, you've got teeth like mine. Now I go to school and people think I'm cool because I look like Aimee.’”
Olivia Truffaut-Wong is an editor at Cosmopolitan, where she covers beauty, entertainment, and lifestyle. She loves finding and testing the best skincare products to recommend, like the best tinted sunscreens, and is always researching the best cat accessories for her fur baby. She has over 10 years of experience as an entertainment and culture writer and editor, and her work has been featured in The Cut, Refinery29, Teen Vogue, Polygon, Bustle, and more.
