# Tilly Keeper
**Tilly Keeper** (born 1997; full name Matilda Elizabeth Keeper) is an English actress best known for playing [Louise Mitchell](https://www.edgepedia.org/louise-mitchell) in the BBC soap opera *EastEnders* from 2016 to 2020 and Lady Phoebe Borehall-Blaxworth in the fourth season of Netflix's psychological thriller *You*[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7821296/bio/) • [2](https://tv.apple.com/gb/person/tilly-keeper/umc.cpc.1v0oph2fm8j0pl77jiihgy6wl). She also plays Darcy Pike in the [Channel 4](https://www.edgepedia.org/channel-4) series *Queenie*[2](https://tv.apple.com/gb/person/tilly-keeper/umc.cpc.1v0oph2fm8j0pl77jiihgy6wl).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1997, Westminster, London; birth name Matilda Elizabeth Keeper[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7821296/bio/) • [3](https://www.tvguide.co.uk/articles/queenie-tilly-keeper-condition-blind-netflix-drama-you-parents-rumoured-fling-eastenders-co-star-eastenders-21555/) |
| Breakthrough role | Louise Mitchell in *EastEnders*, 2016–2020, the fourth actress to play the part[2](https://tv.apple.com/gb/person/tilly-keeper/umc.cpc.1v0oph2fm8j0pl77jiihgy6wl) • [4](https://www.tvguide.co.uk/articles/louise-mitchell-whereabouts-explained-as-phil-leaves-walford-to-visit-his-daughter-eastenders-30162/) |
| International role | Lady Phoebe Borehall-Blaxworth in *You* season 4 (2023), a series regular[2](https://tv.apple.com/gb/person/tilly-keeper/umc.cpc.1v0oph2fm8j0pl77jiihgy6wl) • [5](https://insightmp.co.uk/acting-clients/tilly-keeper) |
| Other screen work | Helen in the BBC film *Make Me Famous* (2020); Darcy in *Queenie* (2024)[2](https://tv.apple.com/gb/person/tilly-keeper/umc.cpc.1v0oph2fm8j0pl77jiihgy6wl) • [6](https://www.channel4.com/press/news/first-look-queenie-candice-carty-williams-coming-channel-4-2024) |
| Early training | Ballet at the D&B Academy of Performing Arts from age four; signed with its agency at seven; attended Bromley High School[3](https://www.tvguide.co.uk/articles/queenie-tilly-keeper-condition-blind-netflix-drama-you-parents-rumoured-fling-eastenders-co-star-eastenders-21555/) |
| Family | Daughter of former *Spitting Image* writer Peter Keeper; two brothers who are graphic designers[7](https://www.tvguide.co.uk/articles/tilly-keeper-you-eastenders-louise-mitchell-age-height-brothers-boyfriend-eastenders-17154/) |
| Award nomination | Best Newcomer nominee at the 2017 National Television Awards[8](https://tollbit.radiotimes.com/tv/soaps/eastenders/eastenders-next-weeks-disaster-is-unmissable-says-tilly-keeper/) |
## Early life and training
Keeper was born in 1997 in Westminster, London, and attended the independent Bromley High School in Bickley, Greater London[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7821296/bio/) • [3](https://www.tvguide.co.uk/articles/queenie-tilly-keeper-condition-blind-netflix-drama-you-parents-rumoured-fling-eastenders-co-star-eastenders-21555/). She began ballet lessons at the D&B Academy of Performing Arts at the age of four and signed with the school's agency at seven; she later became the fifth alumnus of the school to appear on *EastEnders*[3](https://www.tvguide.co.uk/articles/queenie-tilly-keeper-condition-blind-netflix-drama-you-parents-rumoured-fling-eastenders-co-star-eastenders-21555/).
Her father is Peter Keeper, a former writer on the satirical puppet show *Spitting Image*; she has two brothers, both graphic designers, and she has described herself as "the show-off of the family, really. I'm the youngest and the only girl"[7](https://www.tvguide.co.uk/articles/tilly-keeper-you-eastenders-louise-mitchell-age-height-brothers-boyfriend-eastenders-17154/). Acting runs on her mother's side as well; her cousin Macauley Keeper is also an actor[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7821296/bio/).
She did not go to drama school. When schoolmates applied to university, she gave herself one year to book acting work before applying; a month later she had the *EastEnders* role[9](https://www.wmagazine.com/culture/tilly-keeper-lady-phoebe-you-season-4-interview).
## EastEnders: Louise Mitchell
Keeper joined *EastEnders* in 2016 as Louise Mitchell, the estranged daughter of [Phil Mitchell](https://www.edgepedia.org/phil-mitchell) ([Steve McFadden](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-mcfadden)) and Lisa Fowler ([Lucy Benjamin](https://www.edgepedia.org/lucy-benjamin)), becoming the fourth actress to play the character[4](https://www.tvguide.co.uk/articles/louise-mitchell-whereabouts-explained-as-phil-leaves-walford-to-visit-his-daughter-eastenders-30162/). Her storylines included a bus crash, a kidnapping and a pregnancy, and in 2017 she was a nominee in the Best Newcomer category at the National Television Awards[9](https://www.wmagazine.com/culture/tilly-keeper-lady-phoebe-you-season-4-interview) • [8](https://tollbit.radiotimes.com/tv/soaps/eastenders/eastenders-next-weeks-disaster-is-unmissable-says-tilly-keeper/).
**A defining storyline.** Louise's romance with [Keanu Taylor](https://www.edgepedia.org/keanu-taylor) (Danny Walters) collapsed when she learned he was also the father of her stepmother [Sharon Watts](https://www.edgepedia.org/sharon-watts)'s baby; Louise's revenge was to help her father and her brother Ben kidnap Keanu and leave him for dead[3](https://www.tvguide.co.uk/articles/queenie-tilly-keeper-condition-blind-netflix-drama-you-parents-rumoured-fling-eastenders-co-star-eastenders-21555/). She left the show in 2020, departing with her baby daughter Peggy and believing she would take the blame for Keanu's murder[3](https://www.tvguide.co.uk/articles/queenie-tilly-keeper-condition-blind-netflix-drama-you-parents-rumoured-fling-eastenders-co-star-eastenders-21555/).
She has described the four years as her formative training. “The years that I would have gone to school were the years I was on EastEnders,” she told *Harper's Bazaar*, adding that the schedule of as many as 15 scenes a day across four units “drills the acting skills into you, and they become second nature”[10](https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a42803720/tilly-keeper-you-season-4-interview/). On leaving, she said she felt it was a natural progression: “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”[9](https://www.wmagazine.com/culture/tilly-keeper-lady-phoebe-you-season-4-interview).
## You and Lady Phoebe
The two years after *EastEnders* brought few parts. She later said she was getting close on auditions but losing out, “ladies of London” roles among them, until Phoebe came along[9](https://www.wmagazine.com/culture/tilly-keeper-lady-phoebe-you-season-4-interview) • [10](https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a42803720/tilly-keeper-you-season-4-interview/). Netflix announced her as a series regular in season four of *You* in April 2022, and she landed the part quickly: she put herself on tape, had a meeting a week later, and learned the next morning that she had the role[5](https://insightmp.co.uk/acting-clients/tilly-keeper) • [11](https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/tv/news/tilly-keeper-on-starring-in-you-penn-badgley-netflix-27465/).
Lady Phoebe is a wealthy, sweet and wide-eyed London socialite in the circle of [Joe Goldberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/joe-goldberg) ([Penn Badgley](https://www.edgepedia.org/penn-badgley)) and his new partner Kate. Keeper drew the performance from two real-life socialites, [Paris Hilton](https://www.edgepedia.org/paris-hilton) and the late Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, whose privileged, "que sera sera" attitude she kept while giving Phoebe a genuinely lovely streak[9](https://www.wmagazine.com/culture/tilly-keeper-lady-phoebe-you-season-4-interview). She has said the character's core wish is to feel “accepted, seen, and loved,” and that Phoebe's friendship with Kate matters to both characters because a soft side of Kate appears only around Phoebe[10](https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a42803720/tilly-keeper-you-season-4-interview/). Season four's first part premiered on Netflix in February 2023, with the second part released on March 9[5](https://insightmp.co.uk/acting-clients/tilly-keeper) • [10](https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a42803720/tilly-keeper-you-season-4-interview/).
## Queenie and later work
Between the soap and *You*, Keeper starred as Helen in the BBC film *Make Me Famous* (2020)[2](https://tv.apple.com/gb/person/tilly-keeper/umc.cpc.1v0oph2fm8j0pl77jiihgy6wl). In 2024 she played Darcy Pike, a colleague of the title character, in *Queenie*, the eight-part Channel 4 and Hulu adaptation of Candice Carty-Williams's bestselling 2019 novel[2](https://tv.apple.com/gb/person/tilly-keeper/umc.cpc.1v0oph2fm8j0pl77jiihgy6wl) • [6](https://www.channel4.com/press/news/first-look-queenie-candice-carty-williams-coming-channel-4-2024). Her agency's announcements list the *You* and *Queenie* releases as the principal public markers of her career since leaving *EastEnders*[5](https://insightmp.co.uk/acting-clients/tilly-keeper).
The move from daily soap production to international streaming drama is the clearest pattern in her career: four years of rapid-turnover *EastEnders* filming, followed by a leading role in a Netflix series and a returning part in prestige British television[10](https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a42803720/tilly-keeper-you-season-4-interview/) • [11](https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/tv/news/tilly-keeper-on-starring-in-you-penn-badgley-netflix-27465/).
## References
1. [Tilly Keeper – Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7821296/bio/)
2. [Tilly Keeper Films and Shows, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/gb/person/tilly-keeper/umc.cpc.1v0oph2fm8j0pl77jiihgy6wl)
3. [Queenie star Tilly Keeper on EastEnders co-star dating rumours, TV Guide UK](https://www.tvguide.co.uk/articles/queenie-tilly-keeper-condition-blind-netflix-drama-you-parents-rumoured-fling-eastenders-co-star-eastenders-21555/)
4. [Louise Mitchell's whereabouts in EastEnders explained, TV Guide UK](https://www.tvguide.co.uk/articles/louise-mitchell-whereabouts-explained-as-phil-leaves-walford-to-visit-his-daughter-eastenders-30162/)
5. [Insight Management & Production – Tilly Keeper client page](https://insightmp.co.uk/acting-clients/tilly-keeper)
6. [First Look at Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams coming to Channel 4 in 2024, Channel 4 Press](https://www.channel4.com/press/news/first-look-queenie-candice-carty-williams-coming-channel-4-2024)
7. [EastEnders star Tilly Keeper joins Netflix's You as Lady Phoebe, TV Guide UK](https://www.tvguide.co.uk/articles/tilly-keeper-you-eastenders-louise-mitchell-age-height-brothers-boyfriend-eastenders-17154/)
8. [EastEnders: next week's disaster is unmissable, says Tilly Keeper, Radio Times](https://tollbit.radiotimes.com/tv/soaps/eastenders/eastenders-next-weeks-disaster-is-unmissable-says-tilly-keeper/)
9. ['You' Season 4 Star Tilly Keeper on the Real Life Inspiration for Lady Phoebe, W Magazine](https://www.wmagazine.com/culture/tilly-keeper-lady-phoebe-you-season-4-interview)
10. [Tilly Keeper on 'You' Season 4, Joe's Endgame, and Working with Lukas Gage, Harper's Bazaar](https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a42803720/tilly-keeper-you-season-4-interview/)
11. [Tilly Keeper on starring in 'You': 'making a show like this, you have to laugh', Rolling Stone UK](https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/tv/news/tilly-keeper-on-starring-in-you-penn-badgley-netflix-27465/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Soap operas and continuing serials › British and Australasian soaps and characters › EastEnders › EastEnders cast members*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license