Hannah van der Westhuysen

Hannah van der Westhuysen (they/them) trained as an actor at the Drama Centre and has built an extensive career on stage and screen. They have led shows for Netflix, including Fate: The Winx Saga (2023), and appeared in projects such as Sexy Beast (Paramount+, 2024) and Sandman (Netflix, 2024). Their stage work, most recently with Paines Plough on Salty Irina, primarily focuses on new writing. They have co-produced their first short film, Best Dressed, and have worked as a researcher and developer for new writing at the Arcola Theatre. They have also written and presented two series of The Fboy Podcast, an original comedy podcast exploring terrible blokes in history and pop culture.

Hannah studied screenwriting at City Lit and has recently developed an original TV show, Click Here to Scream, with their longtime collaborator Florence Skelton, partially inspired by their experiences navigating life in their 20s. They love writing stories that lean into comedy and outrageousness while intelligently critiquing society and culture. Particularly drawn to themes of female & AFAB experience, queerness, identity, sex, relationships, and the never-ending journey of trying to come of age, Hannah’s work explores the bewildering experience of figuring out life as young-but-ageing adults in the modern world.

Inspired by shows such as Such Brave Girls, I May Destroy You, This Way Up, Feel Good, and The End of the F**ing World*, Hannah is always looking for opportunities to work on existing shows or in writers’ rooms, as well as continuing to develop their own projects.