As the vegan community grows, so do the lists of inspirational vegan individuals and businesses to follow. We recently covered vegan singers, yoga instructors, personal trainers and plant based doctors to follow on social media, and now it's time to share another inspirational group of vegans; West End actors. Musical theatre is one of the great attractions that entices tourists from all over the world to our country to watch our plays and musical productions, so we’ve compiled a shortlist of vegan and plant based West End artists to shine a light on. 

Harry Hepple

Harry is best known for his hilarious performance in Hamilton as King George in London’s West End. He has also been in The Wizard of Oz, Been So Long, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Ragtime, Privates on Parade, Pippin, Guys & Dolls, Into The Woods, Follies and Romantics Anonymous.

Harry went plant-based in 2016 after trying Veganuary. After a month of eating plant based, the West End star says he felt “a significant difference in his energy levels and no longer suffered with IBS or felt fatigued in the afternoons”. During his vegan journey he began to dig deeper into the environmental impact animal agriculture has on the planet and the exploitation of animals and he’s been plant based ever since. Fun fact; Harry has always loved animals - when he was a child he wanted to be a vet.

Martin Callaghan

Martin is well known for his roles in Chicago, Cats, Wizard of Oz, Sound of Music and films such as Joseph, Funny Girl, Merrily We Roll Along. On TV he has been on GBH, Brookside, Medics and got the golden buzzer on Portugal’s Got Talent.

Martin has been vegetarian most of his life, and went vegan a year and a half ago saying that he “knew it was the right thing to do for the welfare of all animals in the world and it would help our fragile ecosystem heal a little”. Fun fact; Martin’s favourite food is vegan pizza from Pizza Express.

Damien Humbley 

Damien has also had an impressive career. On his CV we find The Woman In White, The Last 5 Years, Fiddler on the Roof, Lend Me A Tenor, Merrily We Roll Along, Local Hero and the new hit The Great British Bake Off Musical.

Damien went plant based over five years ago, and went vegan about six months later. He gets asked a lot about why; is it for ethical, health, or environmental reasons? And his answer is all of the above!

Lizzie Nance

Lizzie has worked on shows such as Cats, Salad Days, Perfectly Ordinary and Gypsy. She went vegan in early 2021, after being vegetarian for over a year prior. Lizzie says she “found eating meat and other animal products were not sustainable for the environment, nor for our bodies and couldn’t bear the thought of the conditions involved in animal farming”. After her vegan transition she says she felt more energised, healthier, and happier, and would encourage others to try a vegan diet too.

Clare Foster

Clare has been in Merrily We Roll Along, Chicago, and soon Best Of Enemies at the Noel Coward theatre, and became vegan five years ago saying she ‘wishes she’d done it a long time ago’.

Her reasons for going vegan include concerns over animal cruelty and the positives a diet centered around whole plant foods have for human health. Why did she become vegan? She is more interested in why other people are not.

We hope you enjoyed our round up of famous vegan and plant based West End actors. Love West End shows? Check out our coverage of Cats the Musical.