“It is with great sadness, we let you know that our incredible Mum Sylvia Young passed away peacefully this morning 30th July 2025,” they wrote.
“Our Mum was a true visionary. She gave young people from all walks of life the chance to pursue their performing arts skills to the highest standard. Her rare ability to recognise raw talent and encourage all her students contributed to the richness of today’s theatre and music works, even winning herself an Olivier Award along the way.
“She believed hard work with a bit of luck brought success, and she was an example of that herself.”
Young founded her eponymous theatre school in 1972. She said she never intended to start a theatre school, and began by offering drama classes to children from her daughters’ primary school for 10p a pop – including a glass of orange juice and a biscuit.
By 1981 the school was operating full-time – moving to Drury Lane that year, and then Marylebone two years later. Today, it has 220 full-time students between the ages of 10 and 16, and 900 Saturday school students, and offers a broad range of vocational and academic classes.
One of Sylvia Young's most famous alumni is Amy Winehouse (Image: Getty)Getty Images
During her 50-year career, Young trained some of the biggest names in British music and acting – from singers such as Amy Winehouse, Emma Bunton and McFly's Tom Fletcher, to actors including Nicholas Hoult and Billie Piper, and reality tv stars Gemma Collins and Mark Wright, to name but a few.
Young’s incredible work didn’t go unnoticed. In 2022, she received a special Olivier award for "giving countless students the opportunity to study performing arts", and three years later, in 2005, she was awarded an OBE.
In 1998, she was the subject of an episode of This is Your Life. Talking about the experience later, she said: “It never crossed my mind for a moment that I would be the subject for This is Your Life, but I think, to be quite honest, it was more they thought it would be an interesting programme because of the other people that I could bring onto the programme. I won it by virtue of having wonderful ex-students who the public would be interested in.”
Reflecting on the highlight of the show, she shared: “They brought my sister, who was living abroad in Israel at the time, over – which was a tremendous surprise.”
Sylvia Young on This is Your Life, with former student, Eastenders actor Adam Woodyatt (Image: Youtube)[Missing Credit]
While Young herself may not have had a taste for the limelight – telling the Guardian: “I used to lose my voice before every production. When I think about it, they were sort of panic attacks ” – her children and grandchildren had no such problems. Her daughter, Frances Ruffelle, won a Tony award for her portrayal of Eponine in Les Miserables in 1987, and one of her granddaughters is the popstar Eliza Doolittle.
Following the announcement of her death, tributes poured in – from well-known names as well as other students whose lives she touched.
Commenting underneath Frances’s post, fellow actress Tracy-Ann Oberman wrote: “Huge condolences F. What an incredible woman she was x”
All Saints singers Natalie and Nicole Appleton, who both trained under Young, also shared their condolences, while Gary Kemp wrote: “I’m so so sorry to read this Frances. What an amazing example to so many she was. And what a legacy. Sending much love to you and the children. Xxx”
On Facebook, a former Saturday student called Isaac Reuben shared a touching story of how Young – who was in her 80s at the time – went above and beyond to support him.
“I don’t pretend to have known Sylvia as well as her staff or her full-time students, but it was this kindness and dedication to a student she’d only met once that demonstrated her character. She went out of her way to show up.
“She led her school until the end and did it with firm, confident kindness,” he continued. “She was a gift to me and countless others and her legacy will be a gift to young performers who are not even born yet. May her memory be for a blessing.”
Concluding their statement, Young’s daughters wrote: “She leaves as her legacy a wealth of brilliant performers, a thriving school bearing her name, and a priceless place in the nation’s heart.
“Above all she leaves the memory of an East End girl who worked hard to achieve her goals, took hold of life, and lived it to the full.
“Her family were everything to her, her wonderful husband, our dad, Norman and her grandchildren Eliza, Nat, Felix and Coral plus her great grandson Rex.
“We share her love with her wide and inclusive family, her friends, her students. You all meant the world to her.
“We will miss her so very much.”
