Iain Armitage

Armitage grew up in a household centered around the stage. His father, Euan Morton, is a Scottish stage actor, and his mother, Lee Armitage, is a theater producer. His maternal grandfather is former United States Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. Signature Theatre director Eric D. Schaeffer is his godfather.

His family settled in Arlington, Virginia, after previously dividing time with New York City. Armitage was homeschooled while balancing filming schedules. Outside of acting, he is a polyglot who has studied Russian, Armenian, German, Spanish, Italian, Assyrian, and Sinhalese.

Aviation is another longtime interest. Armitage earned his student pilot's license in his teens and completed his first solo flight in July 2024. On his sixteenth birthday, he flew an airplane with his grandmother aboard as his passenger.

Armitage first gained attention as a child through his YouTube series, Iain Loves Theatre, where he posted reviews of musicals and Broadway productions. The videos caught the eye of talent agents. In 2015, he served as a red-carpet correspondent at the Tony Awards for blogger Perez Hilton and was mentioned in the telecast's opening musical number.

His screen debut came in January 2017 on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, playing a kidnapped boy named Theo. A month later, he appeared as Ziggy Chapman on HBO's Big Little Lies alongside Shailene Woodley. He credited the supportive atmosphere on that set with confirming his decision to act professionally.

Feature film appearances arrived the same year. Armitage portrayed the young Brian Walls in the 2017 film adaptation of The Glass Castle. He also shared the screen with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda in Our Souls at Night and appeared in the drama I'm Not Here.

In March 2017, CBS cast Armitage as the young version of Sheldon Cooper on Young Sheldon, a prequel series to The Big Bang Theory. The show debuted later that year. Original Sheldon actor Jim Parsons served as narrator and executive producer, praising Armitage's interpretation of the character. Armitage also made a cameo on The Big Bang Theory in the 2018 episode "The VCR Illumination."

Young Sheldon ran for seven seasons, concluding in May 2024 after 141 episodes. For his performance, Armitage received a Young Artist Award in 2018 and a Kids' Choice Award in 2024.

Between live-action projects, Armitage worked as an animated voice actor. He provided the voice for young Shaggy Rogers in the 2020 feature Scoob! and voiced the German shepherd pup Chase in PAW Patrol: The Movie in 2021.