Amber Davies is the last minute addition to this year’s Strictly Come Dancing after replacing injured Dani Dyer at the eleventh hour.
Amber is best known for appearing in Love Island. But what else is there to know about her? Here, we take a deep dive into all things Amber Davies, including where she’s from, her age and when she was on the ITV dating show.
Where is Amber Davies from? How old is she?
Amber Davies was born in Denbigh, North Wales, on October 4, 1996. This makes her 29 years old. Her dad is a plumber and her mum is a mental health nurse. Amber knew from a young age that she wanted to perform.
From just three, Amber and her older sister, Jane, had ballet lessons. Amber also had singing and music lessons as a child and would compete in the Welsh singing festival, Eisteddfod.
Age seven, Amber watched The Lion King in London’s West End. It set a spark inside of her that wouldn’t go out. She has since said: “From that moment, I knew I didn’t want to do anything else.”
Can Amber Davies speak Welsh?
Having grown up in North Wales, Amber is fluent in Welsh. But not everyone knows this little fact.
Amber first revealed her hidden talent while speaking to Official London Theatre. When asked to reveal something people won’t know about her, she replied: “I speak fluent Welsh.”
She has since told fans in a TikTok video: “I am born and bread North Wales. And fun fact, I did all of my education in the Welsh language. When I’m tired, I’ll sometimes count numbers in my head in Welsh.”
Despite this, Amber has only ever spoken in English during her career in the public eye.
When was Amber Davies on Love Island?
Amber Davies’ springboard to fame was Love Island. She appeared in the ITV2 series in 2017 and quickly fell for fellow islander Kem Cetinay. The pair won over viewers with their romance – and won the series.
However, although they initially seemed like the perfect couple, Amber and Kem split just four months later. They confirmed in a statement at the time: :With sadness, we’ve decided to separate. We fell in love in the villa and want to thank all the fans of the show for supporting us. Our schedules made it difficult. We’ll remain good friends.”
After their split, Amber was linked to Diversity star Perri Kiely. She also dated businessman Nick Kyriacou in 2022, but it wasn’t to last.
Amber has since spoken about the emotional toll being on Love Island had on her. Looking back, she says she “wishes” she had seen a therapist to talk through her feeling after being under public scrutiny for almost three months.
She said: “I’ve experienced so much and yet in lockdown I was the saddest I’ve ever been in my life. I think that was because I was processing everything, I was processing absolutely everything that had happened.
“All I wished that I’d done differently was that I had therapy as soon as I came out or six months after I came out. I think I would have handled things so differently.”
What is Amber Davies doing now?
Amber has enjoyed great success as a stage musical star following her reality TV breakthrough on Love Island. She played Judy Bernly (the Jane Fonda role) in 9 to 5: The Musical in 2019. That same year, she fronted a documentary called Amber and Dolly: 9 to 5. The show followed Amber as she flew to Nashville in America to meet country icon, Dolly Parton.
Amber was later cast in Bring It On: The Musical and 2022 saw her star in Back to the Future: The Musical. She later thrived while treading the boards as Vivian (Julia Roberts’ leading movie role) in the musical production of Pretty Woman.
In 2026, Amber will be hitting the road with the UK tour of Legally Blonde. The star has been cast as lead character, Elle Woods.
Alongside her musical career, Amber has own podcast series, Call To Stage. The podcast sees her interviewing stars from the world of theatre and musicals. Amber has chatted to everyone from Alfie Boe, to Rachel Tucker and John Owen-Jones. She has also interviewed former Strictly Come Dancing star, Leyton Williams.
When it comes to TV, Amber starred in the CBBC television drama series Almost Never, and was a contestant on ITV’s Dancing On Ice in 2024. Amber just missed out on a place in the final with skating partner, Simon Proulx-Sénécal.
Who is Amber Davies dating?
Amber has been in a serious relationship with West End actor, Ben Joyce, since 2022. The pair starred together in Back to The Future: The Musical and quickly fell for each other romantically.
Ben played Marty McFly in the show while Amber played Lorraine, Marty’s mother. At the time, she told TV presenter Lorraine Kelly: “Ben is an absolute powerhouse of a talent. He was in Jersey Boys and now he’s playing Marty.
“He is one of the most kindest most caring people I’ve ever met. The plan was to be single for a while and then I accidentally fell in love with my co-star.”
Ben was in the audience to support Amber during her Dancing On Ice journey – and he has been cheering her on in Strictly Come Dancing, too. In June this year, Amber and Ben moved in together in London.
Amber on Strictly Come Dancing
Amber joined the cast of Strictly 2025 just 48 hours before the first live show aired. Original contestant, Dani Dyer, fractured her ankle during training and has had to pull out of the entire series.
The star is already making good progress on the show. Amber and Nikita’s Week 2 Samba meant they shot to the top of the leaderboard. With their score combined with Week 1’s, they finished the night with 56 points.
Craig Revel Horwood has already tipped Amber for receiving 10s in just a matter of time, which is very rare of him to say!
He told host Claudia Winkleman: “Amber is incredible. Her feet need sorting out and it was a little bit too textured but, I think if she gets through that and corrects it, I’m seeing 10s for this lady. I love her! I really do feel that.”
Claudia told Craig to “take his temperature”.
Read more: Strictly star Lewis Cope handed huge blow over future in show
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