While Nicola Walker and Jemaine Clement both top the billing of Alice and Steve, an unconventional “wrong-com” about long-time besties finding their friendship torn apart when the latter begins an ill-advised relationship with the former’s 26-year-old daughter, it’s really Walker’s show through and through. A respected legend of British TV, she nonetheless lacks some of the mainstream credits of her co-stars, meaning that the Hulu series might be her introduction to a truly global audience.
Better late than never! Walker is brilliant in this show, and her multifaceted performance keeps the whole thing afloat, so it’s highly likely that Walker’s previous work will be under much more scrutiny following this turn. But while she’s clearly the stand-out, she isn’t the only member of a cast that is impressively solid across the board.
Here’s a full breakdown of the key players in the Hulu/Disney+ series, including where you might have seen them before and which of their work you should definitely check out next.
Nicola Walker (Alice)
A staple of British TV, Nicola Walker has received widespread critical acclaim, including an Olivier Award for her stage work and multiple BAFTA nominations for her TV roles.
In Alice and Steve, she plays Alice, a middle-class, middle-aged woman whose 26-year-old daughter, Izzy, strikes up a sexual relationship with her long-time best friend (and ex-boyfriend), Steve. This causes her to spiral into a string of petty escalations as she attempts to destroy the relationship and then, failing that, Steve’s entire life, risking her own career and marriage in the process.
Walker is best known on British TV for her roles as Ruth Evershed in the spy drama Spooks and DCI Cassie Stuart in Unforgotten. She has also starred in The Split, Annika, and Last Tango in Halifax.
Jemaine Clement (Steve)
Having risen to prominence through musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords alongside Bret McKenzie, Jemaine Clement flourished through collaborations with Taika Waititi, notably in 2014’s What We Do in the Shadows.
In Alice and Steve, Clement plays Steve, a celebrity hairstylist divorcee who still possibly holds a candle for his ex and best friend, Alice. When he falls into bed with Alice’s daughter, Izzy, the ill-advised tryst leads to a much more serious relationship than either necessarily expected, ruining Steve’s relationship with Alice and good chunks of his entire life.
As well as working with Waititi, Clement also played a significant role in the underseen and wildly atypical Marvel series Legion and has shown up in the two semi-recent Avatar sequels, The Way of Water and Fire and Ash.
Yali Topol Margalith (Izzy)
Israeli actress Yali Topol Margalith began her career as a child dubbing films and TV shows into Hebrew. Her first screen role wasn’t until 2024, when she played Cilka in the 2024 miniseries The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
Margalith plays Izzy, Alice’s daughter, who strikes up an ill-advised relationship with Steve while she’s still reeling from a breakup. Izzy has known Steve her entire life, but only begins looking at him in a romantic context when she finds him crashing on Alice’s couch after a night out.
Margalith can also be seen in the first season of Prime Video’s biblical drama series, House of David, where she plays Mirab, the eldest daughter of King Saul, and in the Netflix/BBC co-production A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.
Joel Fry (Daniel)
Primarily known for comedic roles on British television in stuff like Plebs and Trollied, as well as a stint on HBO Max’s Our Flag Means Death, Fry is nonetheless considered a versatile performer and pulls off one of the more thankless, nuanced roles in Alice and Steve.
Playing Daniel, Alice’s husband, Fry is asked to sell a lot of mixed emotions. While he was never threatened by Alice’s relationship with Steve, it did take a toll on his marriage in subtle ways, and following Steve’s relationship with Izzy, Daniel is forced to do some soul-searching of his own. While he isn’t Izzy’s father – she was conceived by someone else who is absent throughout the entire series – he has nonetheless raised her for her entire life.
Recently, Fry has enjoyed more big-screen roles in stuff like Bank of Dave, Game of Thrones, Disney’s Cruella, and the well-liked musical-comedy Yesterday.
Marcia Warren (Val)
While she isn’t in Alice and Steve much, Alice’s mother, Val, is a consistent source of laughs every time she’s on-screen thanks to a funny turn from Marcia Warren, beloved for an extensive, award-winning stage career and stints on iconic British sitcoms like Vicious, where she starred alongside Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi.
Val is, on balance, the person least bothered by Steve’s relationship with Izzy, which she describes as “very French”. But sometimes her Bohemian approach only makes Alice’s predicament worse.
Marcia Warren can also be seen playing the Queen Mother in seasons 5 and 6 of Netflix’s The Crown.
Tyrese Eaton-Dyce (Dom)
Relative newcomer Tyrese Eaton-Dyce plays Alice and Daniel’s son, Dom, who finds himself neglected by Alice’s obsessive focus on Steve’s relationship with Izzy. This is especially problematic since Dom is trying to navigate a relationship with his school crush, Rome.
Eaton-Dyce is primarily known for Sherwood and the indie film How to Have Sex.
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