Beautiful British Actresses

by EssyRomaine | created - 16 Oct 2012 | updated - 29 May 2014 | Public

A list of actresses (mostly from period dramas) I find exceptionally talented and beautiful.

1. Rachael Stirling

Actress | Snow White and the Huntsman

Rachael Stirling was born on May 30, 1977 in St Marylebone, London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), The Young Victoria (2009) and Tipping the Velvet (2002). She has been married to Guy Garvey since June 3, 2016. They have one child.

2. Sophie Turner

Actress | Game of Thrones

Sophie Belinda Jonas (née Turner; born February 21, 1996) is an English actress. Turner made her professional acting debut as Sansa Stark on the HBO fantasy television series Game of Thrones (2011) (2011-2019), which brought her international recognition and critical praise. For her performance, ...

3. Kelly Reilly

Actress | Pride & Prejudice

Jessica Kelly Siobhán Reilly (born July 18, 1977) is an English actress. Her performance in After Miss Julie at the Donmar Warehouse made her a star of the London stage and earned her a nomination for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress of 2003. Reilly was born and brought up in Chessington, ...

4. Olivia Hallinan

Actress | Sugar Rush

Olivia has appeared in over 100 productions since the age of seven. She is the youngest of four sisters and grew up in Hounslow, London. Her first ever big role, was playing alongside Cilla Black in the 1991 production of Robin Prince of Sherwood. Since then, she has starred in five stage ...

5. Elisabeth Dermot Walsh

Actress | Doctors

Elisabeth Dermot Walsh was born on September 15, 1974 in Merton, Surrey, England, UK. She is an actress and director, known for Doctors (2000), Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky (2005) and Cleopatra (1999).

Irish not English, an important distinction.

6. Romola Garai

Actress | Atonement

Romola Garai was born on 6th August 1982. She is an English actress-writer-director who has worked extensively on film, television and theatre. As an actress she is known for her performances in films such as Atonement (2007), Angel (2007), I Capture the Castle (2003) and (Suffragette). On ...

7. Karen Gillan

Actress | Selfie

Karen Sheila Gillan was born and raised in Inverness, Scotland, as the only child of Marie Paterson and husband John Gillan, who is a singer and recording artist. She developed a love for acting very early on, attending several youth theatre groups and taking part in a wide range of productions at ...

8. Natalie Dormer

Actress | Game of Thrones

Natalie Dormer born February 11, 1982 is an English actress. She is best known for her roles as Anne Boleyn on the Showtime series The Tudors (2007-10), as Margaery Tyrell on the HBO series Game of Thrones (2012-14), Irene Adler on the CBS series Elementary (2013-15), and as Cressida in the ...

9. Helen George

Actress | The Three Musketeers

Helen George was born on June 19, 1984 in Birmingham,West Midlands , England, UK. She is an actress, known for The Three Musketeers (2011), Call the Midwife (2012) and The Monster (2015). She was previously married to Oliver Boot.

10. Emily Blunt

Actress | Edge of Tomorrow

Emily Olivia Leah Blunt is a British actress known for her roles in The Devil Wears Prada (2006), The Young Victoria (2009), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), and The Girl on the Train (2016), among many others.

Blunt was born on February 23, 1983, in Roehampton, South West London, England, the second of ...

11. Joanne Froggatt

Actress | Downton Abbey

Joanne was born at Littlebeck, Whitby and educated at Eskdale School, Sleights Pimary and Red Roofs Theatrical School, Berkshire, Her first jobs were at Booths Fine Food Cafe and Alexanders Fish Restaurant in Whitby. She made her television debut in The Bill but became well known when she played ...

12. Jessica Brown Findlay

Actress | Brave New World

Jessica Brown Findlay is an English actress. She is known for Emelia Conan-Doyle in the British comedy-drama Albatross (2011), Winter's Tale (2014), This Beautiful Fantastic (2016) and Lady Sybil Crawley in ITV's Downton Abbey (2010). She also starred in the TV series Misfits (2009) and mini-series ...

13. Anna Maxwell Martin

Actress | Becoming Jane

The striking actress Anna Maxwell-Martin is a rising star on both stage and screen. Anna had dreamed all her life of becoming an actress even though her family had no background in the arts. She starred in school plays and an acclaimed production of "Breezeblock Park" in the role of Betty.

At the ...

14. Hattie Morahan

Actress | Beauty and the Beast

Hattie Morahan was born in London in 1978. Her father, Christopher Morahan, is a television and stage director, who is perhaps best known for his television adaptation of The Jewel in the Crown (1984). Her mother, Anna Carteret, is an actress whose most high profile role was that of Inspector Kate ...

15. Charity Wakefield

Actress | Wolf Hall

Charity Wakefield was born on September 18, 1980 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, UK. She is an actress and producer, known for Wolf Hall (2015), The Player (2015) and Sense & Sensibility (2008).

Introducing Nurse #1 Miss Ethel Bennett in my line up of the wonderful actresses from the Casualty 1900's series.

16. Lydia Leonard

Actress | The Fifth Estate

Lydia Leonard was born on December 5, 1981 in Paris, France. She is an actress, known for The Fifth Estate (2013), Last Christmas (2019) and Da Vinci's Demons (2013).

Introducing Nurse #2 Miss Laura Goodley from Casualty 1900's.

17. Sarah Smart

Actress | Wallander

Sarah Smart was born on March 3, 1977 in Birmingham, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Wallander (2008), Five Days (2007) and New Tricks (2003).

And last but not least in the Casualty 1900's line up Nurse #3 Sister Ada Russell.

18. Daniela Denby-Ashe

Actress | North & South

Daniela Denby-Ashe was born on August 9, 1978 in London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for North & South (2004), My Family (2000) and Waterloo Road (2006).

19. Talulah Riley

Actress | Pride & Prejudice

Talulah Riley is an English actress. She has appeared in films such as Pride & Prejudice (2005), St. Trinian's (2007), The Boat That Rocked (2009) and Inception (2010).

She made her stage debut in The Philadelphia Story at the Old Vic in 2005. Her television credits include episodes of Poirot (...

20. Jaime Murray

Actress | Castlevania

Jaime Murray is a British actress, activist and television producer who lives and works in Los Angeles California. Trained at Drama Centre London before playing con artist Stacie Monroe in the BBC series Hustle upon graduation in 2004. The role of Lila West in the Showtime series Dexter took her to...

21. Maisie Williams

Actress | The New Mutants

Margaret Constance "Maisie" Williams (born April 15, 1997) is an English actress. She made her professional acting debut as Arya Stark in the HBO fantasy television series Game of Thrones, for which she won the EWwy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama, the Portal Award for Best Supporting ...

22. Louise Dylan

Actress | Emma

Louise Dylan is known for Emma (2009), Vampire Killers (2009) and Trust Fund (2016).

23. Alex Kingston

Actress | ER

Alex Kingston was born on March 11, 1963 in London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for ER (1994), Doctor Who (2005) and Alpha Dog (2006). She has been married to Jonathan Stamp since July 18, 2015. She was previously married to Florian Haertel and Ralph Fiennes.

24. Jodhi May

Actress | The Last of the Mohicans

Jodhi was born in 1975. She was born and brought up in London, England, UK. She went to Wadham College, Oxford University 1994-1997. She studied and received a Masters in English. During her time at Wadham she read a lot of literature. She has been acting since she was twelve.

25. Georgina Rylance

Actress | War Machine

Georgina was born in London, went to St Pauls School before attending boarding school at Downe House. Her A-Levels were completed at St. Edwards School, Oxford where she also went to University. She obtained a BA Honours degree in Politics at Oxford Brookes University.

26. Victoria Hamilton

Actress | Mansfield Park

Victoria Hamilton is an English actress. After training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Hamilton began her career in classical theatre, appearing in productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. In 2002, she appeared in the London stage play A Day in the ...

27. Michelle Dockery

Actress | Downton Abbey

Michelle Suzanne Dockery (born 15 December 1981) is an English actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Lady Mary Crawley in the ITV drama series Downton Abbey (2010-2015), for which she has been nominated for three consecutive Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. She made her ...

28. Georgia King

Actress | Vice Principals

Georgia May King (born 18 November 1986) is an Scottish actress. King is the daughter of actor Jonathan Hyde and opera singer Isobel Buchanan.

Although King grew up dreaming of being a director, she got her break into acting when she was eighteen and still working at a cheese shop, making her ...

29. Olivia Grant

Actress | Stardust

Olivia Grant was born on September 20, 1983 in London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Stardust (2007), All the Money in the World (2017) and Lark Rise to Candleford (2008).

30. Alice Eve

Actress | Before We Go

Alice Sophia Eve was born in London, England. Her father is Trevor Eve and her mother is Sharon Maughan, both fellow actors. She is the eldest of three children. Eve has English, Irish and Welsh ancestry. Her family moved to Los Angeles, California when she was young as her father tried to crack ...

31. Perdita Weeks

Actress | As Above, So Below

Perdita Rose Weeks is a British actress who plays Juliet Higgins in the CBS-turned-NBC reboot series Magnum P.I. Weeks was born in South Glamorgan, to Robin and Susan (née Wade) Weeks, was educated at Roedean School in East Sussex, and studied art history at the Courtauld Institute in London. She ...

32. Honeysuckle Weeks

Actress | Foyle's War

Honeysuckle Weeks was born on August 1, 1979 in Cardiff, Wales, UK. She is an actress, known for Foyle's War (2002), The Wicker Tree (2011) and The Five (2016). She has been married to Lorne Stormonth-Darling since July 2007. They have one child.

33. Tamzin Merchant

Actress | Carnival Row

Tamzin Merchant is a British born actress, writer and director. She grew up in Dubai and was cast in her first professional role as Georgiana Darcy in Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice (2005). She attended The University of Cambridge to read Education Studies and continued to develop her career as...

34. Laura Carmichael

Actress | Downton Abbey

Laura Carmichael was born on July 16, 1986 in Southampton, Hampshire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Downton Abbey (2019), Downton Abbey (2010) and Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022).

For anyone who says she's plain looking... she absolutely sparkled in Downton series three.

35. Felicity Jones

Actress | Rogue One

Felicity Rose Hadley Jones is an English actress and producer. Jones started her professional acting career as a child, appearing at age 12 in The Treasure Seekers (1996). She went on to play Ethel Hallow for one series in the television show The Worst Witch and its sequel Weirdsister College. ...

36. Christina Cole

Actress | What a Girl Wants

Christina Cole was born on May 8, 1982 in London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for What a Girl Wants (2003), Casino Royale (2006) and Jupiter Ascending (2015).

37. Zoe Telford

Actress | Genius

Zoe Telford was born in 1973 in Norwich, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Genius (2017), Greyhawk (2014) and Jo (2013).

38. Gillian Anderson

Actress | The X Files

Gillian Anderson was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Rosemary Alyce (Lane), a computer analyst, and Homer Edward Anderson III, who owned a film post-production company. Gillian started her career as a member of an amateur actor group while at high school. In 1987, her love of the theatre took her to ...

39. Ruth Wilson

Actress | Luther

Ruth Wilson, born on 13 January 1982, is an English actress. She is known for her performances in Suburban Shootout (2006), Jane Eyre (2006), and as "Alice Morgan" in the BBC-TV psychological crime drama, Luther (2010), since 2010. She has also appeared in Anna Karenina (2012), The Lone Ranger (...

40. Georgia Tennant

Actress | Staged

Georgia Tennant was born on December 25, 1984 in London, England, UK. She is an actress and producer, known for Staged (2020), Bonkers (2007) and Doctor Who: Dreamland (2009). She has been married to David Tennant since December 30, 2011. They have five children.

41. Sarah Bolger

Actress | In America

Sarah Lee Bolger (born 28 February 1991) is an Irish actress. She is best known for her roles in the films In America (2002), Stormbreaker, and The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008), as well as her award winning role as Lady Mary Tudor in the TV series The Tudors (2007), and for guest starring as ...



Recently Viewed