Biography
A regular of the costume drama genre, flame-haired actress Rose Leslie was perhaps best known for her roles in two of the biggest success stories of the binge-watching era, "Game Of Thrones" (HBO 2011- ) and "Downton Abbey" (ITV1 2010-16). Born in London in 1987 but raised on her family's 15th Century ancestral seat, Lickleyhead Castle, in Aberdeen, Scotland, Leslie graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts with honors in 2008, the same year she also made her on-screen debut playing a cocaine addict who traps her boyfriend into becoming a drug mule in the "Lima" episode of the hit docudrama "Locked Up Abroad" (Channel 5, 2006-). Leslie then won the Best Acting Performance - New Talent award at the Scottish BAFTAs for her turn as Rhian in the murder-mystery TV movie "New Town" (BBC4 2009) before landing her breakthrough role as the ambitious housemaid-turned-secretary Gwen Dawson in the first season of Julian Fellowes' global phenomenon "Downton Abbey" (ITV 2010-16). Following her departure, Leslie appeared in two consecutive detective TV dramas, firstly as a teenager brutally murdered in her lawyer father's office in the adaptation of Kate Atkinson's novel "Case Histories" (BBC1 2011), and secondly as a revenge-fuelled grieving lover in Brenda Blethyn vehicle "Vera" (ITV1 2011). After making her big-screen debut with a small part in emotional teenage drama "Now Is Good" (2012), Leslie then appeared alongside her brief real-life love interest Kit Harington when she was cast as the headstrong captive-turned captor Ygritte in the hugely popular fantasy series "Game of Thrones" (HBO 2011-). Leslie subsequently landed supporting roles as the wife of a simple-minded aristocrat in the period comedy series based on the novels of P.G. Wodehouse, "Blandings" (BBC1 2013- ) and the younger version of Geraldine James' ruthless killer Milner in the '70s prequel episode of intriguing conspiracy thriller "Utopia" (Channel 4 2013- ). Leslie then received positive reviews for her first lead role performance as a newlywed whose marital bliss is cut short by a series of strange events in Leigh Janiak's horror film "Honeymoon" (2014), and played the fictional sister of king's baker Thomas Farriner in the four-part historical drama "The Great Fire" (ITV1 2014). Leslie next appeared in the fantasy "The Last Witch Hunter" (2015), indie drama "Sticky Notes" (2016) and science fiction horror "Morgan" (2017) before returning to television in a starring role in legal drama "The Good Fight" (CBS All Access 2017- ).
