Lily James

Biography of Lily James

Lily James was born on April 5, 1989 in Esher, Surrey, England.

She is the daughter of Ninette Mantle, an actress, and James Thomson, a musician. She has two brothers, one older and one younger.

She with Scottish, English, French and German ancestry. Her paternal grandmother was American actress Helen Horton, her maternal grandmother was of French origin.

She attended the Tring Park School for the Performing Arts and later studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, graduating in 2010.

In 2009, after learning that another actress had the name "Lily Thomson", she chose the stage name "James" to honor the memory of her father, who had died a year earlier.

She got her start professionally in 2010 with a supporting role on the television series Just William. The following year, she acted in some episodes of the series Secret Diary of a Call Girl.

In 2012, she worked on the short film Chemistry. In the same year, she played a supporting role in the movie Wrath of the Titans which was a box office success, although it did not have good reviews. She later appeared in the film Broken (2012), which did have good reviews and won international awards. Also, she had a leading role in the movie Fast Girls.

Between 2012 and 2015, she worked on the television series Downtown Abbey as Lady Rose.

She starred in the 2015 fantasy film Cinderella, directed by Kenneth Branagh, based on the popular short story of the same name. Lily James worked with Cate Blanchett and Derek Jacobi among others. The film earned nearly $545 million on a budget and received positive reviews being nominated for several awards including the Academy Award for Best Costume Design.

In 2015, she appears in the movie Burnt.

In 2016, she acted in the horror comedy Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a parody of Jane Austen's novel, and later in the romantic The Exception. Also in that year, she played Natasha Rostova in the television series War & Peace.

In 2017, she appeared in Baby Driver, an action film in which she had a supporting role. The film was a commercial success and received three Oscar nominations. In that same year she played Elizabeth Nel in the drama Darkest Hour, a film that was also a commercial success and received six Oscar nominations, winning two.

During 2018, she played the young version of Meryl Streep's character, Donna Sheridan, in the sequel to Mamma Mia!, titled Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, and she played author Juliet Ashton in the drama The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

In 2019, she starred in the musical film Yesterday, and during 2020, she worked on an adaptation of the gothic novel Rebecca, directed by Ben Wheatley.

In 2021, James starred as Peggy Piggott in The Dig, a film directed by Simon Stone, based on the 2007 novel of the same title. In 2022, she appeared as Pamela Anderson in the miniseries Pam & Tommy.

During the filming of the movie Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, she met actor Matt Smith with whom she had a romantic relationship from 2014 to the end of 2019.