Erin Doherty

Scenes featuring Princess Anne weren't supposed to be the reason to watch The Crown. Olivia Colman was playing the Queen. Helena Bonham Carter was playing Princess Margaret. Doherty was there in a supporting role, and she walked off with it anyway. The prep was unusual: she watched footage of Anne only at the specific age she was portraying, spent weeks mimicking Anne's distinctively lower voice, and played her as someone who didn't want to perform being royal. The SAG ensemble win in 2020 was collective, but the breakout was hers.

A 52-minute single uncut take in one episode of Netflix's Adolescence landed her a Primetime Emmy and a Golden Globe for Supporting Actress in 2025. The episode was hers alone in a way most acting showcases aren't, with no cuts to hide behind. She'd already proved herself in Chloe (2022), a BBC thriller where she carried an entire series playing a woman who assumes a false identity to infiltrate a dead friend's social circle. The Emmy put her in a different category. She signed with CAA immediately after and joined a Nancy Meyers comedy alongside Jude Law and Penélope Cruz.

A Chelsea Women scout once had her on a shortlist: she captained her local team, reportedly played midfield, and had the physical discipline that tends to translate. She picked Bristol Old Vic instead, won a Stephen Sondheim Society student award in 2015 for 'Broadway Baby,' and spent years in theatre before screens caught up. What's consistent across her career isn't genre but casting type: women who are hiding something. The obsessive in Chloe, the martyr in Firebrand, the psychologist circling a killer in Adolescence.