Rise to Fame
Casting directors pulled her from a pool of 1,500 candidates for Quantum of Solace, and suddenly a RADA graduate from a Gravesend council estate was playing opposite Daniel Craig. The Empire Award for Best Newcomer followed almost immediately, with a BAFTA Rising Star nomination arriving in 2011. Three more major releases dropped in 2010 alone: Clash of the Titans, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and Tamara Drewe. The industry had its answer.
In the Spotlight
Rebel Park Productions, the company she co-founded in 2015 to develop female-led content, says more about where she's headed than her film credits do. The Hollywood blockbuster era didn't pan out the way the Prince of Persia casting suggested, but she pivoted toward prestige TV and stage work. Secret Service, a five-part ITV spy thriller set to air in 2025/2026, has her playing the head of MI6's Russia desk who goes rogue. The Bond franchise trained her well.
Side Notes
She was born with extra fingers on each hand, surgically removed shortly after birth. More useful: she reportedly spent time singing 'My Heart Will Go On' in a south London gangster bar to keep the peace. Her matrilineal great-grandmother was a German-Jewish concert violinist, which is considerably more exotic than the council estate in Gravesend suggested. Her younger sister Hannah is also an actress, which at some point stops being a coincidence and starts being a family business.