Jessica Brown Findlay

Jessica Rose Brown Findlay (born 14 September 1989)^[1] is an English actress, best known for playing Lady Sybil Crawley, the plucky one, in the ITV series Downton Abbey and Emelia Conan Doyle in the British comedy-drama film Albatross. In 2014, she starred as Beverly Penn in the film adaptation of the Mark Helprin novel Winter's Tale.^[2] The following year, she co-starred in Paul McGuigan's Victor Frankenstein (2015).

Early life

Findlay lives in Cookham, Berkshire, where her mother is a teacher's assistant and her father is a financial adviser.^[1] Findlay trained with the National Youth Ballet and the Associates of the Royal Ballet, and at age 15, she was invited to dance with the Kirov at the Royal Opera House for a summer season.^[3]

Findlay attended Furze Platt Senior School in Maidenhead. At the end of her GCSEs, she was accepted to a number of ballet schools but chose to go to the Arts Educational School, because of the A-level courses it provided and its pastoral care. Findlay attended for two years; in her second year, she had three operations on her ankles, the last of which went wrong. After being told she could never dance again, Findlay decided to embark upon a career in acting, something she had always considered but had never tried.^[4] After encouragement from an art teacher, she finished her education at Arts Educational School, Tring Park^[4] and then moved on to a Fine Art course at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.^[1][3]

Career

Findlay was cast in the lead role of Emelia in the film Albatross, directed by Niall MacCormick.^[3] She was subsequently cast in two episodes of the E4 programme Misfits. Her big break came when she was cast on Downton Abbey as the youngest of the Grantham daughters, Sybil Crawley. She held the role for three seasons before subsequently leaving in the hopes of advancing her career. She next appeared in the "Fifteen Million Merits", an episode of the anthology series Black Mirror.

In 2012, Findlay became the face of Dominic Jones' jewellery line, and she was cast in Not Another Happy Ending by John McKay,^[5] and in the miniseries Labyrinth, based on the novel of the same name written by Kate Mosse, portraying Alaïs Pelletier.^[6] In 2012, Findlay was cast as Beverly Penn in the film adaptation of the novel Winter's Tale (2014) with Colin Farrell and Russell Crowe.^[7]

Tim Burton considered Findlay for the lead in his adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, but ultimately gave the role to Australian actress Mia Wasikowska.^[4] In March 2015, it was confirmed that she would star in the remake of The Crow,^[8] in which Findlay portrayed Shelly.^[9]

In July 2015, Findlay played the role of the emotionally conflicted stepmother Alice Aldridge in The Outcast, the BBC’s two-part television adaptation of Sadie Jones’ novel.^[10]

In May 2015 Findlay made her theatre debut at the Almeida Theatre, London, as Electra in a new adaptation of The Oresteia to rave reviews.^[11] The production later transferred to the Trafalgar Theatre in London's West End. The writer and director was Robert Icke, who cast Findlay in his production of Uncle Vanya at the same venue in February of the following year.^[12]

In September 2016 it was announced that she will play Ophelia in a new production of Hamlet at the Almeida Theatre in London.^[13]

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Jessica Brown Findlay at the Internet Movie Database