Emily Carey

Emily Joanna Carey was born on 30 April 2003^[1] in the London Borough of Barnet and grew up in East Sussex.^[2] They were raised by their mother, Sarah MacDonnell, a talent agent and former actor.^[3][4]

Carey was educated at the independent co-educational Claremont School until the age of 14.^[5] They have said that, while their acting career was one factor in the decision, they left school mainly for mental health reasons.^[6]

From early childhood, Carey was regularly backstage in theatres with family members who worked in the industry, including their grandmother, a former West End wardrobe supervisor.^[7] Carey has said that growing up around theatre gave them an early familiarity with performance and helped make acting feel like a natural path, and one that "I’ve wanted to do forever".^[8]

Carey began their professional career in 2012, making their West End debut aged nine in Shrek the Musical at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. The following year, they appeared as Marta von Trapp in The Sound of Music at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre.^[7]

In 2014, Carey joined the cast of the BBC medical drama Casualty as Grace Beauchamp, appearing regularly until 2017 and reprising the role in 2021.^[9] Their storylines included a long‑running brain injury recovery arc, for which they undertook research with The Children’s Trust to support an accurate portrayal.^[10] During this period, they also appeared as Mary Conan Doyle in the ITV series Houdini & Doyle.^[11] In 2016, the The Huffington Post named Carey as one of the year’s top child actors.^[12]

Carey made their feature film debut as the young Diana Prince in the DC Universe film Wonder Woman (2017),^[13] studying Gal Gadot’s speech patterns to match the character’s voice.^[14] The film received a positive critical response and was a commercial success.^[15][16] They subsequently portrayed a young Lara Croft in Tomb Raider (2018).^[17]

Carey secured their first leading television role in the BBC and Netflix teen drama Get Even (2020), playing schoolgirl Mika Cavanaugh, whose private photos are shared without her consent, leading to bullying and social isolation. That year, they also appeared in the title role of the film Anastasia: Once Upon a Time (2020).^[11] In 2021, Carey transitioned into voice work in feature animation, voicing Anne Frank in Ari Folman’s Where Is Anne Frank (2021),^[18] and Mila in Monster Family 2 (2021).^[19]

Carey had a career breakthrough with their role as young Alicent Hightower in the HBO Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon (2022), adapted from George R. R. Martin’s historical fantasy book Fire & Blood.^[20] Carey’s performance received praise from critics.^[21] Megan O’Keefe of Decider described it as “carefully composed”,^[22] while Kaiya Shunyata of Roger Ebert called Carey’s performance “fantastic”.^[23]

Carey next starred as Harriet Manners in the Netflix teen drama Geek Girl (2024), based on Holly Smale’s novel of the same name.^[24] Carey described the role as personally significant, saying it was both truthful and “healing to their inner child” in light of their own experiences as an autistic person.^[25]

Carey is due to return as Harriet Manners in the second series of Geek Girl,^[26] and has been cast as Victoria Chase in the television adaptation of Life Is Strange.^[27]

Carey is autistic.^[28] They are queer,^[29] non-binary,^[30] and use they/them pronouns.^[31] They helped The Children's Trust launch the #MyBrave campaign.^[32]

Carey was in a relationship with musician Kellimarie Willis, who performs in the band RLY.^[33][34] In 2024, Carey revealed that they are in a relationship with English actress Jessica Revell.^[35]