Rose Leslie

Leslie was born in Aberdeen, Scotland,^[2] and raised at Lickleyhead Castle in Aberdeenshire, her family's 15th-century ancestral seat, where she lived until the age of 10.^[3] Her father, Sebastian Arbuthnot-Leslie, is the Chieftain of the Aberdeenshire branch of the Scottish Clan Leslie. Her mother is Candida Mary Sibyl "Candy" Leslie (née Weld) of Clan Fraser of Lovat, whose maternal great-grandfather was Simon Fraser, 13th Lord Lovat and a descendant of King Charles II.^[4] She is one of five children, having both elder brother and sister and a younger brother and sister.^[5] Her family currently lives at the 12th-century Wardhill Castle in Old Rayne.^{[6][7][8][needs update]}

She was first educated at Rayne North School in Aberdeenshire. At 10, she went to Ermitage International School in Maisons-Laffitte, France, where her family lived for three years.^[9] Upon their return to the UK, from 2000 to 2005, she was sent to Millfield, a boarding school in Street, Somerset,^[10] before spending three years at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.^[11] She won a BASSC certificate in stage combat and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in 2008.^[11]

One of her first professional acting jobs, in 2007, was narrating the BBC Radio documentary series The British Slave Trade: Abolition, Parliament and People.^[12]

Her first major screen role came at age 21, in the 2009 television film New Town, for which she won the Scottish BAFTA for Best Acting Performance – New Talent Award.^[13][14]

The following year she played the lead role of Mary, a country girl driven mad by lost love, in Nell Leyshon's play Bedlam at the Globe Theatre.^[15] The play was set in the Bethlem Royal Hospital and explored asylums and lunatic reform.^[16] The Daily Telegraph's Charles Spencer praised her performance, commenting, "Leslie proves genuinely poignant."^[17] Her break-through role came as Gwen Dawson, a housemaid, in the first series (2010–11) of the ITV television drama Downton Abbey.^[18] In 2011, while on Downton Abbey, Leslie briefly appeared in two episodes of the British drama series Case Histories.^[19][20]

In 2012, she was cast in the popular HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, appearing as a regular character in seasons two, three and four, as the wildling Ygritte.^[21] The A.V. Club's Rowan Kaiser stated: "As Ygritte, [Rose] is both dangerous and flirtatious, and it's fun to watch."^[22] Den of Geek's David Crow exclaimed, "A complicated character [...] Rose Leslie devours the screen."^[23] In 2013, Vox.com's Emily St. James (under The A.V. Club) review for "The Climb" episode, "(In the books) Ygritte is a means to an end... (but) on screen, as embodied by Rose Leslie, she becomes something more,"^[24] whilst The Atlantic's Christopher Orr summed up her portrayal in the 2014 episode "The Watchers of the Wall" by concluding: "Rose Leslie has been one of a handful of performers on the show who've really elevated their characters above what they were in the books."^[25]

While on Game of Thrones, Leslie appeared in the 2012 drama film Now Is Good^[26] and in episodes of ITV detective television series Vera,^[27] Channel 4 conspiracy drama Utopia^[28] and BBC One's comedy series Blandings.^[29]

In 2014, she appeared in the four-part mini-series The Great Fire.^[30] and in the horror film Honeymoon.^[31]

In 2025, she played DS Emma Lane in two episodes of the BBC detective drama Luther with positive response^[32], starred in the action adventure/fantasy film The Last Witch Hunter.^[33][34], and recorded an audiobook version of Carmilla.^[35][36] In 2016, she portrayed the character of Athena in Sticky Notes.^[37]

In 2016, Leslie was cast in The Good Fight, a CBS All Access legal drama and spin off to The Good Wife. She played Maia Rindell, a newly qualified young lawyer whose reputation is destroyed by her family's financial misdeeds, for the show's first three seasons. In July 2019 it was announced that Leslie was leaving the show and would not be returning for its fourth season.^[38]

In 2017, Leslie provided the voice for the female protagonist "En" in the video game Echo, a game by Copenhagen-based game developer Ultra Ultra.^[39]

In October 2019 Leslie was cast as Louise Bourget in Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel Death on The Nile. The film was released on 11 February 2022.^[40]

In January 2020, Leslie joined the cast of BBC's and World Productions's drama series Vigil, which premiered in 2021.^[41]

In February 2021, Leslie was cast in HBO's The Time Traveler's Wife TV series based on the novel by Audrey Niffenegger, starring as Clare Abshire alongside Theo James as Henry DeTamble.^[42]

In 2024, Leslie appeared in the BBC series Miss Austen as the character of Isabella Fowle. Miss Austen is a BBC adaptation of a novel, in which Isabella is the daughter of Jane Austen's close family friend.^[43]

In 2025, Leslie starred as Constance in Laura Wade's adaptation of The Constant Wife at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Swan Theatre.^[44]

Leslie became fluent in French while living with her family in France during her pre-adolescent years. While working as an actress, she lived in Battersea, London, until moving to north London.^[45] She has great fondness for Aberdeenshire, saying, "I feel very much at peace in Scotland."^[45]

In 2011, Leslie began dating Kit Harington, who played her love interest, Jon Snow, in Game of Thrones. They married on 23 June 2018.^[46] In September 2020, Leslie posed for a magazine photo shoot while visibly pregnant.^[47] Their son was born in January 2021. In February 2023, Harington announced that they were expecting their second child.^[48] In July 2023, the couple confirmed the birth of their daughter.^[49][50]