Romola Garai
Encyclopedia
Romola Sadie Garai is an English actress. She is known for appearing in the movies Amazing Grace
, Atonement
, and Glorious 39, and for appearing in the BBC
adaptation of Emma
.
, one of the founders of Rome
. Garai's great-grandfather, Bernhard "Bert" Garai, a Hungarian Jewish immigrant, founded the Keystone Press Agency, a photographic agency and archive, in London in the early twentieth century.
Garai is the third of four siblings. She moved to Singapore
at five, before her family returned to Wiltshire
in England
when she was eight. She attended an independent boarding school, Stonar School
in Wiltshire, and later moved at sixteen to London
to attend the City of London School for Girls
, where she completed her A-levels. She was fond of drama and appeared in school plays, and also with the National Youth Theatre
up until the age of eighteen, where she was spotted by an agent who signed her to play the younger version of Dame Judi Dench
's character in the BBC Films
/HBO co-production for television, The Last of the Blonde Bombshells
.
After A-levels, she studied English Literature at Queen Mary, University of London
, before transferring and graduating with a first class degree from the Open University
. She originally intended only to focus on her studies but later began acting full time during the summer holiday. She is a former model
.
, where she played Judi Dench
's character as young. She then landed a part in the BBC 26-part television series Attachments
(2000–2002). It was this production that prompted her to make the decision to stop her education and concentrate solely on her acting career.
Garai's first major film role was in 2002's Nicholas Nickleby
. She played Kate Nickleby, a supporting role, in the well-reviewed film. The entire cast was widely recognized for their work and were awarded Best Ensemble by the National Board of Review. In 2003's I Capture the Castle
, she played 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain. She received glowing praise for her work. Her performance earned her a nomination for a Most Promising Newcomer award from the British Independent Film Awards.
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights
(2004) was Garai's biggest critical flop to date. Her performance received mixed reviews – many critics felt let down after her previous impressive turns. Later that same year Vanity Fair
was released. In Vanity Fair, she played Amelia Sedley. Co-starring :Reese Witherspoon, :Jim Broadbent, and :James Purefoy, the movie was based on the 19th century novel by :William Makepeace Thackeray and it was directed by :Mira Nair. The movie received mixed reviews.
In 2005, Garai received another BIFA nomination, this time for their Best Supporting Actress award, for her performance as Siobhan in the independent film Inside I'm Dancing
. Her portrayal earned her the British Supporting Actress of the Year award from the London Film Critics Circle
. Also in 2005, she starred in a two-part drama made for television, entitled The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant
. While critics hailed it as "pleasingly old-fashioned adventure," it was her performance that won the most admiration and earn her two nominations: Best Lead Actress in Television from the Australian Film Institute
and Most Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series from the Logie Awards. As The Observer noted: "As for the tireless Garai, she once again demonstrated an instinctive understanding of the vital difference between overperforming and overacting."
She can be seen in Kenneth Branagh
's film adaptation
of William Shakespeare's As You Like It
(2006), as Celia. The film was released in some European cinemas before being broadcast in 2007 on HBO cable television in the U.S. In 2009, it opened in theatres in Mexico
.
In 2007, Garai starred as Angel Deverell in François Ozon
's Angel
. The Independent named her one of the actresses of the year for her performance in Angel. Garai was also nominated for the Prix Lumiere award (the French equivalent of the Golden Globes), as Best Female Newcomer for Angel, making her the first British actress to be nominated for a Prix Lumiere.
In 2007, she also starred in the Oscar-nominated movie Atonement
as the teenaged Briony Tallis. Co-starring :Keira Knightley, :James McAvoy, :Vanessa Redgrave, and :Brenda Blethyn, the movie went on to receive seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Garai earned a Best Actress nomination from the Evening Standard British Film Awards
for her performance. She also appeared in two Royal Shakespeare Company
productions: as Cordelia
in King Lear
and as Nina in The Seagull
, starring alongside Ian McKellen
, Frances Barber
, Sylvester McCoy
, Jonathan Hyde
, and William Gaunt
. The run, which toured the world, went into residence in the New London Theatre
where it ended mid-January 2008. She received rave reviews, especially as Nina in The Seagull, The Independent calling her a "woman on the edge of stardom," and This Is London calling her "superlative", and stating that the play was "distinguished by the illuminating, psychological insights of Miss Garai's performance." She reprised her role as Cordelia in a televised version of King Lear
.
In 2008. she appeared in the feature film The Other Man alongside Liam Neeson
, Laura Linney
, and Antonio Banderas
. Garai next starred in Stephen Poliakoff's World War II thriller Glorious 39, alongside Julie Christie
, Jenny Agutter
, Bill Nighy
, Christopher Lee
,
and Eddie Redmayne
. The movie had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.
In 2009, she played the title role in a television adaptation of Jane Austen
's Emma
, a four-hour miniseries that premiered on BBC One in October 2009, co-starring Jonny Lee Miller
and Sir Michael Gambon
. Garai was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance. Emma then appeared on American television as part of PBS' Masterpiece Classic anthology series, airing in most U.S. markets over three consecutive Sunday evenings during January and February 2010. American actress Laura Linney
, who had co-starred with Garai in The Other Man, was the presenter for Masterpiece Classic during the anthology's "season" (US)/"series" (UK) at the time, and she introduced each of the three installments that featured her former co-star.
She was attached to play American First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in Flying Into Love; she will also appear in Hettie MacDonald
's feature Nova Scotia, in which she plays a character called Lucy Hay; and also in director Gareth Bryn's Driven, which is written by Catrin Clarke. Garai has also signed to play the female lead in I Was Bono's Doppelgänger, alongside Charlie Cox and another former co-star, Bill Nighy. Filming was set to begin in August 2009.
In 2009, The Sunday Times Magazine named her as one of Britain's Rising Stars alongside Matthew Goode, Andrea Riseborough, Hugh Dancy, Eddie Redmayne and others. In January of that year she travelled to the Syrian-Iraqi border to make a short film titled No Man's Land for the UNHCR, highlighting the plight of 800 Palestinian refugees living in the Al-Tanaf refugee camp. Of her visit to the refugee camps Garai states, "My trip to a refugee camp in Syria destroyed any hope that the horrors of Iraq might end, or that we are doing enough to help its victims." Garai has been hailed by her Glorious 39 director Stephen Poliakoff as "the next Kate Winslet" and someone who will "dominate British cinema" in the future.
In 2011, Garai starred in the four-part BBC drama The Crimson Petal and the White
based on the novel
by Michel Faber
. She has commented on her racy part of Sugar, a 19th century mistress, that "standing in pants and suspenders, waiting for someone to call action, is pretty cringy ... By the end everyone on the set was like, 'Please just put it away.'" In 2011 she played Bel Rowley in the TV drama The Hour leading with Dominic West
and Ben Whishaw
, and the stage play The Village Bike
at the Royal Court.
Garai has signed on to star alongside actress Anne Hathaway
and Jim Sturgess
in Lone Scherfig
's One Day
. She will also play the part of a junkie single mother in the independent British film Junkhearts with Eddie Marsan
and Tom Sturridge
,.
to New York in the 1910s with his English-born wife, then moved to London, where he founded the Keystone Press Agency. Most of her Hungarian-Jewish relatives were killed in the Holocaust. Garai admits she has "not yet" been to Hungary and feels modern, cosmopolitan, and British. She lives in London and in 2009 finished her degree in English Literature with the Open University
.
Garai guards her private life, saying, "It's too simplistic to say that people start to believe what's written about them. But what happens is that you become a certain way to please people, to be liked, to be what's expected of you, to change yourself so that you become the best possible version of yourself for people who don't know you. And I think that's a terrible, pernicious thing." She adds, "In a way, I'd rather go into an interview and be disliked, and have unpleasant things written about me, than to have a wonderful, glowing article written that is in no way a reflection of who I am."
Garai enjoys traveling and cooking in her spare time, calling it 'therapeutic' in many ways. She has visited Hong Kong, Malaysia, Italy, Austria, Morocco, and Switzerland, and the United States, "To be the outsider for a period of time changes you for the better. It shakes up your comfort level. You have to really make an effort to enter into other people's culture and psychology and language, which the British are very bad at doing."
Amazing Grace (2006 film)
Amazing Grace is a 2006 U.S.–UK co-production film, directed by Michael Apted, about the campaign against slave trade in the British Empire, led by William Wilberforce, who was responsible for steering anti-slave trade legislation through the British parliament. The title is a reference to the hymn...
, Atonement
Atonement (film)
Atonement is a 2007 British romantic suspense war film directed by Joe Wright. It is a film adaptation of the 2001 novel of the same name by Ian McEwan. The film stars James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, and Saoirse Ronan. It was produced by Working Title Films and filmed throughout the summer of 2006...
, and Glorious 39, and for appearing in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
adaptation of Emma
Emma (2009 TV serial)
Emma is a four-part BBC television drama serial adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Emma, first published in 1815. The episodes were written by Sandy Welch, acclaimed writer of previous BBC costume-dramas Jane Eyre and North and South, and directed by Jim O'Hanlon...
.
Early life
Garai was born in Hong Kong to British parents. Her mother, Janet A. (née Brown), worked as a journalist, and her father, Adrian E. R. Garai, is a banker. Her first name is the female version of RomulusRomulus and Remus
Romulus and Remus are Rome's twin founders in its traditional foundation myth, although the former is sometimes said to be the sole founder...
, one of the founders of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. Garai's great-grandfather, Bernhard "Bert" Garai, a Hungarian Jewish immigrant, founded the Keystone Press Agency, a photographic agency and archive, in London in the early twentieth century.
Garai is the third of four siblings. She moved to Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
at five, before her family returned to Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
when she was eight. She attended an independent boarding school, Stonar School
Stonar School
Stonar School, founded in 1895, is one of the UK's independent leading day and boarding school, at Cottles Park, Atworth, near in Wiltshire, south-west England...
in Wiltshire, and later moved at sixteen to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to attend the City of London School for Girls
City of London School for Girls
City of London School for Girls is a girls' independent school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. It is sister school of the City of London School and the City of London Freemen's School .-History:The school was founded by William Ward in 1894...
, where she completed her A-levels. She was fond of drama and appeared in school plays, and also with the National Youth Theatre
National Youth Theatre
The National Youth Theatre is a registered charity in London, Great Britain, committed to creative, personal and social development of young people through the medium of creative arts....
up until the age of eighteen, where she was spotted by an agent who signed her to play the younger version of Dame Judi Dench
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
's character in the BBC Films
BBC Films
BBC Films is the feature film-making arm of the BBC. It has produced or co-produced some of the most successful British films of recent years, including An Education, StreetDance 3D, Fish Tank, Stage Beauty, A Cock and Bull Story, Nativity! and Match Point.It aims to make strong British films with...
/HBO co-production for television, The Last of the Blonde Bombshells
The Last of the Blonde Bombshells
The Last of the Blonde Bombshells is a 2000 British-American television film directed by Gillies MacKinnon. The script by Alan Plater focuses on the efforts of a recently widowed woman to reunite the members of the World War II-era swing band with which she played saxophone.It features Carry On...
.
After A-levels, she studied English Literature at Queen Mary, University of London
Queen Mary, University of London
Queen Mary, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
, before transferring and graduating with a first class degree from the Open University
Open University
The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
. She originally intended only to focus on her studies but later began acting full time during the summer holiday. She is a former model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
.
Acting career
Garai's first professional acting role was in the 2000 BBC-HBO TV film The Last of the Blonde BombshellsThe Last of the Blonde Bombshells
The Last of the Blonde Bombshells is a 2000 British-American television film directed by Gillies MacKinnon. The script by Alan Plater focuses on the efforts of a recently widowed woman to reunite the members of the World War II-era swing band with which she played saxophone.It features Carry On...
, where she played Judi Dench
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
's character as young. She then landed a part in the BBC 26-part television series Attachments
Attachments (TV series)
Attachments is a BBC TV Series that ran for two seasons from 2000 to 2002, a total of 26 episodes. It focuses on a group of young professionals in London that work for an Internet startup company called "seethru" during the dot com boom...
(2000–2002). It was this production that prompted her to make the decision to stop her education and concentrate solely on her acting career.
Garai's first major film role was in 2002's Nicholas Nickleby
Nicholas Nickleby (2002 film)
Nicholas Nickleby is a 2002 comedy-drama film written and directed by Douglas McGrath. The screenplay is based on The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens, which originally was published in serial form between March 1838 and September 1839.-Plot:In a prologue we are...
. She played Kate Nickleby, a supporting role, in the well-reviewed film. The entire cast was widely recognized for their work and were awarded Best Ensemble by the National Board of Review. In 2003's I Capture the Castle
I Capture the Castle (film)
I Capture The Castle is a 2003 film directed by Tim Fywell. It is based on the 1948 novel of the same title by Dodie Smith and was adapted to screenplay by Heidi Thomas...
, she played 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain. She received glowing praise for her work. Her performance earned her a nomination for a Most Promising Newcomer award from the British Independent Film Awards.
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights
# "Dance Like This" - Wyclef Jean featuring Claudette Ortiz # "Dirty Dancing" - The Black Eyed Peas# "Guajira " - Yerba Buena# "Can I Walk By" - Jazze Pha featuring Monica# "Satellite " - Santana featuring Jorge Moreno...
(2004) was Garai's biggest critical flop to date. Her performance received mixed reviews – many critics felt let down after her previous impressive turns. Later that same year Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (2004 film)
Vanity Fair is a 2004 British-American costume drama film directed by Mira Nair and adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray's novel of the same name...
was released. In Vanity Fair, she played Amelia Sedley. Co-starring :Reese Witherspoon, :Jim Broadbent, and :James Purefoy, the movie was based on the 19th century novel by :William Makepeace Thackeray and it was directed by :Mira Nair. The movie received mixed reviews.
In 2005, Garai received another BIFA nomination, this time for their Best Supporting Actress award, for her performance as Siobhan in the independent film Inside I'm Dancing
Inside I'm Dancing
Inside I'm Dancing, also released under the title Rory O'Shea Was Here, is a 2004 Irish film directed by Damien O'Donnell and starring James McAvoy, Steven Robertson, Romola Garai, and Brenda Fricker...
. Her portrayal earned her the British Supporting Actress of the Year award from the London Film Critics Circle
London Film Critics Circle
The London Film Critics' Circle is the name by which the Film Section of The Critics' Circle is known internationally.The word London was added because it was thought the term Critics' Circle Film Awards lacked meaning — for people in LA for example — and the Film Section wished its annual Awards...
. Also in 2005, she starred in a two-part drama made for television, entitled The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant
The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant
The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant is a 2005 film loosely based on the life of Mary Bryant, a Cornish girl convicted of petty theft and is transported to the Australian Penal Colony on the First Fleet with other prisoners bound for Botany Bay. It is written by Peter Berry and directed by Peter...
. While critics hailed it as "pleasingly old-fashioned adventure," it was her performance that won the most admiration and earn her two nominations: Best Lead Actress in Television from the Australian Film Institute
Australian Film Institute
The Australian Film Institute was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry...
and Most Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series from the Logie Awards. As The Observer noted: "As for the tireless Garai, she once again demonstrated an instinctive understanding of the vital difference between overperforming and overacting."
She can be seen in Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
's film adaptation
Film adaptation
Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
of William Shakespeare's As You Like It
As You Like It
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
(2006), as Celia. The film was released in some European cinemas before being broadcast in 2007 on HBO cable television in the U.S. In 2009, it opened in theatres in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
In 2007, Garai starred as Angel Deverell in François Ozon
François Ozon
François Ozon is a French film director and screenwriter and whose films are usually characterized by sharp satirical wit and a freewheeling view on human sexuality....
's Angel
Angel (2007 film)
Angel, also known as the Real Life of Angel Deverell, is a 2007 British film based on novel of the same name by Elizabeth Taylor, about the life of a fiery and passionate young writer. The protagonist was portrayed by Romola Garai, director François Ozon's first and only choice for the role...
. The Independent named her one of the actresses of the year for her performance in Angel. Garai was also nominated for the Prix Lumiere award (the French equivalent of the Golden Globes), as Best Female Newcomer for Angel, making her the first British actress to be nominated for a Prix Lumiere.
In 2007, she also starred in the Oscar-nominated movie Atonement
Atonement (film)
Atonement is a 2007 British romantic suspense war film directed by Joe Wright. It is a film adaptation of the 2001 novel of the same name by Ian McEwan. The film stars James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, and Saoirse Ronan. It was produced by Working Title Films and filmed throughout the summer of 2006...
as the teenaged Briony Tallis. Co-starring :Keira Knightley, :James McAvoy, :Vanessa Redgrave, and :Brenda Blethyn, the movie went on to receive seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Garai earned a Best Actress nomination from the Evening Standard British Film Awards
Evening Standard British Film Awards
The Evening Standard British Film Awards were established in 1973 by the British London area evening newspaper Evening Standard. The Standard Awards is the only ceremony "dedicated to British and Irish talent," judged by a panel of "top UK critics." Each ceremony honours films from the previous...
for her performance. She also appeared in two Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
productions: as Cordelia
Cordelia
Cordelia is a common first name in English. It is an elaboration of the word 'cor', which means 'heart' in Latin. In Celtic usages, the name is generally understood to mean 'daughter of the sea' or 'jewel of the sea' , due to its association with the mythological Welsh figure of...
in King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
and as Nina in The Seagull
The Seagull
The Seagull is the first of what are generally considered to be the four major plays by the Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov. The Seagull was written in 1895 and first produced in 1896...
, starring alongside Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction...
, Frances Barber
Frances Barber
Frances Barber is an Olivier Award-nominated English actress with a long and distinguished stage career. She has also appeared in numerous television productions...
, Sylvester McCoy
Sylvester McCoy
Sylvester McCoy is a Scottish actor. As a comic act and busker he appeared regularly on stage and on BBC Children's television in the 1970s and 80s, but is best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1987 to...
, Jonathan Hyde
Jonathan Hyde
Jonathan Hyde is an Australian-born English actor, well known for his roles as J. Bruce Ismay, the managing director of the White Star Line in Titanic, Egyptologist Allen Chamberlain in The Mummy and Sam Parrish/Van Pelt, the hunter in Jumanji. He is married to the Scottish soprano Isobel Buchanan...
, and William Gaunt
William Gaunt
William Charles Anthony Gaunt is an English actor, sometimes credited as Bill Gaunt.-Early life:...
. The run, which toured the world, went into residence in the New London Theatre
New London Theatre
The New London Theatre is a West End theatre located on the corner of Drury Lane and Parker Street in Covent Garden, in the London Borough of Camden...
where it ended mid-January 2008. She received rave reviews, especially as Nina in The Seagull, The Independent calling her a "woman on the edge of stardom," and This Is London calling her "superlative", and stating that the play was "distinguished by the illuminating, psychological insights of Miss Garai's performance." She reprised her role as Cordelia in a televised version of King Lear
King Lear (2008 TV film)
King Lear is a 2008 television film based on the William Shakespeare play of the same name, directed by Trevor Nunn. It was broadcast on More4 in the UK on Christmas Day, and shown on PBS in America in March 2009...
.
In 2008. she appeared in the feature film The Other Man alongside Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson
Liam John Neeson, OBE is an Irish actor who has been nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and three Golden Globe Awards.He has starred in a number of notable roles including Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, Michael Collins in Michael Collins, Peyton Westlake in Darkman, Jean Valjean in Les...
, Laura Linney
Laura Linney
Laura Leggett Linney is an American actress of film, television, and theatre. Linney has won three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has been nominated for three times for an Academy Award and once for a BAFTA Award...
, and Antonio Banderas
Antonio Banderas
José Antonio Domínguez Banderas , better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer...
. Garai next starred in Stephen Poliakoff's World War II thriller Glorious 39, alongside Julie Christie
Julie Christie
Julie Frances Christie is a British actress. Born in British India to English parents, at the age of six Christie moved to England, where she attended boarding school....
, Jenny Agutter
Jenny Agutter
Jennifer Ann "Jenny" Agutter is an English film and television actress. She began her career as a child actress in the mid 1960s, starring in the BBC television series The Railway Children and the film adaptation of the same book, before moving on to adult roles and relocating to Hollywood.She...
, Bill Nighy
Bill Nighy
William Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womanizer Prof...
, Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
,
and Eddie Redmayne
Eddie Redmayne
Edward John David "Eddie" Redmayne is an English actor and model. Redmayne won the 2010 Tony Award as best featured actor in a play for his performance in Red.-Early life:...
. The movie had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.
In 2009, she played the title role in a television adaptation of Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
's Emma
Emma (2009 TV serial)
Emma is a four-part BBC television drama serial adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Emma, first published in 1815. The episodes were written by Sandy Welch, acclaimed writer of previous BBC costume-dramas Jane Eyre and North and South, and directed by Jim O'Hanlon...
, a four-hour miniseries that premiered on BBC One in October 2009, co-starring Jonny Lee Miller
Jonny Lee Miller
Jonathan "Jonny" Lee Miller is an English actor. During the initial days he was best known for his roles in the 1996 films Trainspotting and Hackers...
and Sir Michael Gambon
Michael Gambon
Sir Michael John Gambon, CBE is an Irish actor who has worked in theatre, television and film. A highly respected theatre actor, Gambon is recognised for his roles as Philip Marlowe in the BBC television serial The Singing Detective, as Jules Maigret in the 1990s ITV serial Maigret, and as...
. Garai was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance. Emma then appeared on American television as part of PBS' Masterpiece Classic anthology series, airing in most U.S. markets over three consecutive Sunday evenings during January and February 2010. American actress Laura Linney
Laura Linney
Laura Leggett Linney is an American actress of film, television, and theatre. Linney has won three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has been nominated for three times for an Academy Award and once for a BAFTA Award...
, who had co-starred with Garai in The Other Man, was the presenter for Masterpiece Classic during the anthology's "season" (US)/"series" (UK) at the time, and she introduced each of the three installments that featured her former co-star.
She was attached to play American First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in Flying Into Love; she will also appear in Hettie MacDonald
Hettie MacDonald
Hettie MacDonald is a British director who won a Grand Prix award, an International Jury Award - Honorable Mention and a People's Choice Award for her work on the film Beautiful Thing. She has also directed for television and the stage....
's feature Nova Scotia, in which she plays a character called Lucy Hay; and also in director Gareth Bryn's Driven, which is written by Catrin Clarke. Garai has also signed to play the female lead in I Was Bono's Doppelgänger, alongside Charlie Cox and another former co-star, Bill Nighy. Filming was set to begin in August 2009.
In 2009, The Sunday Times Magazine named her as one of Britain's Rising Stars alongside Matthew Goode, Andrea Riseborough, Hugh Dancy, Eddie Redmayne and others. In January of that year she travelled to the Syrian-Iraqi border to make a short film titled No Man's Land for the UNHCR, highlighting the plight of 800 Palestinian refugees living in the Al-Tanaf refugee camp. Of her visit to the refugee camps Garai states, "My trip to a refugee camp in Syria destroyed any hope that the horrors of Iraq might end, or that we are doing enough to help its victims." Garai has been hailed by her Glorious 39 director Stephen Poliakoff as "the next Kate Winslet" and someone who will "dominate British cinema" in the future.
In 2011, Garai starred in the four-part BBC drama The Crimson Petal and the White
The Crimson Petal and the White (TV miniseries)
The Crimson Petal and the White is a 2011 four part television miniseries, adapted from Michel Faber's 2002 novel The Crimson Petal and the White. Starring Romola Garai as Sugar and Chris O'Dowd as William Rackham, the miniseries aired in the UK during April 2011 on BBC Two. The supporting cast...
based on the novel
The Crimson Petal and the White
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber is a 2002 novel set in Victorian-era England.The title is from a 1847 poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson entitled "Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal", the opening line of which is "Now sleeps the crimson petal, now the white".-Publication history:Canongate...
by Michel Faber
Michel Faber
Michel Faber is a Dutch-born writer of fiction. He writes in English.Faber was born in The Hague, Netherlands. He and his parents emigrated to Australia in 1967...
. She has commented on her racy part of Sugar, a 19th century mistress, that "standing in pants and suspenders, waiting for someone to call action, is pretty cringy ... By the end everyone on the set was like, 'Please just put it away.'" In 2011 she played Bel Rowley in the TV drama The Hour leading with Dominic West
Dominic West
Dominic Gerard Fe West is an English actor best known for his role as Detective Jimmy McNulty in the HBO drama series The Wire.-Film and TV:...
and Ben Whishaw
Ben Whishaw
Benjamin John "Ben" Whishaw is an English actor who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Whishaw is perhaps best known for his breakthrough role as Hamlet, and his role as the lead character in Tom Tykwer's film Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.-Early life:Whishaw was born and raised in...
, and the stage play The Village Bike
The Village Bike
The Village Bike is a 2011 play by Penelope Skinner which premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London. It won the 2011 George Devine Award and received rave reviews and had an extended sell out run.-Plot:...
at the Royal Court.
Garai has signed on to star alongside actress Anne Hathaway
Anne Hathaway (actress)
Anne Jacqueline Hathaway is an American actress. After several stage roles, she appeared in the 1999 television series Get Real. She played Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries...
and Jim Sturgess
Jim Sturgess
James Anthony "Jim" Sturgess is an English actor and singer-songwriter. His breakthrough role was appearing as Jude in the musical romance drama film Across the Universe .-Early life:...
in Lone Scherfig
Lone Scherfig
Lone Scherfig is a Danish film director. She graduated in 1984, and began her career as a director with "A Birthday Trip". She is part of the Dogme 95 film movement, which espouses a form of cinéma vérité She made her mark with the Dogme95-film, Italian for Beginners , a romantic comedy which...
's One Day
One Day (film)
One Day is a film directed by Lone Scherfig. It was adapted by David Nicholls from his 2009 novel of the same name. It stars Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess...
. She will also play the part of a junkie single mother in the independent British film Junkhearts with Eddie Marsan
Eddie Marsan
Edward Maurice C. "Eddie" Marsan is an English actor.-Early life:Marsan was born in Stepney, London to a working class family; his father was a lorry driver and his mother a school dinner lady and teacher's assistant...
and Tom Sturridge
Tom Sturridge
Thomas Sidney Jerome "Tom" Sturridge is an English actor best known for his work in Being Julia, Like Minds, and The Boat That Rocked. As of September 2010, he was filming a role in Walter Salles's highly anticipated film adaptation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road.-Personal life:Sturridge was born...
,.
Personal life
Garai's great-grandfather emigrated from BudapestBudapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
to New York in the 1910s with his English-born wife, then moved to London, where he founded the Keystone Press Agency. Most of her Hungarian-Jewish relatives were killed in the Holocaust. Garai admits she has "not yet" been to Hungary and feels modern, cosmopolitan, and British. She lives in London and in 2009 finished her degree in English Literature with the Open University
Open University
The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
.
Garai guards her private life, saying, "It's too simplistic to say that people start to believe what's written about them. But what happens is that you become a certain way to please people, to be liked, to be what's expected of you, to change yourself so that you become the best possible version of yourself for people who don't know you. And I think that's a terrible, pernicious thing." She adds, "In a way, I'd rather go into an interview and be disliked, and have unpleasant things written about me, than to have a wonderful, glowing article written that is in no way a reflection of who I am."
Garai enjoys traveling and cooking in her spare time, calling it 'therapeutic' in many ways. She has visited Hong Kong, Malaysia, Italy, Austria, Morocco, and Switzerland, and the United States, "To be the outsider for a period of time changes you for the better. It shakes up your comfort level. You have to really make an effort to enter into other people's culture and psychology and language, which the British are very bad at doing."
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | The Last of the Blonde Bombshells The Last of the Blonde Bombshells The Last of the Blonde Bombshells is a 2000 British-American television film directed by Gillies MacKinnon. The script by Alan Plater focuses on the efforts of a recently widowed woman to reunite the members of the World War II-era swing band with which she played saxophone.It features Carry On... |
Young Elizabeth | TV movie |
| Attachments Attachments (TV series) Attachments is a BBC TV Series that ran for two seasons from 2000 to 2002, a total of 26 episodes. It focuses on a group of young professionals in London that work for an Internet startup company called "seethru" during the dot com boom... |
Zoe Atkins | TV series | |
| 2001 | Perfect | Charlotte | TV movie |
| 2002 | Daniel Deronda Daniel Deronda (TV serial) Daniel Deronda is a British television serial drama adapted by Andrew Davies from the George Eliot novel of the same name. The serial was directed by Tom Hooper, produced by Louis Marks, and was first broadcast in three parts on BBC One from 24 November to 7 December 2002... |
Gwendolen Harleth | BBC TV series (4 episodes) |
| Nicholas Nickleby Nicholas Nickleby (2002 film) Nicholas Nickleby is a 2002 comedy-drama film written and directed by Douglas McGrath. The screenplay is based on The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens, which originally was published in serial form between March 1838 and September 1839.-Plot:In a prologue we are... |
Kate Nickleby | National Board of Review - Best Acting by an Ensemble National Board of Review Award for Best Cast The National Board of Review Award for Best Acting by an Ensemble is an annual film award given by the National Board of Review.-1990s:... |
|
| 2003 | I Capture the Castle I Capture the Castle (film) I Capture The Castle is a 2003 film directed by Tim Fywell. It is based on the 1948 novel of the same title by Dodie Smith and was adapted to screenplay by Heidi Thomas... |
Cassandra Mortmain | Nominated — ALFS Award for British Newcomer of the Year Nominated — British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer British Independent Film Awards The Moët British Independent Film Awards is an annual award ceremony celebrating achievement in independently funded British film and cinema. Nominations and jury are announced at the beginning of November with the award ceremony taking place in late November or early December.-History:The British... |
| 2004 | Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights # "Dance Like This" - Wyclef Jean featuring Claudette Ortiz # "Dirty Dancing" - The Black Eyed Peas# "Guajira " - Yerba Buena# "Can I Walk By" - Jazze Pha featuring Monica# "Satellite " - Santana featuring Jorge Moreno... |
Katey Miller | |
| Vanity Fair Vanity Fair (2004 film) Vanity Fair is a 2004 British-American costume drama film directed by Mira Nair and adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray's novel of the same name... |
Amelia Sedley | ||
| Inside I'm Dancing Inside I'm Dancing Inside I'm Dancing, also released under the title Rory O'Shea Was Here, is a 2004 Irish film directed by Damien O'Donnell and starring James McAvoy, Steven Robertson, Romola Garai, and Brenda Fricker... |
Siobhan | ALFS Award for British Supporting Actress of the Year Nominated — British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress British Independent Film Awards The Moët British Independent Film Awards is an annual award ceremony celebrating achievement in independently funded British film and cinema. Nominations and jury are announced at the beginning of November with the award ceremony taking place in late November or early December.-History:The British... |
|
| 2005 | Midsummer Dream | Helena | voice (English version) |
| The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant is a 2005 film loosely based on the life of Mary Bryant, a Cornish girl convicted of petty theft and is transported to the Australian Penal Colony on the First Fleet with other prisoners bound for Botany Bay. It is written by Peter Berry and directed by Peter... |
Mary Bryant Mary Bryant Mary Bryant was a Cornish convict sent to Australia. She became one of the first successful escapees from the fledgling Australian penal colony.-Life:... |
TV mini-series | |
| 2006 | Renaissance Renaissance (film) Renaissance is a 2006 French black-and-white animated science fiction film by French director Christian Volckman. It was co-produced in France, United Kingdom and Luxembourg and released on 15 March 2006 in France and 28 July 2006 in the UK by Miramax Films... |
Ilona Tasuiev | voice |
| Scoop Scoop (2006 film) Scoop is a 2006 American-British romantic comedy/murder mystery written and directed by Woody Allen and starring Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Ian McShane, and Allen himself... |
Vivian | ||
| As You Like It As You Like It (2006 film) As You Like It is a 2006 film directed by Kenneth Branagh. It is based on the play As You Like It by William Shakespeare. The play's setting is relocated from medieval France to a European colony in late 19th century Japan after the Meiji Restoration. It was shot at Shepperton Film Studios and on... |
Celia | ||
| Amazing Grace Amazing Grace (2006 film) Amazing Grace is a 2006 U.S.–UK co-production film, directed by Michael Apted, about the campaign against slave trade in the British Empire, led by William Wilberforce, who was responsible for steering anti-slave trade legislation through the British parliament. The title is a reference to the hymn... |
Barbara Spooner | ||
| 2007 | Angel Angel (2007 film) Angel, also known as the Real Life of Angel Deverell, is a 2007 British film based on novel of the same name by Elizabeth Taylor, about the life of a fiery and passionate young writer. The protagonist was portrayed by Romola Garai, director François Ozon's first and only choice for the role... |
Angel Deverell | Nominated — Prix Lumiere for Best Female Newcomer |
| Running for River | Blair | short | |
| Atonement Atonement (film) Atonement is a 2007 British romantic suspense war film directed by Joe Wright. It is a film adaptation of the 2001 novel of the same name by Ian McEwan. The film stars James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, and Saoirse Ronan. It was produced by Working Title Films and filmed throughout the summer of 2006... |
Briony Tallis - Aged 18 | Nominated — Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress Evening Standard British Film Awards The Evening Standard British Film Awards were established in 1973 by the British London area evening newspaper Evening Standard. The Standard Awards is the only ceremony "dedicated to British and Irish talent," judged by a panel of "top UK critics." Each ceremony honours films from the previous... |
|
| 2008 | The Other Man The Other Man (2008 film) The Other Man is a British-American movie directed by Richard Eyre. It stars Liam Neeson and Antonio Banderas as competitors for a woman's love .-Plot:... |
Abigail | |
| Great Performances Great Performances Great Performances, a television series devoted to the performing arts, has been telecast on Public Broadcasting Service public television since 1972... |
Cordelia | TV series (1 episode: "King Lear") | |
| 2009 | Glorious 39 | Anne Keyes | |
| Emma Emma (2009 TV serial) Emma is a four-part BBC television drama serial adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Emma, first published in 1815. The episodes were written by Sandy Welch, acclaimed writer of previous BBC costume-dramas Jane Eyre and North and South, and directed by Jim O'Hanlon... |
Emma Emma Emma, by Jane Austen, is a novel about the perils of misconstrued romance. The novel was first published in December 1815. As in her other novels, Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian-Regency England; she also creates a lively 'comedy of manners' among... |
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for Television Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign... |
|
| 2011 | Junkhearts | Christine | post-production |
| One Day One Day (film) One Day is a film directed by Lone Scherfig. It was adapted by David Nicholls from his 2009 novel of the same name. It stars Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess... |
Sylvie | completed | |
| The Hour | Bel Rowley | TV series (6 episodes) | |
| The Crimson Petal and the White The Crimson Petal and the White (TV miniseries) The Crimson Petal and the White is a 2011 four part television miniseries, adapted from Michel Faber's 2002 novel The Crimson Petal and the White. Starring Romola Garai as Sugar and Chris O'Dowd as William Rackham, the miniseries aired in the UK during April 2011 on BBC Two. The supporting cast... |
Sugar | TV mini-series (4 episodes) |