Romola Garai

Born in Hong Kong to British parents, Garai moved to Singapore at age five and then to Wiltshire, England, at eight. She attended Stonar School and the City of London School for Girls, and later studied English literature at Queen Mary University of London before graduating with a first-class degree from The Open University. Her first professional role was in the 2000 TV film The Last of the Blonde Bombshells, playing the younger version of Judi Dench's character.

Garai's film career includes lead and supporting roles in I Capture the Castle, Inside I'm Dancing, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, Vanity Fair, As You Like It, Amazing Grace, Angel, Glorious 39, and more recently Miss Marx. She has also performed extensively in theatre, including Royal Shakespeare Company productions of King Lear and The Seagull, and in plays like The Village Bike and The Writer. As a director, she wrote and directed the short film Scrubber (2012) and made her feature directorial debut with the horror film Amulet (2020). Garai is a feminist and has written for The Guardian. She lives in London with her husband, actor Sam Hoare, and their two children.