Born in Hong Kong, Romola Garai's unusual name is the female version of Romolo, an Italian name for boys (from Latin Romulus, the founder of Rome). She grew up in Singapore and Hong Kong until she was eight when her family returned to lay roots in Wiltshire. At sixteen, she left her parents and youngest sister, Roxy, to live in London with her older sister, Rosie, and attend school at City of London's School for Girls, where her major studies were based on theatre. She got her beginnings as a professional actress when she was spotted in a school production by a casting director looking for girls to play Judi Dench in the ITV drama The Last of the Blonde Bombshells (2000) (TV). After that role, she went on with her studies, eventually enrolling in University of London. Romola has starred in many Period Dramas including Amazing Grace, Daniel Deronda, Vanity Fair, Glorious 39, Angel and The Crimson Petal and The White.

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Angel - Angel Deverell

Angel Deverell comes of age in Edwardian Cheshire knowing she will be a great writer. Rising above her class (her widowed mother has a grocery shop), Angel finds a publisher and a wide audience for her frothy romances. With royalties, she buys an estate, then she's smitten by Esme, a rake from local aristocracy and an artist of dark temperament. She hires Esme's sister Nora, who dotes on her, as a personal assistant, and pursues Esme. Angel is grandly self-centered, coloring her world as if it were one of her novels. When the Great War breaks out and reality begins to trump her will, can Angel hold on to her man and her public?

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The Crimson Petal and The White - Sugar

A tale of love, lust, desire and revenge, it reveals the true sexual politics of Victorian life. In the words of the heroine, Sugar: "If you dare enter this world, you had better tread carefully." Sugar is a sexually adept prostitute whose reputation for sensuality precedes her; alluring and highly sought after she ‘never disappoints’. Her intelligence and wit sets her apart - self-educated and ambitious, she’s able to engage in heated discussion whilst satisfying her clients.
Having spent years at the mercy of men, Sugar yearns for a better life and craves the freedom to make a living using her brain rather than her body. When not at work Sugar pens a dark, gothic novel in which a prostitute enacts revenge on all the men who have wronged her - a theme that has threatened to seep into reality.
With the arrival of William Rackham, this escape becomes a tangible prospect - and one that Sugar is keen to exploit.

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Amazing Grace - Barbara Spooner

In 1797, William Wilberforce, the great crusader for the British abolition of slavery, is taking a vacation for his health even while he is sicker at heart for his frustrated cause. However, meeting the charming Barbara Spooner, Wilberforce finds a soulmate to share the story of his struggle. With few allies such as his mentor, John Newton, a slave ship captain turned repentant priest who penned the great hymn, "Amazing Grace," Prime William Pitt, and Olaudah Equiano, the erudite former slave turned author, Wilberforce fruitlessly fights both public indifference and moneyed opposition determined to keep their exploitation safe. Nevertheless, Wilberforce finds the inspiration in newfound love to rejuvenate the fight with new ideas that would lead to a great victory for social justice.

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Glorious 39 - Anne Keyes

1939 is set between present-day London and the idyllic British countryside in the time before the beginning of the Second World War. At a time of uncertainty and high tension, the story revolves around the formidable Keyes family, who are keen to uphold and preserve their very traditional way of life. The eldest sibling Anne is a budding young actress who is in love with Foreign Office official Lawrence, but her seemingly perfect life begins to dramatically unravel when she stumbles across secret recordings of the pro-appeasement movement. While trying to discover the origin of these recordings, dark secrets are revealed which lead to the death of a great friend. As war breaks out Anne discovers the truth and flees to London to try to confirm her suspicions, but she is caught and imprisoned and only then does she finally begin to discover how badly she has been betrayed.

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Emma - Emma Woodhouse

Emma Woodhouse seems to be perfectly content, a loving father whom she cares for, friends, and a home. But Emma has a terrible habit - matchmaking. She cannot resist finding suitors for her friends, most of all Harriot Smith. Emma is desperate for Harriot to find happiness, but every suitor she finds for her friend ends up attracted to Emma herself. But is Emma so focused on Harriot's happiness that she is not considering her own happiness in love?

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Daniel Deronda - Gwendolen Harleth

Daniel first becomes enchanted by the beautiful Gwendolen as she gambles recklessly at the roulette table. Her family have recently fallen on hard times and pinned their hopes upon the proud, but charming Gwendolen attracting a rich husband. A short while ago, Gwendolen reluctantly succumbed to the advances of rich bachelor, Henleigh Grandcourt, only to discover that he had a mistress

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The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant

Mary's story begins in Cornwall, her home, where her village is starving to death. In desperation, she steals, landing her a place on the long voyage to Australia along with other convicts.
Pregnant by a jailer, Mary is befriended by a quick-witted smuggler named Will. She is also aided by another on board, a stiff-necked, moralistic British officer named Lt Ralph Clarke, whose wife abandons him just as the ships set sail.

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I Capture The Castle - Cassandra Mortmain

A love story set in 1930s England that follows 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain, and the fortunes of her eccentric family, struggling to survive in a decaying English castle.

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The Hour - Bel Rowley

Romola Garai plays Bel Rowley, spirited and ambitious and facing the most exciting and daunting challenge of her life – running The Hour. Can her passion for the truth survive the political pressure the job will bring – and will her friendship with Freddie survive her undeniable attraction to front man Hector?

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Churchill's Secret - Nurse Millie Appleyard

​British Prime Minister Winston Churchill suffers from a stroke in the summer of 1953, which is consequently kept a secret from the rest of the world.
Diagnosed by his doctor Lord Moran as having a stroke there are fears that he may not survive and he is taken to his country home Chartwell. Publicly he is said to be suffering from exhaustion and the newspaper owners consent to printing the deception. As his children arrive to watch over him they feud over son Randolph's drinking and daughter Sarah's less than illustrious film career whilst Winston's wife Clemmie reflects on the loss of another daughter who died in infancy. The Cabinet is informed of events as Moran brings in plain-spoken Yorkshire nurse Millie Appleyard to look after the great man. With her help and his wife's devotion Churchill survives to address the Conservative party conference later in the year, before retiring as premier two years later, the country as a whole being unaware all along of Churchill's secret. 

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TV/Film Appearances

The Last of the Blonde Bombshells

Attachments

​Daniel Deronda

Nickolas Nickleby

I Capture the Castle

Dirty Dancing Havana Nights

Vanity Fair

Inside I'm Dancing

The Incredible Journey Of Mary Byant

Scoop

As you Like It

Amazing Grace

Angel

Running for River

Atonement

The Other Man

King Liar

Glorious 39

Emma

Crimson Petal and the White

One Day

Junkhearts

Baby Sitting

Whitelands

The Hour

Last Days on Mars

Having You

Legacy

WW1 The Peoples War

Suffragettes

Churchill's Secret

Dominion

Born to Kill

Last Call

Miss Marx

The Windermere Children

The Miniaturist (2017)

Snatches - Moments from 100 Years of Women's Lives

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Romola on Stage and In Theatre

The Writer - Almedia Theatre 2018

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The Village Bike - The Royal Court Theatre (July/August 2011) - Becky

Romola Garai leads the cast as Becky, a pregnant and bored wife. When she tries to attract the interests of her distracted husband with new underwear, frustration leads to reckless abandon when she discovers he is more interested in the baby manual while she would rather be reading the porn stash under the bed.

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Indian Ink - Flora Crewe

The show straddles two eras and two continents, sometimes in the same scene. Large chunks take place in 1930 India, which Flora Crewe (Romola Garai) is visiting because the local air is meant to be good for her lungs.
It’s hard to believe Flora’s in bad health: This vibrant, beautiful woman of 35 appears to be full of life. A liberated poet — she’s mingled, sometimes intimately, with the likes of H.G. Wells and Modigliani — she approaches the new locale with gusto.

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Seagull - Nina

Measure for Measure - Isabella

The Three Sisters - Masha Prozorov

Queen Anne - Sarah Churchill

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Romola joins  Lose the Lads Mags Campaign

'What's the UK's biggest retailer doing lining its shelves with lads' mags like Nuts and Zoo – page after page of women shown as dehumanised sex objects? How am I supposed to explain that to my daughter?' asks actor Romola Garai. In this short film, to launch the Lose the Lads' Mags campaign day of action on 24
August, Garai explains her objection to the magazines and why she wants the supermarkets to stop stocking them.

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Romola Garai