Early life

Leslie was born in a noble family in Aberdeen, Scotland. She was raised at Lickleyhead Castle in Aberdeenshire, her family's 15th century ancestral seat. Her father, Sebastian Arbuthnot-Leslie, is the Aberdeenshire Chieftain of Clan Leslie and her mother is Candida Mary Sibyl "Candy" Leslie (née Weld) of Clan Fraser, great-granddaughter of Simon Fraser, 13th Lord Lovat (a descendant of Charles II). Her family presently owns the 12th century Warthill Castle in Scotland's Old Rayne.

Leslie is the third of five children and describes growing up together as "important. We are a big, close family." Jokingly, she recalls having middle child syndrome and being the family's only redhead and "the sole ‘ginger’ in a 40-mile radius at school" as the predispositions in her desire to become an actress where "different was O.K." She was educated at Rayne North School and then Millfield School in Street, Somerset, before spending three years at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Career

Leslie was heavily involved in plays at LAMDA, starring in stage productions such as Uncle Vanya, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Country Wife, as well as a stint on BBC Radio narrating The British Slave Trade: Abolition, Parliament and People. Her experiences allowed her to receive a BASSC certificate in stage combat and master diction in various dialects, which would prove useful in later roles. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts hons in 2008.

Her leading on screen debut came at age 21 in the television film New Town (2009), for which she won the Scottish BAFTA for Best Acting Performance - New Talent Award.

In September and October 2010, she became the lead in Nell Leyshon's infamous play Bedlam held at Globe Theatre. Based on the Bethlem Royal Hospital, representative of the worst excesses of asylums in the era of lunacy reform, Leslie portrayed May, a beautiful country girl driven mad by lost love. The Daily Telegraph's Charles Spencer praised her performance, commenting, "Leslie proves genuinely poignant." Her break-through role came as Gwen Dawson, a housemaid, in the first series (2010-11) of the ITV television drama Downton Abbey.

In 2011, while on Downton Abbey, Leslie briefly appeared in two episodes of the British drama series Case Histories.

In 2012, she was cast in the popular HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones. For her role as wildling Ygritte in seasons two, three and four, Leslie was met with major acclaim. The A.V. Club's Rowan Kaiser stated: "As Ygritte, is both dangerous and flirtatious, and it’s fun to watch." Den of Geek's David Crow exclaimed, "A complicated character Rose Leslie devours the screen." In 2013, Vox.com's Todd VanDerWerff (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," whilst The Atlantic's Christopher Orr summed her portrayal in 2014's 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."

While on Game of Thrones, Leslie appeared in the 2012 drama film Now Is Good alongside Dakota Fanning and in episodes of ITV detective television series Vera, Channel 4 conspiracy drama Utopia and BBC One's comedy series Blandings.

From October to November 2014, she top-billed in the four-part mini-series The Great Fire. She then starred in the horror film Honeymoon with Harry Treadaway. She has since played DS Emma Lane in the BBC detective drama Luther with Idris Elba with positive response and starred alongside Vin Diesel and Elijah Wood in the 2015 action adventure/fantasy film The Last Witch Hunter. In 2016, she will portray the character of Athena in Sticky Notes with Goodfellas's Ray Liotta.

Personal life

Leslie is fluent in French, having lived in France for three years. While working as an actress, she resided in Battersea, London until relocating to North London. She often professes to missing her hometown, saying: "Aberdeen... in the middle of the countryside, all trees and nature. My parents would send us out for the day, we had lots of freedom. Going back is still an escape! I feel very much at peace in Scotland."

She is an avid runner and enjoys rock climbing, cooking, skiing, archery and tennis.

Leslie has been in an on-and-off relationship with Game of Thrones co-star Kit Harington since 2012. They confirmed their relationship in 2016.

Filmography

Television

File:Rose Leslie by Gage Skidmore (3).jpg Leslie in 2013 for Game of Thrones Comic-Con panel

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	Banged Up Abroad	Kim	Episode: "Lima"
2010, 2015	Downton Abbey	Gwen Dawson	Series 1 - main role
2011	Case Histories	Laura Wyre
2012	Vera	Lena Holgate	Episode: "The Ghost Position"
2012-2014	Game of Thrones	Ygritte	Season 2 - recurring role (debuts in "The Old Gods and the New") Season 3 - main role Season 4 - main role
2014	Blandings	Niagra Donaldson	Episode: "Custody of the Pumpkin"
	Utopia	Young Milner	Episode #2.1
	The Great Fire	Sarah Farriner	miniseries
2015	Luther	DS Emma Lane	Series 4 - main role

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	New Town	Rhian
2012	Now Is Good	Fiona
2014	Honeymoon	Bea
2015	The Last Witch Hunter	Chloe
2016	Sticky Notes	Athena
	Morgan	Amy	Filming

Theatre

Year	Title	Venue / Touring Theatre	Director	Ref
2005 - 2015	Mixed Up North	Touring Wilton's Music Hall Octagon Theatre	Max Stafford-Clark
	Romeo and Juliet	Love and Madness Company	John Link
	Can-Can	LAMDA	Anne Durham
	Pericles		Rodney Cottier
	The Learned Ladies		Jenny Lipman
	The Caucasian Chalk Circle	Touring Out of Joint Theatre Company MacOwan Theatre	John Baxter
	Breaking Barriers in Burnley	Out of Joint Theatre Company	Robin Soans & Clark
	Uncle Vanya	LAMDA	Colin Cook
	Antigone		Mark Bell
	The Children's Monologues	Royal Court Theatre	Danny Boyle
	Bedlam	Globe Theatre	Nell Leyshon

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2009	British Academy Scotland New Talent Awards	Best Acting Performance	New Town	Won
2013	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	Game of Thrones	Nominated

Ancestry

Leslie's ancestors include French Hugenot Ambrose Lisle March Phillipps De Lisle, politician Charles March-Phillipps and MOP James Grimston, 3rd Earl of Verulam. Her great-great grandfather was Guillermo de Landa y Escandón, who served as Mayor of Mexico City. She is cousin-in-law to the British historian William Dalrymple (FRAS).

Ancestors of Rose Leslie

8. E. L. Stainton 4. Captain Anthony Thomas Stainton 2. Sebastian Arbuthnot-Leslie 10. William Arbuthnot-Leslie 5. Mary Luz Arbuthnot-Leslie 22. Guillermo de Landa y Escandon, Governor of Mexico City 11. Maria de la Luz de Landa y Osio 23. Sofía de Ossio y del Barrio 1. Rose Leslie 24. Sir Frederick Aloysius Weld 12. Humphrey Frederick Weld 25. Filumena March Philipps 6. Lt-Col Humphrey Joseph Giles Weld 26. Edmond de Poher de la Poer, 1st Count de la Poer 13. Elinor Mary Trifine de Poher de la Poer 27. Hon. Mary Olivia Augusta Monsell 3. Candida Mary Weld 28. Simon Fraser, 13th Lord Lovat 14. Hon Alastair Thomas Joseph Fraser 29. Alice Mary Weld-Blundell 7. Frances Mary Fraser 30. James Grimston, 3rd Earl of Verulam 15. Lady Sibyl Grimston 31. Margaret Frances Graham

[ Source: Wikipedia ]