Early life

Wilson was born in Ashford, Middlesex, the daughter of Mary, a probation officer, and Nigel Wilson, an investment banker. She has three older brothers Toby, Sam and Matthew and is the granddaughter of novelist and MI6 officer Alexander Wilson and his third wife, Alison (née McKelvie). She grew up in Shepperton, Surrey, and was raised Catholic.

Wilson attended Notre Dame School, an independent Catholic school for girls located in Cobham, before attending sixth form at Esher College. As a teenager, she worked as a model, and went on to study history at the University of Nottingham, graduating in 2003. While at Nottingham, she was also involved in student drama at the New Theatre. She graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) in July 2005. Afterwards, she co-founded Hush Productions. During her time at Nottingham, she participated in the TV war strategy game Time Commanders, helping her teammates fight in the Battle of Pharsalus.

Career

Prior to her role in Jane Eyre, Wilson had one professional screen credit, in Suburban Shootout, a situation comedy she starred in with Tom Hiddleston.

In 2006-07, she filmed the second series of Suburban Shootout, a new Agatha Christie's Marple mystery (Nemesis) for ITV, and Stephen Poliakoff's BBC television drama Capturing Mary as the young Mary.

In 2007, Wilson appeared in Gorky's Philistines, playing Tanya, at the National from May until August. In June, she presented the 2007 Lilian Baylis Awards. Other projects in 2007 included a guest appearance in the sitcom Freezing as Alison Fennel (transmitted on BBC2, 21 February 2008); narration of the documentary The Polish Ambulance Murders (transmitted on BBC4, 5 February 2008); and the portrayal of a mentally ill doctor in the dramatised documentary The Doctor Who Hears Voices (transmitted on UK Channel 4, 21 April 2008).

From 23 July to 3 October 2009, she appeared as Stella in the Donmar revival of A Streetcar Named Desire. On 15 November 2009 AMC Television and ITV premiered the 2009 TV miniseries remake of The Prisoner, in which Wilson played the Village doctor, "Number 313." She played "Queenie" in an adaptation of Andrea Levy's Small Island, which aired on BBC1 in December 2009 and also aired in the United States on PBS in 2010.

From 2010 to 2013, she appeared in the British psychological police drama Luther as recurring character Alice Morgan, a research scientist and highly intelligent sociopath. In September 2012, the series' creator, Neil Cross, announced that he was in the process of creating a spin-off of Luther centred on Wilson's character. Cross stated, "The BBC is very interested in the project. The only real question would be how many and how often we would do it - whether it would be a one-off miniseries or a returning miniseries, a co-production or not."

From 4 August to 8 October 2011, Wilson starred in the title role of Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie at the Donmar Warehouse alongside Jude Law. Her performance prompted The Guardian to devote an editorial to Wilson's "courageous, edgy and compelling talent".

In 2014, Wilson began starring as Alison Bailey on The Affair, for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama in January 2015.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Get Off My Land	Woman	Short film
2012	Anna Karenina	Princess Betsy
2013	The Lone Ranger	Rebecca Reid
2013	Saving Mr. Banks	Margaret Goff
2014	Locke	Katrina	Voice
2015	Suite Française	Madeleine
2016	How to Talk to Girls at Parties		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Time Commanders	Herself	Episode: "Pharsalus"
2006	Jane Eyre	Jane Eyre	4 episodes
2006-2007	Suburban Shootout	Jewel Diamond	10 episodes
2007	Agatha Christie's Marple	Georgina Barrow	Episode: "Nemesis"
2007	Capturing Mary	Young Mary	Movie
2007	A Real Summer	Mary / Geraldine	Movie
2008	The Doctor Who Hears Voices	Ruth	Movie
2008	Freezing	Alison Fennel	Episode: "#1.2"
2009	Small Island	Queenie	Movie
2009	The Prisoner	Sara / 313	6 episodes
2010-2013	Luther	Alice Morgan	9 episodes
2014-present	The Affair	Alison Bailey	22 episodes

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Venue
2005	Good		Sound Theatre
2007	Philistines	Tanya	Lyttelton Theatre Royal National Theatre
2009	A Streetcar Named Desire	Stella	Donmar Warehouse
2010	Through a Glass Darkly	Karin	Almeida Theatre
2011	Anna Christie	Anna Christie	Donmar Warehouse
2013	The El Train	Mrs Rowland, Rose	Hoxton Hall
2015	Constellations	Marianne	Samuel J. Friedman Theatre

Radio

Year	Title	Role	Venue
2008	The Mayor of Casterbridge	Elizabeth-Jane
2009	The Promise		BBC Radio 3
2009	The Lady of the Camellias	Marguerite Gautier	BBC Radio 4

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2007	British Academy Television Awards	Best Actress	Jane Eyre	Nominated
2007	Broadcasting Press Guild	Best Actress	Jane Eyre	Nominated
2007	Golden Globe Awards	Best Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film	Jane Eyre	Nominated
2007	Satellite Awards	Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film	Jane Eyre	Nominated
2010		Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film	Luther	Nominated
2013	Phoenix Film Critics Society	Best Ensemble Acting	Saving Mr. Banks	Nominated
2014	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress - Television Series Drama	The Affair	Won
2015	Satellite Awards	Best Actress in a Drama Series	The Affair	Nominated
2015	Tony Awards	Best Leading Actress in a Play	Constellations	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]