Early life

Grainger was born in Didsbury, Manchester. One of her grandfathers is Italian. Her first experience of acting was at age six when she was scouted for a BBC TV series. She appeared in many TV shows and independent films as a child actor.

Grainger attended Parrs Wood High School from 1999 to 2006, and in 2007 began study for a degree in English literature at the University of Leeds. However, she eventually opted for the Open University where she gained a first class honours degree.

Career

Grainger's first acting role was at six years old in the BBC comedy drama series All Quiet on the Preston Front. Roles followed in Casualty, Doctors, Dalziel and Pascoe.Grainger played Megan Boothe in Where the Heart Is, Stacey Appleyard in Waterloo Road and Sophia in Merlin.

In 2011 she appeared in the television series The Borgias, playing Lucrezia Borgia with Jeremy Irons in the role of Pope Alexander VI. The series, created by Oscar-winning Neil Jordan and shot in Hungary, ran for three seasons.

Grainger also performed on stage and in film. After her role as Emily in The Scouting Book for Boys she played one of the Rivers sisters opposite Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender in Cary Fukunaga's 2011 retelling of Jane Eyre, and had minor roles in Bel Ami alongside Robert Pattinson and Uma Thurman, and in the 2012 film Anna Karenina as Baroness Shilton.

In June 2011, she gained the leading role of Estella in Mike Newell's film adaptation of Great Expectations, opposite Jeremy Irvine and Helena Bonham Carter. The movie, screened at Toronto International Film Festival 2012, had its European premiere as the closing night film of the BFI London Film Festival. She appeared in the third series of The Borgias, starred in Disassociation, a play by Luke Bailey, at the Lowry, and played Bonnie Parker in the 2013 mini-series Bonnie & Clyde. She was one of the female leads in The Riot Club, the film version of the play Posh, alongside Max Irons.

Grainger played Cinderella's stepsister Anastasia Tremaine in Kenneth Branagh's 2015 film version of Cinderella. She is to appear in a film adaptation of the novel Tulip Fever alongside Alicia Vikander.

In 2014, she appeared on stage in a version of Chekov's Three Sisters.

Personal life

Grainger lives in Manchester with her mother, Gianetta Grainger, a graphic designer. She went to piano, gymnastics lessons, Taekwondo and was a pupil at the Madeley School of Dancing in Manchester.

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	All Quiet on the Preston Front	Kirsty	4 episodes
1996	Roger and the Rottentrolls	Kate Beckett	Unknown episodes
1997	Missing Postman, TheThe Missing Postman	Harriet	Film
2000	Comin' Atcha!	Pauline	Episode: "The Day Off"
2000	Casualty	Katie Stoppard	Episode: "Seize the Night"
2001	Dalziel and Pascoe	Nicola Crowley	Episode: "Walls of Silence"
2001	Doctors	Nita Harmer	Episode: "Writing to Charlie"
2002	Sparkhouse	Older Lisa Bolton	Film
2003	Illustrated Mum, TheThe Illustrated Mum	Star Westwood	Film
2003-05	Where the Heart Is	Megan Boothe	18 episodes
2005	Magnificent 7	Louise Jackson	Film
2005	No Angels	Simone	Episode: "2.5"
2005	Doctors	Holly Leavis	Episode: "Indestructible"
2006	Johnny and the Bomb	Rose Bushell	Film
2006	New Street Law	Katie Lewis	Episode: "1.1"
2007	Waterloo Road	Stacey Appleyard	4 episodes
2007	Bad Mother's Handbook, TheThe Bad Mother's Handbook	Charlotte Cooper	Film
2008	Dis/Connected	Jenny	Film
2003	Royal, TheThe Royal	Carole Green	Episode: "Coffin Fit"
2008	M.I. High	Leah Retsam	Episode: "It's a Kind of Magic"
2008	Royal Today, TheThe Royal Today	Abigail	Episode: "1.3"
2008	Fairy Tales	Leeza Gruff	Episode: "Billy Goat"
2008	Waking the Dead	Nicola Bennet	2 episodes
2008	Merlin	Sophia	Episode: "The Gates of Avalon"
2009	Demons	Ruby	Miniseries (6 episodes)
2009	Robin Hood	Meg	Episode: "A Dangerous Deal"
2009	Blue Murder	Jess Burgess	Episode: "Having It All"
2010	Above Suspicion 2: The Red Dahlia	Sharon Bilkin	3 episodes
2010	Five Daughters	Alice	Episodes: "1.2", "1.3"
2010	Stanley Park	Dirty Debbie	Pilot
2010	Any Human Heart	Tess Scabius	2 episodes
2011-13	Borgias, TheThe Borgias	Lucrezia Borgia	29 episodes
2013	Bonnie & Clyde	Bonnie Parker	Miniseries Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Movie/Miniseries
2015	Lady Chatterley's Lover	Lady Chatterley	Jed Mercurio adaptation for BBC One's early 20th century literature season

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Awaydays	Molly Carty
2009	Scouting Book for Boys, TheThe Scouting Book for Boys	Emily
2010	Colette	Colette	Short film
2011	Jane Eyre	Diana Rivers
2012	Rachael	Samantha	Short
2012	Bel Ami	Suzanne Rousset
2012	Anna Karenina	Baroness
2012	Great Expectations	Estella Havisham
2013	Goblin?		Short
2014	The Riot Club	Lauren
2015	Cinderella	Anastasia Tremaine
2016	Tulip Fever	Maria
2016	The Finest Hours	Miriam

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Venue
2009	Dimetos	Lydia	Donmar Warehouse, London
2014	Three Sisters	Irina	Southwark Playhouse, London

[ Source: Wikipedia ]