Actresses from London

Molly Anne Rainford is an English actress, singer and television presenter. She was a finalist on the sixth series of Britain's Got Talent in 2012 and was one of the presenters on Friday Download between 2014 and 2015. She has since released two extended plays and has gone on to portray the titular character in the CBBC comedy drama series Nova Jones from 2021 onwards. In 2022, Rainford competed in the twentieth series of Strictly Come Dancing; she reached the final and finished as a runner-up. In 2023, she was cast in the BBC soap opera EastEnders as Anna Knight, as well as continuing to release music. In 2025, Rainford competed in the third series of Celebrity Race Across the World with her partner DJ Tyler West.

Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson is an English actress. In the 2010s, she was ranked among the world's highest-paid actresses by Forbes and Vanity Fair, and was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2015.

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was a British and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. She then became the world's highest-paid movie star in the 1960s, remaining a well-known public figure for the rest of her life. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked her seventh on its list of the greatest female screen legends.

Keira Christina Knightley, OBE is an English actress. Known for her work in independent films and blockbusters, particularly period dramas, she has received numerous accolades, including nominations for two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, four Golden Globes, and a Laurence Olivier Award. In 2018, she was appointed an OBE for services to drama and charity.

Dame Helen Mirren is an English actor. Regarded amongst Britain's greatest actors, Mirren is the recipient of several accolades including an Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, four BAFTA Awards, five Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, two Cannes Film Festival Awards, a Volpi Cup and a Laurence Olivier Award. She is the only person to have achieved both the US and UK Triple Crowns of Acting, and has also received the BAFTA Fellowship, Honorary Golden Bear, Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, and the Cecil B. DeMille Award. Mirren was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003.

Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress. Her credits include the roles of FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in the series The X-Files, socialite Lily Bart in Terence Davies's film The House of Mirth (2000), DSU Stella Gibson in the BBC/RTÉ crime drama television series The Fall, sex therapist Jean Milburn in the Netflix comedy-drama Sex Education, and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the fourth season of Netflix drama series The Crown. Among other honors, she has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. She has resided in London since 2002, after earlier years divided between the United Kingdom and the United States.

Emily Olivia Laura Blunt is a British actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and two Actor Awards, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and four British Academy Film Awards. Forbes ranked her as one of the highest-paid actresses in the world in 2020.

Emilia Isobel Euphemia Rose Clarke is an English actress, best known for her role as Daenerys Targaryen in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones (2011–2019), for which she received nominations for four Primetime Emmy Awards. She is also known for playing Sarah Connor in the science fiction film Terminator: Genisys (2015) and Qi'ra in the film Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), as well as starring in the romantic dramas Me Before You (2016) and Last Christmas (2019).

Rachel Hannah Weisz is a British actress. Known for her roles in independent films and blockbusters, she has received several awards, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Laurence Olivier Award. Films in which she has appeared have grossed over $3.5 billion worldwide.

Dame Emma Thompson is a British actress and screenwriter. Her work spans over four decades of screen and stage, and her accolades include two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2018, she was made a dame by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to drama.

Helena Bonham Carter is a British actress. She is known for her character roles as eccentric women in blockbusters and independent films, particularly period dramas. Bonham Carter rose to prominence by playing Lucy Honeychurch in A Room with a View (1985) and the title character in Lady Jane (1986). Her early period roles saw her typecast as a virginal "English rose", a label with which she was uncomfortable. Bonham Carter is recognized for her unconventional fashion choices and dark aesthetic. For her role as Kate Croy in The Wings of the Dove (1997), Bonham Carter received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in The King's Speech (2010), she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

English actress

British model

English-Albanian singer and actress

German model

South African Greek actress, producer, artistic director of Internationalist Theatre, and activist (born 1951)

Swedish actress (born 1988)

Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury was a British-American-Irish actress and singer. In a career spanning 80 years, she played various roles across film, stage, and television. Although based for much of her life in the United States, her work attracted international attention.

Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike is an English actress and producer. Known for her portrayals of complex and morally ambiguous women in independent cinema and psychological thrillers, her accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Laurence Olivier Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and two British Academy Awards.

Lily Rose Beatrice Allen is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. Her accolades include a Brit Award as well as nominations for a Grammy Award and a Laurence Olivier Award.

British actress and activist (born 1937)

Scottish-British actress

Ukrainian-French actress and model

Carey Hannah Mulligan is a British actress. She has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and a Tony Award. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2025 for services to drama.

Sarah Caroline Sinclair, known professionally as Olivia Colman, is an English actress noted for her versatility across both comedic and dramatic roles in film and television. She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, four BAFTA Awards, two Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Volpi Cup.

Sienna Rose Diana Miller is an American-British actress. Born in New York City and raised in London, she began her career as a model, appearing in the pages of Italian Vogue and for the 2003 Pirelli Calendar. Her acting breakthrough came in the 2004 films Layer Cake and Alfie. She portrayed socialite Edie Sedgwick in Factory Girl (2006) and author Caitlin Macnamara in The Edge of Love (2008), and was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2008. Her role as The Baroness in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) was followed by a brief sabbatical from the screen amid increased tabloid scrutiny.

British-French actress and singer (1946–2023)

English actress (born 1992)

French and British actress and singer (born 1971)

British actress and filmmaker

British actress (1909–1994)

English model and actor (born 1992)

British-American actress (1929–2010)

Anya-Josephine Marie Taylor-Joy is an actress. Born in Miami, she grew up in Buenos Aires and London. She began pursuing an acting career at the age of 16. After a series of small television roles, her breakthrough came with a leading role in the horror film The Witch (2015). She had roles in the horror film Split (2016) and its sequel Glass (2019); Thoroughbreds (2017), a black comedy film; the television crime drama series Peaky Blinders (2019–2022). Taylor-Joy played Emma Woodhouse in the period drama Emma (2020).

English actress (born 1956)

English actress, author and columnist

British actress (1963–2009)

English actress

British actress

British actress

English actress and filmmaker

English actress (1976–)

British singer

British singer (born 1985)

English actress

English actress (born 1972)

Vanessa Nuala Kirby is an English actress. She rose to international prominence with her portrayal of Princess Margaret in the Netflix drama series The Crown (2016–2017), for which she won the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress. For her performance in the film Pieces of a Woman (2020), she won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

British actress and filmmaker (1918–1995)

American model and actress

British actress (1951–2024)

Amelia Fiona Jessica "Minnie" Driver is a British and American actress and singer. She rose to prominence with her break-out role in the 1995 film Circle of Friends. She went on to star in a wide range of films, including the cult classic Grosse Pointe Blank; Gus Van Sant's Good Will Hunting ; the musical The Phantom of the Opera; and Owning Mahowny. She also provided the voice of Lady Eboshi in Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke.

British-American actress and model

English singer and actress (1946–2025)

British actress (1892–1972)

Australian actor and singer

British actress

Gwendoline Tracey Philippa Christie is an English actress. She is known for portraying Brienne of Tarth in the HBO fantasy-drama series Game of Thrones (2012–2019), and the First Order stormtrooper Captain Phasma in the films Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017). For the former, she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2019. Christie has since appeared in the Netflix fantasy series The Sandman and Wednesday, and the Apple TV+ sci-fi thriller series Severance (2025), for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series nomination in 2025.

British-American actress (1902–1986)

British singer

British actress (born 1982)