Lily Chloe Ninette Thomson was born on April 5, 1989 in Esher, Surrey, England, United Kingdom to her parents Ninette Mantle and James ‘Jamie’ Thompson. She is the middle of three children, she has an older and a younger brother. She attended Tring Park School for the Performing Arts in Hertfordshire, where she studied musical theater, before moving onto the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London to study acting. Just before attending Guildhall School, she lost her thespian grandmother and her father passed during the third term of her first year; both of them were her greatest influences. Lily decided to use her father’s name as her stage name, making her Lily James, after learning there was already an actress with the name Lily Thomson. After graduating in 2010, she signed with Tavistock Wood Management in London.

She started her career immediately after school, booking a recurring four-episode role as Ethel Brown on “Just William” in 2010. She, then, played Chloe in Chloe and Will’s Hot Date Night, a funny banned UK commercial about heat insulation. Lily also had an eight-episode recurring role on the television series “Secret Diary of a Call Girl” as Poppy in 2011. She played Taylor at the Young Vic Theatre in Tanya Ronder’s stage adaptation of the novel Vernon God Little, Nina in the modern adaptation of The Seagull at Southwark Playhouse, and Desdemona in Othello at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield.

In 2012, she played the role of Ines in the short film Chemistry before the release of Lily’s first feature film Wrath of the Titans, the sequel to the 2010 remake Clash of the Titans, where she plays Korrina. She played Older Skunk in the romantic drama Broken opposite Tim Roth and Cillian Murphy and Lisa Temple in the film Fast Girls the same year. Lily played the role of Katrina in Play House and Marijka in Definitely the Bahamas at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, London as part of the theatre’s 40th anniversary. Lily would have a recurring role as Lady Rose MacClare on the television series “Downton Abbey”, which would continue through 2015. In 2013, she played The Girl in the short film Silent Treatment opposite Bart Edwards.

Lily would play the role of Cinderella in the live-action remake in 2015, opposite Richard Madden, where she would make her singing debut as well. Annie Leibovitz photographed her in Cinderella’s blue gown for the December 2014 issue of Vogue, prior to the film’s release. Lily would be a part of the Bradley Cooper-headed film Burnt, playing Sara. In 2016, she would play Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a film about five sisters in 19th century England having to cope with the pressures to marry while protecting themselves from a growing population of zombies. She would also play Natasha Rostova in the BBC television mini-series “War & Peace” before playing Betty in the short film The Take of Thomas Burberry. Lily would next play the role of Mieke de Jong in The Exception, starring Jai Courtney and Christopher Plummer. Kenneth Branagh would co-direct the Garrick Theatre’s production of Romeo and Juliet, where Lily played Juliet.

In 2017, Lily would play Debora opposite Ansel Elgort in the crime drama film Baby Driver; the film would gross almost $227 million worldwide. She would next be a part of the film Darkest Hour, as Elizabeth Layton, secretary to Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Lily would lend her voice to Sorry to Bother You as Detroit’s White British Voice in 2018. She would next play Juliet Ashton in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society before the release of Little Woods, playing Deb. Later that year, Lily would play the younger version of her real-life distant relative Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again as Young Donna Sheridan; the film would gross over $395 million worldwide.

2019 gave her the role of Eve Harrington in All About Eve, a film about Margo Channing taking Eve under her wing, only to have Eve use Margo and connive against her. She would next be a part of a television short called “One Red Nose and a Wedding” where she plays the role of Miranda. Next, Lily played Ellie Appleton in the film Yesterday, about a musician realizing he’s the only person who remembers The Beatles after waking up in an alternate timeline where they never existed. She would play Cressida in Rare Beasts, a film written, directed, and starring Billie Piper.

2020 will bring The Dig, a historic drama about an archaeologist embarking on the excavation of Sutton Hoo in 1938, Lily plays Peggy Preston. Rebecca will also be released, also starring Armie Hammer, where she plays Mrs. de Winter. Lily will also be a part of the television mini-series “The Pursuit of Love”, based on the novel by Nancy Mitford.

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