Holliday Clark Grainger (born 27 March 1988), also known as Holly Grainger, is a stage and screen actress from England. Kate Beckett in the BAFTA-winning children's series Roger and the Rottentrolls, Lucrezia Borgia in the Showtime series The Borgias, Robin Ellacott in the Strike series, DI Rachel Carey in the Peacock/BBC One crime drama The Capture, and Estella in Mike Newell's adaptation of Great Expectations are among her notable roles.
Grainger was born in the Manchester suburb of Didsbury. Her maternal grandfather was of Italian descent. Her first acting experience came at the age of five, when she was scouted for a BBC TV series. As a child actor, she appeared in numerous TV shows and independent films.
Grainger attended Parrs Wood High School from 1999 to 2006 before enrolling at the University of Leeds in 2007 to pursue a degree in English literature. She eventually decided on the Open University.
Career
At the age of five, Grainger appeared in the BBC comedy drama series All Quiet on the Preston Front. Roles in Casualty, Doctors, and Dalziel and Pascoe followed. Grainger appeared in Where the Heart Is as Megan Boothe, Waterloo Road as Stacey Appleyard, and Merlin as Sophia.
In 2011, she starred as Lucrezia Borgia in the television series The Borgias, alongside Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander VI. The three-season series was created by Oscar winner Neil Jordan and shot in Hungary.
Following her role as Emily in The Scouting Book for Boys (2009), she portrayed one of the Rivers sisters in Cary Fukunaga's 2011 retelling of Jane Eyre, alongside Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender, and had a minor role in Bel Ami alongside Robert Pattinson and Uma Thurman.
She was cast as Estella in Mike Newell's film adaptation of Great Expectations in June 2011, opposite Jeremy Irvine and Helena Bonham Carter. The film had its European premiere as the closing night film of the BFI London Film Festival after screening at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2012. She played Baroness Shilton in the 2012 film Anna Karenina.
On stage, she appeared in Disassociation, a play by Luke Bailey, at The Lowry in Salford in 2013, where she received mostly positive reviews. She portrayed Bonnie Parker in the 2013 TV miniseries Bonnie & Clyde. She co-starred with Max Irons in the 2014 film The Riot Club, which was based on the play Posh. In the same year, she appeared on stage at the Southwark Playhouse in a production of Anton Chekov's play Three Sisters.
In Kenneth Branagh's 2015 film adaptation of Cinderella, Grainger played Cinderella's stepsister Anastasia Tremaine.
Grainger appeared in Disney's The Finest Hours in 2016.
She co-starred with Alicia Vikander in the 2017 film adaptation of the novel Tulip Fever. Since 2017, she has played Robin Ellacott in the TV series Strike (also known as C.B. Strike in the United States and Canada), which is based on J.K. Rowling's novels.
Grainger, along with Alia Shawkat, plays one of the two lead female roles in the feature film Animals. The film was directed by Sophie Hyde and shot in Dublin, based on the novel by Emma Jane Unsworth, who also wrote the script.
Grainger appeared in the BBC conspiracy thriller The Capture in 2019.
Private life
She gave birth to twins with her partner Harry Treadaway in May 2021.
Philanthropy
On June 20, 2016, World Refugee Day, Grainger and Jack O'Connell appeared in a film produced by the United Nations' refugee agency, UNHCR, to raise awareness of the global refugee crisis. In the film Home, a family reverse migrates into the heart of a war zone. Inspired by refugee firsthand accounts, this video is part of UNHCR's #WithRefugees campaign, which also includes a petition to governments to expand asylum to provide more shelter, job opportunities, and education. Home, written and directed by Daniel Mulloy, went on to win numerous awards, including a BAFTA Award and a Gold Lion at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | The Missing Postman | Harriet | |
| 2002 | Sparkhouse | Older Lisa Bolton | |
| 2003 | The Illustrated Mum | Star Westwood | |
| 2005 | Magnificent 7 | Louise Jackson | |
| 2006 | Johnny and the Bomb | Rose Bushell | |
| 2007 | The Bad Mother's Handbook | Charlotte Cooper | |
| 2008 | Dis/Connected | Jenny | |
| 2009 | Awaydays | Molly Carty | |
| The Scouting Book for Boys | Emily | ||
| 2011 | Jane Eyre | Diana Rivers | |
| 2012 | Bel Ami | Suzanne Rousset | |
| Anna Karenina | Baroness | ||
| Great Expectations | Estella Havisham | ||
| 2014 | The Riot Club | Lauren | |
| 2015 | Cinderella | Anastasia Tremaine | |
| 2016 | The Finest Hours | Miriam | |
| 2017 | My Cousin Rachel | Louise | |
| Tulip Fever | Maria | ||
| Home | Holly | Short film | |
| 2018 | Tell It to the Bees | Lydia Weekes | |
| 2019 | Animals | Laura | |
| 2024 | Mickey 17 |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | All Quiet on the Preston Front | Kirsty | 4 episodes |
| 1996 | Roger and the Rottentrolls | Kate Beckett | Unknown episodes |
| 2000 | Comin' Atcha! | Pauline | Episode: "The Day Off" |
| Casualty | Katie Stoppard | Episode: "Seize the Night" | |
| 2001 | Dalziel and Pascoe | Nicola Crowley | Episode: "Walls of Silence" |
| Doctors | Nita Harmer | Episode: "Writing to Charlie" | |
| 2003 | The Royal | Carole Green | Episode: "Coffin Fit" |
| 2003–2005 | Where the Heart Is | Megan Boothe | Main role (series 7–9) |
| 2005 | No Angels | Simone | Episode: "2.5" |
| Doctors | Holly Leavis | Episode: "Indestructible" | |
| 2006 | New Street Law | Katie Lewis | Episode: "1.1" |
| 2007 | Waterloo Road | Stacey Appleyard | 4 episodes |
| 2008 | M.I. High | Leah Retsam | Episode: "It's a Kind of Magic" |
| The Royal Today | Abigail | Episode: "1.3" | |
| Fairy Tales | Leeza Gruff | Episode: "Billy Goat" | |
| Waking the Dead | Nicola Bennet | 2 episodes: "Duty and Honour" | |
| Merlin | Sophia | Episode: "The Gates of Avalon" | |
| 2009 | Demons | Ruby | Miniseries |
| Robin Hood | Meg | Episode: "A Dangerous Deal" | |
| Blue Murder | Jess Burgess | Episode: "Having It All" | |
| 2010 | Above Suspicion 2: The Red Dahlia | Sharon Bilkin | 3 episodes |
| Five Daughters | Alice | Episodes: "1.2", "1.3" | |
| Stanley Park | Dirty Debbie | Pilot | |
| Any Human Heart | Tess Scabius | 2 episodes | |
| 2011–2013 | The Borgias | Lucrezia Borgia | Main role |
| 2013 | Bonnie & Clyde | Bonnie Parker | Miniseries Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film Nominated—Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Movie/Miniseries |
| 2015 | Lady Chatterley's Lover | Lady Chatterley | |
| 2017–present | Strike | Robin Ellacott | |
| 2017 | Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams | Honor | Episode: "The Hood Maker" |
| 2018 | Patrick Melrose | Bridget Watson Scott | Miniseries |
| 2019–present | The Capture | Rachel Carey | Main role |
| Year | Title | Role | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Dimetos | Lydia | Donmar Warehouse, London |
| 2014 | Three Sisters | Irina | Southwark Playhouse, London |
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