Tamara Lawrance

Tamara Lawrance is a British actress. She is known for her performances as Prince Harry's republican girlfriend in the 2017 BBC television film King Charles III, and as Viola in the 2017 production of Twelfth Night at the National Theatre cinecast internationally on NT Live. In 2018 she received the second prize at the Ian Charleson Awards for this performance as Viola.

WhatsOnStage named her one of "10 theatre faces to look out for in 2017" and The Guardian listed her in "20 talents set to take 2017 by storm".

In December 2018 she starred as Miss July, a former slave on a sugar plantation in 19th-century Jamaica, in the three-part BBC adaptation of Andrea Levy's novel The Long Song. In October 2023 she appeared in the BBC's prison drama Time, playing the role of Abi, who is serving a life sentence. In 2024, she played the title role in the miniseries Get Millie Black.

Early life and education

She began acting in school plays at the age of six. When her secondary school did not offer theatre as an option until year 10, she convinced the drama teacher to set up a theatre club for younger students.

Attending RADA, she graduated in 2015.

Career Lawrance began her professional career filming in the 2016 BBC miniseries Undercover, starring Adrian Lester and Sophie Okonedo; she played their eldest daughter Clem. and The Guardian called her "eye-catching". "superb" (The Stage), and having "astonishing candour and directness" (The Guardian). The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Lawrance was "required to switch fluidly among different accents and emotional registers, with the most weighty dramatic monologues resting on her young shoulders. Bigger, brighter roles will surely follow." At year's end WhatsOnStage named her one of "10 theatre faces to look out for in 2017" and "passionate", and Time Out called her "charismatic and loveable". She won second prize at the Ian Charleson Awards for the performance. and called her a "rising star".

On television, following Undercover (2016), she had a leading role as Prince Harry's revolutionary girlfriend in the 2017 BBC television film King Charles III. The work is a Shakespearean-style future history imagining of the current British royal family; The Guardian noted that "It's Lawrance who makes the blank verse sound least theatrical and most natural." Her next television appearance was as the client in one of the six episodes of the 2018 legal drama The Split. She also has a recurring role as Bonnie Sands in series 3 of the crime drama No Offence.

In film, in 2017 she had a supporting role in On Chesil Beach.

In December 2018 Lawrance starred as a slave on a sugar plantation in 19th-century Jamaica in the three-part BBC adaptation of Andrea Levy's novel The Long Song; her co-stars were Jack Lowden and Hayley Atwell. She also co-starred in Anthony Neilson's adaptation of Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart at the National Theatre beginning in December 2018 through 8 January 2019.

Acting credits Theatre

Television

Film Year Title Role Notes 2017 On Chesil Beach Molly 2020 Kindred Charlotte 2022 The Silent Twins Jennifer Gibbons 2025 The Man in My Basement Bethany