Tamara Lawrance facts for kids

Tamara Naomi Lawrance (born in 1994) is a British actress. She is well-known for her roles in TV shows and plays. For example, she played Prince Harry's girlfriend in the 2017 BBC TV film King Charles III. She was also Viola in the 2017 play Twelfth Night at the National Theatre. This play was even shown live in cinemas around the world through NT Live. In 2018, she won second prize at the Ian Charleson Awards for her amazing performance as Viola.

WhatsOnStage magazine said she was one of "10 theatre faces to look out for in 2017." The Guardian newspaper also listed her as one of "20 talents set to take 2017 by storm."

In December 2018, Tamara Lawrance starred as Miss July in The Long Song. This was a three-part BBC TV show based on a book by Andrea Levy. Her character was a former slave on a sugar plantation in Jamaica in the 1800s. In October 2023, she appeared in the BBC prison drama Time. She played Abi, a character who is serving a life sentence. In 2024, she took on the main role in the TV miniseries Get Millie Black. A miniseries is a TV show with a limited number of episodes.

Early Life and School

Tamara Lawrance was born in 1994 in Wembley, London. Her mother was a hospital clinical technician, and she came from Jamaica. Her father was a delivery driver.

Tamara started acting in school plays when she was just six years old. Her secondary school did not offer drama classes until year 10. So, she convinced her drama teacher to start a theatre club for younger students. At the Shakespeare Schools Festival, she played Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream. She also played the main role in Macbeth.

As a teenager, she lived in Enfield. She went to St Dominic's Sixth Form College in Harrow, London. In 2012, when she was 17, she won a prize in a national poetry competition called SLAMbassadors UK. This competition was run by the Poetry Society.

Tamara then went to a famous acting school called RADA. She graduated from RADA in 2015.

Acting Career

Tamara Lawrance started her professional acting career in 2016. She filmed the BBC miniseries Undercover. In this show, she played Clem, the oldest daughter of the main characters, played by Adrian Lester and Sophie Okonedo. After that, she performed on stage in the 2016 play Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. She played Dussie Mae, who was Ma Rainey's girlfriend. This play was shown at the National Theatre. Critics said she had an "electrifying presence" and was "eye-catching." This means she had amazing energy and was very noticeable.

Next, she acted alongside Matt Smith in a new play called Unreachable (2016) at the Royal Court Theatre. This play was about a film director who was obsessed with his work. The play was a bit experimental, meaning it tried new things. But Tamara's acting was highly praised. People called her "extraordinary" and "superb." The Guardian said she had "astonishing candour and directness," meaning she was very honest and direct in her acting. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Tamara had to change accents and show many different feelings easily. They also said that bigger and better roles would surely come her way. At the end of that year, WhatsOnStage and The Guardian both named her as a talent to watch out for in 2017.

In 2017, she played Viola in Twelfth Night at the National Theatre. A performance of this play was shown live in cinemas around the world through NT Live. Reviewers said her acting was "compelling" and "passionate." Time Out called her "charismatic and loveable." She won second prize at the Ian Charleson Awards for this role. She also played Cordelia in King Lear in 2017. She acted opposite Ian McKellen, who played Lear, at the Chichester Festival Theatre. Critics praised her "heartfelt simplicity" and called her a "rising star."

On television, after Undercover (2016), she had a main role in the 2017 BBC TV film King Charles III. She played Jess, Prince Harry's girlfriend who had strong ideas about the royal family. This film was like a Shakespeare play, imagining what might happen with the British royal family in the future. The Guardian noted that Tamara made the special poetry of the play sound very real and natural. Her next TV appearance was in 2018 in the legal drama The Split. She also had a repeating role as Bonnie Sands in series 3 of the crime drama No Offence.

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

In December 2018, Tamara Lawrance starred as a slave on a sugar plantation in 19th-century Jamaica. This was for the three-part BBC TV show The Long Song, based on Andrea Levy's novel. Her co-stars were Jack Lowden and Hayley Atwell. She also co-starred in a play called The Tell-Tale Heart at the National Theatre. This play was based on a story by Edgar Allan Poe and ran from December 2018 to January 2019.

Acting Credits

Theatre

Television

Film