Downton Abbey

Stephen Moore (Actor) .. Major Chetwode

Born: November 30, 1979
Birthplace: London, England

Trivia: Appeared in productions of Much Ado About Nothing and Antony and Cleopatra with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Made feature-film debut in 2003's Bright Young Things. Played the role of Irwin in the play The History Boys when it ran on Broadway, on the West End and in Sydney. Shot a pilot with girlfriend Claire Foy for a medical drama called Pulse. Suffered a bout of food poisoning while filming 2008's The Bank Job, and was assisted by costar David Suchet after collapsing in the parking lot. Took on the role of Chris in a West End production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons in 2010 when director Howard Davies offered him the role following their first meeting.

Lesley Nicol (Actor) .. Mrs. Patmore

Born: January 01, 1953
Birthplace: Manchester, England

Trivia: Made her television debut in 1985 soap opera The Practice.Starred as Auntie Annie in the original 1996 production of East is East, reprising the role in the 1999 film adaptation.Between 2000 and 2002, starred as Rosie in the West End production of Mamma Mia!Is perhaps best known for playing Mrs Patmore in ITV period drama Downton Abbey between 2010 and 2019.In 2017, wrote and produced an original musical about her life.Is an ambassador for animal charity Animals Asia.

Sophie McShera (Actor) .. Daisy

Born: January 01, 1985
Birthplace: Bradford, West Yorkshire, England

Trivia: After her first week with Footsteps Theatre School at age 12, she was sent for an audition for The Goodbye Girl. She was cast and made her West End debut with the show at the London Palladium. Went on a national UK tour of Annie. Started a company with her then-boyfriend while at university called ThatSweetFeeling. Appeared in Jerusalem at the Apollo Theatre with Mark Rylance in 2011.

Rob James-Collier (Actor) .. Thomas Barrow

Born: September 23, 1976
Birthplace: Salford, Greater Manchester, England

Trivia: Didn't begin acting until 2005, when a friend asked if he'd appear in a student film that he was shooting. Prior to that, he was pursuing the career he'd gone to college for—marketing. Found an acting teacher via the Yellow Pages after deciding he wanted to give acting a go. Among the jobs he took while supporting his acting aspirations: bricklayer and pastry packer. Hyphenated his name to James-Collier to placate the acting union Equity, as there was already an actor named Rob Collier. Scored a supporting role in a series (Down to Earth) on one of his first auditions. Appeared in catalogs for Argos (a British retail chain) in 2007 and '08. Anointed "Sexiest Male" at the 2007 and 2008 British Soap Awards for his work on Coronation Street.

Hugh Bonneville (Actor) .. Robert Crawley

Born: November 10, 1963
Birthplace: Blackheath, London, England

Trivia: Wrote plays as a child that he performed with friends. Archbishop Rowan Williams was one of his teachers when he attended the University of Cambridge. Worked with the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company after college. First met his wife, Lulu, when they were in their teens. They drifted apart, but became reacquainted during their 30s. Made his professional acting debut in 1986 as an understudy to Ralph Fiennes in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Supports Merlin, a medical charity, and Scene & Heard, a mentoring program that pairs inner-city children from Somers Town, London, with theatre professionals.

Allen Leech (Actor) .. Tom Branson

Born: May 18, 1981
Birthplace: Killiney, Ireland

Trivia: Was shy as a child, until his role as the Cowardly Lion in a school production of The Wizard of Oz inspired him to become an actor. Made his stage debut in a London production of A Streetcar Named Desire at age 16. Voted Sexiest Irish Male by U Magazine in 2005. Was named 48th Best Dressed Man in Britain by GQ in 2015. Became patron of the CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) charity in 2016; lost his friend Peter Greene to Sudden Adult Death Syndrome in 2002.

Michelle Dockery (Actor) .. Lady Mary

Born: December 15, 1981
Birthplace: Romford, East London, England

Trivia: Reached the third round of auditions for the Sound of Music at the age of 8, but lost the part when she spoke in her natural Essex accent. Made her professional stage debut in His Dark Materials in 2004. In 2007, was nominated for the Evening Standard Award for her role as Eliza Dootlittle in Pygmalion. Is a jazz singer; performed at the 50th anniversary of Ronnie Scott's Jazz club in 2009. Became Oxfam's first ever Humanitarian Ambassador in 2014, having travelled to Jordan to meet with Syrian refugees.

Phyllis Logan (Actor) .. Mrs Hughes

Born: January 11, 1956
Birthplace: Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland

Trivia: Lead actress, onscreen from the early '80s.

Laura Carmichael (Actor) .. Lady Edith

Born: January 01, 1986
Birthplace: Southampton, Hampshire, England

Trivia: Is a distant relative of the English acting legend Ian Carmichael. Supported herself while pursuing an acting career by working as a teaching assistant, nanny and receptionist. Had to choose between Downton Abbey and a production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in Dubai days before she won the part of Lady Edith; the audition process had whittled the potentials to her and one other actor at the time that she had to make the call. Became good friends with fellow Downton star Michelle Dockery.

Elizabeth Mcgovern (Actor) .. Cora Crawley

Born: July 18, 1961
Birthplace: Evanston, Illinois, United States

Trivia: The daughter of educators, Elizabeth McGovern moved from her home town of Evanston, Illinois to Los Angeles when her father, a law professor at Northwestern, transferred to UCLA. Discovered for the movies while appearing in a high-school play, McGovern made an impressive screen debut as the girlfriend of emotionally disturbed teenager Timothy Hutton in the Oscar-winning Ordinary People (1980). The following year, she earned an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of notorious turn-of-the-century "kept lady" Evelyn Nesbit Shaw in Ragtime. She honed her acting skills at Julliard and the American Conservatory Theatre, then made her off-Broadway debut in a 1981 production of To Be Young, Gifted and Black; her later stage credits include Painting Churches and The Hitch-hiker. Carefully avoiding the make-work roles usually reserved for actresses of her generation, McGovern has opted for offbeat characterizations in such films as Racing with the Moon (1984) and Once Upon a Time in America. She seems unconcerned with the size of her roles, so long as she can make a lasting impression as witness The Handmaid's Tale (1991) in which she deftly handles her role with such formidable co-stars as Natasha Richardson and Robert Duvall with her brief appearance as self-deprecating lesbian prostitute Moira. Elizabeth McGovern also starred in the 1995 TV sitcom If Not for You.

Geraldine James (Actor) .. Queen Mary

Born: July 06, 1950
Birthplace: Maidenhead, Berkshire, England

Trivia: Supporting actress, onscreen from 1980.

Imelda Staunton (Actor) .. Maud Bagshaw

Born: January 09, 1956
Birthplace: London, England

Trivia: With an expansive range that stretches from Shakespeare to Chicken Run and just about everything in between, actress Imelda Staunton has, not surprisingly, become one of the most highly respected actresses working in the U.K. If her penchant for playing what many would consider to be mundane, everyday characters found Staunton criminally overlooked in the early years of her career, it was her keen ability to inject those characters with a remarkable complexity that eventually made the stage mainstay-turned-small-screen powerhouse one of Britain's most sought-after talents.A London native and graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Staunton wasted no time launching her career following graduation, becoming associated with such prestigious venues as The Old Vic and the National Theatre. A trio of productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company gained her numerous critical accolades, and in 1986 Staunton made an impressive television debut in the legendary BBC production of Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective. Increasingly busy throughout the 1990s, Staunton continued to gain momentum on-stage while earning three Oliviers for her performances in the The Corn Is Green, A Chorus of Disapproval, and Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods. As Staunton's numerous stage roles continued to earn her critical success, frequent television and film roles made her a familiar and endearing face to the general public. Though many of her U.K. television roles went unseen by stateside audiences, supporting roles in such features as Much Ado About Nothing, Sense and Sensibility, and Shakespeare in Love found Staunton slowly working her way into the conscience of U.S. film buffs as well. Moving into the new millennium, Staunton's roles in such films as Chicken Run (for which she provided the voice of Bunty), Crush, Bright Young Things, and I'll Be There found the established television actress actively distancing herself from the small screen in favor of feature films. Of course, every actor dreams of the breakthrough role that will make him or her an international star, and for Imelda Staunton that role was of a 1950s era abortionist caught in a downward spiral in director Mike Leigh's 2004 drama Vera Drake. Her undeniably affecting portrayal of the title role -- a selfless housewife and cleaning woman who makes a name for herself performing illegal abortions -- earned her near-universal praise. After earning accolades from both The Venice Film Festival and The New York Film Festival as well as the Los Angeles and Chicago film critic associations, Staunton had undeniably arrived when the role earned her a Best Actress nomination for the 77th Annual Academy Awards.Subsequent roles in the U.K. television comedy Little Britain as well as the features Nanny McPhee and Freedom Writers served well to introduce her to entirely new, often American, audiences. In 2007, just one year after appearing in a colorful Masterpiece Theatre production of the children's classic The Wind and the Willows, she remained in the world of fantasy for her role in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Staunton played Dolores Umbridge -- the latest in a long line of Defense Against the Dark Arts professors -- whose severe disposition drew the ire of Harry Potter himself. She was part of the cast of the well-respected television production Cranford, and appeared in the inspirational drama Freedom Writers. She teamed with Mike Leigh again for 2010's Another Year, and that same year she appeared in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. She continued to work in animated family films such as Arthur Christmas and The Pirates! Band of Misfits.

Joanne Froggatt (Actor) .. Anna Bates

Born: August 23, 1980
Birthplace: Littlebeck, England

Trivia: Won the Most Promising Newcomer award at the 2010 British Independent Film Awards for her leading role in drama film In Our Name. Is perhaps best known for her role as Anna Bates on the critically-acclaimed period drama Downton Abbey between 2010 and 2015. Won the Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or TV Movie award at the 2014 Golden Globes, for her role in Downton Abbey. Made her stage debut in 2019, playing Frances Thorpe in a West End production of Alys, Always. Is an ambassador for children's charity Plan UK's "Because I Am a Girl" campaign.

Maggie Smith (Actor) .. Violet Crawley

Born: December 28, 1934
Died: September 27, 2024
Birthplace: Ilford, Essex, England

Trivia: Breathes there a theatergoer or film fan on Earth who has not, at one time or another, fallen in love with the sublimely brilliant British comedic actress Dame Maggie Smith? The daughter of an Oxford University pathologist, Smith received her earliest acting training at the Oxford Playhouse School. In 1952, she made her professional stage bow as Viola in Twelfth Night. Four years later she was on Broadway, performing comedy routines in Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1956; that same year, she made her first, extremely brief screen appearance in Child in the House (she usually refers to 1959's Nowhere to Go as her screen debut).In 1959, Smith joined the Old Vic, and in 1962 won the first of several performing honors, the London Evening Standard Award, for her work in the West End production The Private Ear/The Public Eye. Her subsequent theatrical prizes include the 1963 and 1972 Variety Club awards for Mary Mary and Private Lives, respectively, and the 1990 Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway play Lettice and Lovage. In addition, Smith has won Oscars for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and California Suite (1978), and British Film Academy awards for A Private Function (1985), A Room With a View (1986), and The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987).These accolades notwithstanding, Smith has had no qualms about accepting such "lightweight" roles as lady sleuth Dora Charleston (a delicious Myrna Loy takeoff) in Murder By Death (1976), the aging Wendy in Steven Spielberg's Peter Pan derivation Hook (1991), and the Mother Superior in Whoopi Goldberg's Sister Act films of the early '90s. During the same decade, she also took more serious roles in Richard III (1995), Washington Square (1997), and Tea With Mussolini (1999). On a lighter note, her role in director Robert Altman's Gosford Park earned Smith her sixth Oscar nomination. She earned a whole new generation of fans during the first decade of the next century when she was cast as Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, a part she would return to for each of the film's phenomenally successful sequels. She worked in other films as well including Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Becoming Jane, and Nanny McPhee Returns. In 2010 she earned rave reviews for her work in the television series Downton Abbey.Made a Dame Commander in 1989, Smith was elected to the Theatre Hall of Fame in 1994. Previously married to the late actor Sir Robert Stephens, she is the wife of screenwriter Beverly Cross and the mother of actors Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin.

Penelope Wilton (Actor) .. Isobel Merton

Born: June 03, 1946
Birthplace: Scarborough, Yorkshire, England

Trivia: Has dyslexia. Attended a convent boarding school. Made her West End debut in John Osborne's West of Suez opposite Ralph Richardson in 1971; and has acted with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre Company. Became a household name in England in the mid-1980s due to her work on the BBC sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles. Honored with the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2004; elevated to a Dame in 2016. Bestowed with an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by the University of Hull in North Yorkshire, England, in 2012.

Douglas Reith (Actor) .. Lord Merton

Kevin Doyle (Actor) .. Mr. Molesley

Born: April 10, 1960
Birthplace: Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England

Trivia: Appeared in Bill Pryde's production of Noel Coward's play, Hay Fever, at the Arts Theatre in Cambridge. Worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in productions of Richard III, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet and Henry V. Earned a degree in history through the Open University, a distance-learning school. Took part in a Downton Abbey parody for ITV fundraising campaign, Text Santa, starring alongside George Clooney. Known for his roles as DS John Wadsworth in Happy Valley, John Parr in The Lakes and the valet /footman Joseph Molesley in Downton Abbey. Has won two Screen Actors Guild awards and a Royal Television Society award for best actor for Happy Valley.

Brendan Coyle (Actor) .. Mr. Bates

Born: December 02, 1963
Birthplace: Corby, Northamptonshire, England

Trivia: The great-nephew of legendary Manchester United manager Matt Busby (1909-94). Trained to be a butcher after leaving school at age 16. Decided to pursue his acting dream at age 18, a year after his father unexpectedly died. Learned to act at his cousin's Dublin theatre. Honoured with the 1999 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor for the London production of Irish playwright Conor McPherson's The Weir. Downtown Abbey creator Julian Fellowes wrote the role of Mr. Bates with him in mind, having seen him in the 2004 BBC series North and South. A patron of Lakelands Hospice in Corby, Northamptonshire; also supports Workwise, which helps young people find jobs.

Raquel Cassidy (Actor) .. Miss Baxter

Born: January 22, 1968
Birthplace: Fleet, Hampshire, England

Trivia: Born to a Spanish mother and an English father. Started working on a PhD in biological anthropology, but abandoned it to pursue an acting career. Is fluent in Spanish and also speaks French and German. Played Viola in Twelfth Night at the Royal National Theatre in 1997. Did a world tour with Macbeth, playing Lady Macbeth, in 2004. Became famous for her role as reformed thief and lady's maid Phyllis Baxter in Downton Abbey from 2013-2015.

David Haig (Actor) .. Mr Wilson

Born: September 20, 1955
Birthplace: Aldershot, Hampshire

Susan Lynch (Actor) .. Miss Lawton

Born: June 05, 1971

Trivia: Irish actress Susan Lynch first caught the attention of international audiences as a mythical half-seal, half-human Selkie in John Sayles' widely acclaimed The Secret of Roan Inish. The daughter of an Irish father and Italian mother, Lynch (her brother John is also an actor) got her start performing plays in Gaelic and received her theatrical training at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, where she won Kenneth Branagh's Renaissance Award for Most Promising Student. Lynch broke into television in 1993, when she appeared in an episode of the popular BBC series Cracker and went on to act in a number of miniseries and made-for-TV movies, including Kings in Grass Castles (1998) and the well-received BBC dramatization of Ivanhoe (1997), which cast her as Rebecca. While acting on screens big and small, she continued to appear on the stage, doing particularly notable work in a number of London West End productions, including August Strindberg's Miss Julie, in which she starred in the title role opposite John Hannah. Although Lynch made her film debut in the 1978 drama Northern Lights, it was not until 1994, when she appeared in The Secret of Roan Inish that she began to have a relatively steady cinematic career. That same year, she had a small part as a vampire in Interview With the Vampire, and subsequently starred as a troubled single mother in the romantic thriller Down Time. In 1998, Lynch starred in her most successful film to date, the Irish comedy Waking Ned Devine. The film, which cast the actress as a small-town woman in love with a pig farmer (James Nesbitt), was an international sleeper hit, and helped to give Lynch exposure outside of the UK. The following year, she won the role of Nora Barnacle opposite Ewan McGregor's James Joyce in Nora, the story of the author's real-life relationship with the woman who would both inspire and challenge him throughout his life.

Fifi Hart (Actor) .. Sybbie

Oliver Barker (Actor) .. George

Zac Barker (Actor) .. George

Mark Addy (Actor) .. Mr Bakewell

Born: January 14, 1964
Birthplace: York, England

Trivia: After roles on a handful of BBC television shows, British actor Mark Addy made a splash on the international film scene with his turn as a rotund exotic dancer in 1997's surprise hit The Full Monty. With the filmmaking boatloads of cash stateside and garnering a handful of Academy Award nods and Addy's ability to effortlessly adopt an American accent, it took little time before he was working on the U.S. side of the pond. Addy's first high-profile Hollywood role was a supporting gig playing Michael Keaton's pal in Jack Frost (1998), a family flick about a jazz musician who is reincarnated as a snowman. Two years later, Addy took on his first lead in an American film, filling the pelt worn previously by John Goodman, playing Fred Flintstone in the prequel The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas. Unfortunately, the project failed to keep the franchise's flame burning. The next couple years saw Addy in more supporting roles in a series of projects that ranged from barely-profitable (A Knight's Tale) to downright unsuccesful (Down to Earth and The Time Machine), but in 2002 he landed the lead on the CBS sitcom Still Standing. With Addy starring opposite Jami Gertz, the show became a hit as the lead-in to the network's wildly popular Monday-night lineup.In between seasons of Still Standing, Addy continued to make time for the occassional big-screen project, popping up in such films as 2003's The Order and 2004's Around the World in 80 Days, the former of which reunited the actor with Brian Helgeland and Heath Ledger, the writer/director and star of A Knight's Tale. Addy married Kelly Addy in 1996. The couple has one daughter. He appeared as John Piggot in the highly-respected Red Riding trilogy, and followed that up with a role in 2010's Robin Hood as Friar Tuck. In 2011 he was cast in the initial season of HBO's Game of Thrones as King Robert Baratheon.

Eva Samms (Actor) .. Marigold

Karina Samms (Actor) .. Marigold

Harry Hadden-Paton (Actor) .. Bertie Hexham

Andrew Havill (Actor) .. Lord Lascelles

Philippe Spall (Actor) .. Monsieur Courbet

Birthplace: Cornwall, England

Trivia: Son of an English father and a French mother.Speaks English and French.Best known for his work in Downton Abbey.

Richenda Carey (Actor) .. Mrs Webb

Stephen Campbell Moore (Actor) .. Captain Chewode

Trivia: British actor Stephen Campbell Moore trained at the prestigious London arts school Guildhall, where he began to cultivate a successful career in the theater. At 24, he ventured into onscreen acting as well, landing a major role in the Stephen Fry comedy Bright Young Things. Moore would continue to accrue impressive roles in a variety of films throughout the next few years including the Scarlett Johansson film A Good Woman and the crime thriller The Bank Job. Among Moore's more notable theater roles is the part of Irwin in the West End production of The History Boys.

Max Hutchinson (Actor) .. Royal Footman

Max Brown (Actor) .. Richard Ellis

Born: February 10, 1981
Birthplace: Ilkley, Yorkshire, England

Trivia: Landed the recurring role of Danny Harson on the British drama series Grange Hill as his first on-screen gig. Was late to his Grange Hill audition because his taxi was involved in an accident on the way there. First movie role was Brad in 2002's Fallen Angels.

Tom Ashley (Actor) .. Royal Footman

Simon Jones (Actor) .. King George V

Born: July 27, 1950
Birthplace: Charlton Park, Wiltshire, England

Michael Fox (Actor) .. Andy Parker

Tuppence Middleton (Actor) .. Lucy Smith

Born: February 21, 1987
Birthplace: Clevedon, Somerset, England

Trivia: First name comes from a nickname her grandmother used to call her mother. Was a member of Bristol Old Vic Youth Theatre. Made her West End debut in the 2013 revival of Graham Greene's The Living Room.

Darren Strange (Actor) .. Detective

Perry Fitzpatrick (Actor) .. Chris Webster

David Lonsdale (Actor) .. Police Sergeant

Born: May 21, 1963
Birthplace: Southport

Matthew Goode (Actor) .. Henry Talbot

Born: April 03, 1978
Birthplace: Exeter, Devon, England

Trivia: English actor Matthew Goode took his Hollywood bow on a prestigious note, as Casper, one of the key characters in the well-received Alliance Atlantis telemovie Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (2002). The film constituted a revisionist update of the Cinderella story, adapted from the best-selling novel by Gregory Maguire, and premiered on ABC to stellar ratings, virtually guaranteeing success for Goode and his fellow players. The young actor achieved his next coup not long after, landing a role in the romantic comedy Chasing Liberty (2004), opposite pop diva and heartthrob Mandy Moore. In that movie, Goode portrayed a British playboy who falls for the first daughter of the U.S. president (Moore), wholly unaware of her identity -- meanwhile guarding a little secret of his own.Goode demonstrated his versatility as Tom Hewett in Woody Allen's deadly serious, British-borne thriller Match Point (2005) and returned to romantic comedy as a groom whose bride (Piper Perabo) falls for another woman on the day of their wedding, in the 2006 Imagine Me & You. Following a critically praised appearance in Scott Frank's 2007 caper thriller The Lookout (opposite Jeff Daniels and Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Goode hearkened back to England for a much-anticipated portrayal of Charles Ryder in the 2008 big-screen adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. He was also cast as Ozymandias in the hotly anticipated comic-book superhero film Watchmen (2009), adapted from the acclaimed Alan Moore graphic novel. He followed that up with an appearance in Tom Ford's directorial debut A Single Man. The romantic comedy Leap Year came the next year, and the Australian comedy drama Burning Man in 2011.

Alan Billingham (Actor) .. York Townfolk

Phil Gascoyne (Actor) .. Policeman

Jonathan Cheetham (Actor) .. Flirtatious Gay Man

Grant Crookes (Actor) .. Police Officer

Diane Halling (Actor) .. Countess Of Harrowby

Adam Darlington (Actor) .. Ball Room Guest

Tony Dawson (Actor) .. Policeman

Sharon Forbes (Actor) .. Villager

Guillaume Rivaud (Actor) .. Downton Villager

Ashley Lloyd (Actor) .. Dancer

Philip Gascoyne (Actor) .. Policeman

Alastair King (Actor) .. Conductor

Ashley Kirk (Actor) .. Footman

Matt Tyzack (Actor) .. House Porter

Nick Owenford (Actor) .. Downton Villager

Rosamund Monteith (Actor) .. Ball Guest

Tom Bennett (Actor) .. Downton Villager

Mark Oldridge (Actor) .. Gentleman

Ben Matthew Saunders (Actor) .. Hall Boy/Paper Boy

Alex Russell (Actor) .. York Townfolk

Born: December 11, 1987
Birthplace: Australia

Trivia: Made his film debut in Wasted in the Young in 2010. Directed a short film in 2013 called Love and Dating in LA!.

Kate Phillips (Actor) .. Princess Mary

10:00 pm - 12:05 am, Saturday, November 29 on MGM+ Marquee HDTV (East) ()