Lydia Leonard (born 5 December 1981) is a British actress. She starred in the stage adaptation of Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies, and as Jane Rochford in the 2024 TV adaptation of Mantel's third novel in the trilogy, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light. She is also known for her television roles: the BBC Two sitcom Quacks (2017), the Amazon Prime series Ten Percent (2022), and The Crown (2022–2023) on Netflix.
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Early life and education
Lydia Leonard was born on 5 December 1981 in Paris, France.
She attended Bedales School in the village of Steep, Hampshire, before training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in Bristol, England.
Career
Stage
In 2005, Leonard appeared on stage as Polyxena in a Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) production of Hecuba starring Vanessa Redgrave. The production played in London's West End and then at B.A.M. in New York. Also in 2005, she appeared as Caroline Cushing in the original Donmar Theatre and West End productions of Frost/Nixon.
In May 2009, she played Hazel Conway alongside Francesca Annis in the National Theatre's production of Time and the Conways.
In 2010, Leonard played the role of Jackie Onassis in Martin Sherman's play Onassis at the Novello Theatre in London.
Leonard played Anne Boleyn in the RSC production of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies at London's Aldwych Theatre from May until October 2014. The RSC production transferred to Broadway as Wolf Hall: Parts One and Two at the Winter Garden Theatre, running from March until July 2015. Leonard reprised the role, which earned her a nomination for the 2015 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.
In March 2023, she starred in Women, Beware the Devil at the Almeida Theatre, London. The production was rated 3/5 stars by The Guardian.
Screen
On television, Leonard had an ongoing role in 1950s-set detective series Jericho starring Robert Lindsay, and appeared in True True Lie (2006) and The Long Walk to Finchley (2008), along with a cameo in Rome (2006, "The Stolen Eagle"), and as a nurse in the BBC's Casualty 1909.
In 2008, she played the female lead in the BBC feature film remake of The 39 Steps. She starred as Cynthia in Joanna Hogg's 2010 feature film Archipelago.
In 2012, Leonard starred in two episodes of ITV drama series Whitechapel, as psychiatrist Morgan Lamb, for which she was nominated for Most Outstanding Actress at the Monte Carlo television awards. In 2013, she played a leading role in the action adventure film Legendary: Tomb of the Dragon. In the same year, she played Alex Lang in DreamWorks The Fifth Estate, starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
In 2015, Leonard played Virginia Woolf in Life in Squares, a BBC miniseries on the Bloomsbury Group.
Between 2019 and 2022, she appeared as Mariana Lawton in Gentleman Jack.
In 2022, Leonard starred as Rebecca Fox in Ten Percent, the English version of the French original TV series Call My Agent!. That same year, she began the role as Cherie Blair in the final two series of the Netflix drama The Crown.
In 2024, she was cast as Lady Rochford in the BBC television adaptation of Wolf Hall, replacing Jessica Raine, who had portrayed the character in the first season.
Acting credits
Selected theatre credits
The Meeting (Chichester Festival Theatre)
Oslo (National Theatre/West End)
Wolf Hall (Royal Shakespeare Company/Broadway, Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play nomination)
Onassis (West End)
Time and the Conways (National Theatre)
Elektra (Young Vic Theatre)
Let There Be Love (Tricycle Theatre)
Frost/Nixon (Donmar Warehouse/West End)
Little Eyolf (Almeida Theatre)
Hecuba (RSC)
Women, Beware the Devil (Almeida Theatre)
Selected audio credits
The Colour of Murder, by Julian Symons, BBC Radio 4 2003, with Tom Smith, Lydia Leonard, Frances Jeater
A Sting in the Tale – Myrtle, Mahonia and Rue, by Briony Glassco, BBC Radio 4, 1//1/2004
Bunyan John – The Pilgrim's Progress, weekly from 4 January 2004, with Anton Rodgers, Neil Dudgeon, Alec McCowen, Anna Massey, Philip Voss, Lydia Leonard
The Lair of the White Worm, by Stoker Bram, BBC World Service 4 December 2004, with Peter Marinker, Ben Crowe, Stephen Critchlow, Lydia Leonard, Richenda Carey
The Seagull, by Anton Chekhov, BBC World Service 18 March 2006, with Ben Silverstone, Lydia Leonard, Nicholas Farrell
Our Country's Good, by Thomas Keneally, adapted by Timberlake Wertenbaker, BBC World Service ~15 October 2005, with Nichloas Bolton, Lydia Leonard, Geoffrey Whitehead
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, by Toby Young; R4 afternoon play 3 November 2006; with Val Murray, Kerry Shale, Lydia Leonard, Elizabeth Bell, Kim Wall.
Arms and the Man, by GB Shaw, BBC Radio 3 21 March 2010, with Rory Kinnear, Lydia Leonard, Hugh Ross, Frances Jeater
