Natalie Dormer (born 11 February 1982 in Reading, England) is an English actress from Reading, Berkshire.
She's best known as Margaery Tyrell in Game of Thrones and Cressida in both parts of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay.
She studied drama at the now-defunct Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and first appeared in Casanova with Heath Ledger. Her first major role was as Anne Boleyn in The Tudors, which got her noticed both in Britain and abroad. She also stared in In Darkness (2018), in which she is the co-writer.
She has been with English actor David Oakes since 2018, and gave birth to their daughter in January 2021.
Filmography
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Live-Action Film Roles
- Casanova as Victoria (2005)
- Flawless Cassie
- City Of Life as Olga (2009)
- W.E. as Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (2011)
- Captain America: The First Avenger as Private Lorraine (2011)
- A Long Way From Home as Suzanne (2012)
- Rush as Nurse Gemma (2013)
- The Counselor as The Blonde (2013)
- The Riot Club as Charlie (2014)
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay as Cressida (2014, 2015)
- The Forest as Sara and Jess Price (2016)
- In Darkness as Sofia McKendrick (2018). Dormer is also the co-writer of the film.
- Patient Zero as Dr. Gina Rose (2018)
- The Professor And The Madman as Eliza Merrett (2019)
Stage Roles
- The Comedy of Errors as Adriana (2003 Cliveden Open Air Theatre Production)
- Venus in Fur as Vanda Jordan (2017)
Television Roles
- The Tudors as Anne Boleyn (2007–10)
- Silk as Niamh Cranitch (2011)
- The Fades as Sarah Etches (2011)
- Game of Thrones as Margaery Tyrell (2012–2016)
- Elementary as Irene Adler/Jamie Moriarty (2013–2014)
- Picnic at Hanging Rock as Hester Appleyard (2018)
- Penny Dreadful: City of Angels as Magda (2020)
Voice Roles
- Game of Thrones (Telltale) as Margaery Tyrell (2014)
- Mass Effect: Andromeda as Dr. Lexi T'Perro (2017)
- The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance as Onica (2019)
- Pets United as Belle (2019)
Tropes related to her works:
- Actor-Inspired Element: Her part in Casanova was made more comedic, once the director realised how well she handled comedy.
- Chronically Killed Actor: The Tudors = beheaded, The Fades = Dead to Begin With, Game of Thrones = blown-up to smithereens, The Forest (2016) = Driven to Suicide by extreme paranoia and stress (at least one of the twin characters she's playing survives), Picnic at Hanging Rock = Commits suicide.
- Dyeing for Your Art:
- She shaved part of her head for her role in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay.
- She dyed her blonde hair black for the part of Anne Boleyn, as the real Anne had either brown or black hair. This was against the creators' wishes, believe it or not! Dormer flatly refused to play Anne as anything other than the brunette she was in real life.
- Subverted with Game of Thrones, as she just wore a wig there.
- In The Forest she dyed her hair black to differentiate Jess from Sara (she kept her hair blonde while playing the latter).
- Fake American: As Private Lorraine in Captain America, Irene Adler in Elementary, Cressida in Mockingjay, and the Blonde in The Counselor.
- Killed by Request: She had been wanting to leave Game of Thrones to commit to other projects, so she was told that Margaery would be killed off in the Season 6 finale.
- Ms. Fanservice: A good amount of her roles qualify. She's not at all shy of getting naked or doing sex scenes, and she provides the trope image for Hot Consort.
- Playful Cat Smile: There is no shortage of images of her
pulling this off in Real Life. - Playing Their Own Twin: In The Forest she plays twin sisters Jess and Sara.
- Promoted Fanboy: She was a fan of The Dark Crystal since seeing it in theaters and jumped at the chance to partake in the prequel series.
- Separated-at-Birth Casting: There has been some note that she looks very much◊ like her◊ on-screen grandmother in Game of Thrones, Diana Rigg, did in her youth.
- Typecasting: Ever since her debut in Casanova, several of her roles feature beautiful women that should not be trusted, such as Anne Boleyn, Irene Adler, and Margaery Tyrell. It’s telling that she almost turned down Game of Thrones becasue she told her agent “No more corsets!”.
