Lauren O'Neil Is a British stage, screen and radio actor.

Early life

O'Neil was born Lauren Frances Rogers in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, the eldest daughter of two dentists. She left Liverpool to attend the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

, before returning to Liverpool to complete an English degree. It was there that she first took up acting. O'Neil attended the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music school, music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz al ...

, graduating in 2009. In 2017, she married Ollie Clueit, bassist of Meanwhile, Back in Communist Russia....

Career

On graduating from Guildhall, O'Neil was awarded the 2009 Spotlight Showcase prize for Best Actress. O'Neil's professional debut was as the character Kirsty in a Series 2 episode of

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

drama '' Being Human''. Her stage debut came at the National Theatre where she played Bianca in Marianne Elliot's revival of ''

Women Beware Women ''Women Beware Women'' is a Jacobean tragedy written by Thomas Middleton, and first published in 1657. Date The date of authorship of the play is deeply uncertain. Scholars have estimated its origin anywhere from 1612 to 1627; 1623–24 has ...

''. Her first feature film lead was as Nina in '' The Abominable Snowman'' (originally ''Deadly Descent''). In July 2011 she became the face of the

Match.com Match.com is an online dating service with headquarters are in Dallas, Texas. The company has offices in Dallas, West Hollywood, San Francisco, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, and Beijing. Match.com is owned by Match Group, which owns several online d ...

advertising campaign, in "The Girl On The Platform". O'Neil and her Match.com advert co-star, Steven Mitchell, also appear in the music video for 'She Began To Dance' sung by Matthew P. The music video shows the couple in similar but not identical outfits leaving the unidentified train station and going on a date to the beach. This suggests the advert and the music video were not filmed at the same time. Matthew P plays most of the 'characters' in the video whilst simultaneously singing his song with a ukulele. In 2012 O'Neil appeared in two premieres at the National Theatre: in Nicholas Wright's ''Travelling Light'' and James Graham's '' This House''. In 2014 O'Neil appeared in ''

King Lear ''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...

'' alongside

Frank Langella Frank A. Langella Jr. (; born January 1, 1938) is an American actor. He eschewed the career of a traditional film star by making the stage the focal point of his career, appearing frequently on Broadway. He has received four Tony Awards (out of ...

and in ''

Richard III Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...

'' with

Martin Freeman Martin John Christopher Freeman (born 8 September 1971) is an English actor. Among other accolades, he has won two Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Freeman's most ...

, playing Regan and Lady Anne respectively. In 2015 she appeared in a 2-part episode "Squaring the Circle" in Series 18 of BBC One's ''

Silent Witness ''Silent Witness'' is a British crime drama television series produced by the BBC that focuses on a team of forensic pathology experts and their investigations into various crimes. The series was created by Nigel McCrery, a former murder squa ...

'' as young City DI Sarah Parks. She played Rowena in the ''

Midsomer Murders ''Midsomer Murders'' is a British Mystery fiction, mystery television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the ''Chief Inspector Barnaby'' book series created by Caroline Graham (writer), Caroline Graham. ...

'' season 18 finale 'Harvest of Souls'. She appeared as Steph in the UK premiere of

Neil LaBute Neil N. LaBute (born March 19, 1963) is an American playwright, film director, and screenwriter. He is best known for a play that he wrote and later adapted for film, ''In the Company of Men'' (1997), which won awards from the Sundance Film Fest ...

's Reasons to be Happy at The Hampstead Theatre in 2016, followed by the West End transfers of This House at the Garrick Theatre and

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology series, anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described ...

, directed by Richard Jones, at the Ambassadors Theatre, along with television roles in

No Offence ''No Offence'' is a British television police procedural drama on Channel 4, created by Paul Abbott. It follows a team of detectives from Friday Street police station, a division of the Manchester Metropolitan Police (a fictional version of the ...

, comedy pilot, Bugsplat!,

Father Brown Father Brown is a fictional Roman Catholic priest and amateur detective. He is featured in 53 short stories by English author G. K. Chesterton, published between 1910 and 1936. Father Brown solves mysteries and crimes using his intuition and ...

London Kills ''London Kills'' is a British police procedural television series, written and created by Paul Marquess, that premièred on Acorn TV on 26 February 2019 in the United States. One of Acorn TV's first original commissions, ''London Kills'' centres ...

Casualty Casualty may refer to: *Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster **Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare * The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...

Grace Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uni ...

and

Queens of Mystery ''Queens of Mystery'' is a British murder-mystery comedy-drama television series created by Julian Unthank starring Julie Graham, Siobhan Redmond, Olivia Vinall (Series 1), Florence Hall (Series 2) and Sarah Woodward. Synopsis In the first ...

. In 2022, O'Neil played Romaine Vole in Witness For The Prosecution at London County Hall. In 2023, she originated the role of Angie in the world premiere of James Graham's adaptation of Alan Bleasdale's

Boys from the Blackstuff ''Boys from the Blackstuff'' is a five episode British drama television series, originally transmitted from 10 October to 7 November 1982 on BBC2. The serial was written by Liverpudlian playwright Alan Bleasdale, as a sequel to a television pl ...

at Liverpool's Royal Court, and its subsequent transfer to the National Theatre and the West End in 2024. O'Neil joined the cast of Stranger Things: The First Shadow as Virginia Creel in the West End in 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oneil, Lauren Living people English stage actresses Year of birth missing (living people) English television actresses Actresses from Liverpool Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Alumni of the University of Glasgow 21st-century English actresses