Romola Sadie Garai (/ˈrɒmələ ˈseɪdi ˈɡæri/; born 6 August 1982) is a British film and television actress. She appeared in Amazing Grace, Atonement, and Glorious 39, and in the BBC series Emma, The Hour and The Crimson Petal and the White. She has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award twice and for a BAFTA award. Her family moved to Singapore when she was five, before returning to Wiltshire in England when she was eight. She attended an independent boarding school, Stonar School in Wiltshire, and later moved at 16 to London to attend the City of London School for Girls, where she completed her A-levels. She appeared in school plays, and also with the National Youth Theatre up until the age of 18, when she signed to play the younger version of Dame Judi Dench's character in the BBC Films/HBO co-production for television, The Last of the Blonde Bombshells. Garai was born in Hong Kong, to British parents. Garai was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance. Emma then appeared on American television as part of PBS' Masterpiece Classic anthology series, airing in most U.S. markets over three consecutive Sunday evenings during January and February 2010.
In 2011 she played Bel Rowley in the TV drama The Hour leading with Dominic West and Ben Whishaw for which she was Golden Globe nominated. Later that year she played the lead role of Becky in the stage play The Village Bike at the Royal Court for which she was critically lauded. She reprised her role as Bel Rowley in the second season of The Hour, which ran from 14 November to 13 December 2012. In 2013 she appeared in the sci-fi film The Last Days on Mars. In 2015 she played Isabella in Measure for Measure at the Young Vic, with her performance described as 'astonishing', 'wonderfully impassioned' and 'thrilling'. That same year she had a supporting role in Suffragette written by The Hour scribe Abi Morgan, and a leading role in the 90 minute drama Churchill's Secret opposite Michael Gambon and Lyndsey Duncan for ITV. The film was shown at the Edinburgh film festival where it was nominated for Best British Short Film, at Sundance film festival where it was nominated for Best International Short Film, at London Short Film Festival where it won the Underwire Award for Best Female Character, and at Cannes where it screened in the Short Film Corner. The film was released as part of a short film collection, The Joy of Six, a Soda Pictures Release.