Rose Eleanor Arbuthnot-Leslie (born 9 February 1987)^[1] is a Scottish actress. After winning a Scottish BAFTA for Best Acting Performance for her role in New Town, she rose to fame as Gwen Dawson in the ITV drama series Downton Abbey and as Ygritte in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones. She starred as Maia Rindell for three seasons of the CBS All Access legal and political drama The Good Fight.

Leslie was born in Aberdeen, Scotland^[2] and raised at Lickleyhead Castle in Aberdeenshire, her family's 15th-century ancestral seat, where she lived until the age of 10.^[3][4] Her father, Sebastian Arbuthnot-Leslie, is the Aberdeenshire Chieftain of Clan Leslie. Her mother is his wife Candida Mary Sibyl "Candy" Weld of Clan Fraser of Lovat, whose maternal great-grandfather was Simon Fraser, 13th Lord Lovat, and a descendant of King Charles II.^[5] Another great-grandfather of "Candy" Leslie (née Weld) was Frederick Weld, the 6th Prime Minister of New Zealand. Her family currently lives at the 12th-century Wardhill Castle in Old Rayne.^[6][7][8] Her great-great grandfather was Guillermo Landa y Escandón, who served as Mayor of Mexico City,^[9] and she is cousin-in-law to the British historian William Dalrymple (FRAS).^[10] Leslie's ancestors include Ambrose Lisle March Phillipps De Lisle, politician Charles March-Phillipps and MP James Grimston, 3rd Earl of Verulam.

She was educated at Rayne North School in Aberdeenshire and then Millfield in Street, Somerset,^[11] before spending three years at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.^[12]

Leslie worked for BBC Radio narrating The British Slave Trade: Abolition, Parliament and People. She won a BASSC certificate in stage combat and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in 2008.^[12]

Her leading on screen debut came at age 21 in the television film New Town (2009), for which she won the Scottish BAFTA for Best Acting Performance – New Talent Award.^[13][14]

In September and October 2010, she became the lead in Nell Leyshon's infamous play Bedlam held at Globe Theatre.^[15] Based on the Bethlem Royal Hospital, representative of the worst excesses of asylums in the era of lunacy reform, Leslie portrayed May, a beautiful country girl driven mad by lost love.^[16][17] The Daily Telegraph's Charles Spencer praised her performance, commenting, "Leslie proves genuinely poignant."^[18] Her break-through role came as Gwen Dawson, a housemaid, in the first series (2010–11) of the ITV television drama Downton Abbey.^[19] In 2011, while on Downton Abbey, Leslie briefly appeared in two episodes of the British drama series Case Histories.^[20][21]

In 2012, she was cast in seasons two, three and four of the popular HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones as the wildling Ygritte.^[22] The A.V. Club's Rowan Kaiser stated: "As Ygritte, [Rose] is both dangerous and flirtatious, and it's fun to watch."^[23] Den of Geek's David Crow exclaimed, "A complicated character [...] Rose Leslie devours the screen."^[24] In 2013, Vox.com's Emily VanDerWerff (under The A.V. Club) review for "The Climb" episode, "(In the books) Ygritte is a means to an end... (but) on screen, as embodied by Rose Leslie, she becomes something more,"^[25] whilst The Atlantic's Christopher Orr summed up her portrayal in 2014's episode "The Watchers of the Wall" by concluding: "Rose Leslie has been one of a handful of performers on the show who’ve really elevated their characters above what they were in the books."^[26]

While on Game of Thrones, Leslie appeared in the 2012 drama film Now Is Good alongside Dakota Fanning^[27] and in episodes of ITV detective television series Vera,^[28] Channel 4 conspiracy drama Utopia^[29] and BBC One's comedy series Blandings.^[30]

From October to November 2014, she appeared in the four-part mini-series The Great Fire.^[31] She then starred in the horror film Honeymoon with Harry Treadaway.^[32] She has since played DS Emma Lane in the BBC detective drama Luther with Idris Elba with positive response^[33] and starred alongside Vin Diesel and Elijah Wood in the 2015 action adventure/fantasy film The Last Witch Hunter.^[34][35] In 2016, she portrayed the character of Athena in Sticky Notes with Ray Liotta.^[36]

In 2016, Leslie was cast in The Good Fight, a CBS All Access legal drama and spin off of The Good Wife. She plays Maia Rindell, a new lawyer who just passed the bar and whose family is involved in a financial scam, destroying her reputation. The first episode aired in February 2017.^[37] In July 2019, it was revealed that Leslie would not return for the show's fourth season.^[38]

In 2017 Leslie provided the voice for the female protagonist "En" in the video game Echo, a game by Copenhagen-based game developer Ultra Ultra.^[39]

Leslie is fluent in French, having lived in France for three years. While working as an actress, she lived in Battersea, London, until moving to North London.^[40] She often refers to missing Aberdeen, her hometown, having said: "Aberdeen... in the middle of the countryside, all trees and nature... I feel very much at peace in Scotland".^[40]

Leslie began a relationship with her Game of Thrones co-star Kit Harington in 2012. They announced their engagement through The Times in September 2017.^{[41][42][43][44]} Their wedding was held on 23 June 2018.^[45] They married at Rayne Church in Aberdeenshire, and the reception was held at nearby Wardhill Castle, owned by Leslie's family.

Leslie supported Scotland remaining part of the United Kingdom during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum campaign.^[46] At the 2015 UK general election, she campaigned with the Conservatives in her local constituency of Gordon, Aberdeenshire.^[47]

She is a runner and enjoys rock climbing, cooking,^[48] skiing, archery and tennis.^[12]