Laura Donnelly

Laura Donnelly is a Northern Irish actress born on 24 June 1982 in Belfast. She trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, graduating in 2004, and has built a career spanning stage and screen across the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States.

Donnelly made her on-screen debut in 2005 in the Channel 4 drama Sugar Rush. Her television work includes a recurring role in the Starz series Outlander from 2014 to 2017, a role in the ITV series Beowulf in 2016, and a main character part in the Irish film Insatiable in 2008. In 2013 she appeared in The Fall as Sarah Kay, and in 2021 she took on the lead role of Amalia True in the HBO series The Nevers, which ran through 2023. She also appeared in the series Britannia.

Her stage career has been closely associated with playwright Jez Butterworth. She appeared in his play The River in 2012 and again in 2015, and went on to originate a role in The Ferryman, which ran from 2017 to 2019. Her performance in The Ferryman earned her the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in 2018. When the production transferred to Broadway, she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play in 2019. Donnelly's Broadway career spans 2014 to 2024 and also includes the musical Over the River. She starred in Butterworth's The Hills of California, which brought her a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play in 2025, along with a second Tony Award nomination.

Donnelly lives in London with her partner, playwright Jez Butterworth, and their two daughters.