If you’ve spotted Holliday Grainger in sweeping period dramas or modern thrillers and found yourself wondering what else she’s been in, you’re not alone. Her latest project—Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17—lands her alongside Robert Pattinson in a 2025 release that showcases her range yet again.

Born: 27 March 1988 · Real Name: Holliday Clark Grainger · Notable Movie Role: Anastasia in Cinderella (2015) · Notable TV Role: Tallulah in The Borgias · Upcoming: Mickey 17

Quick snapshot

1Confirmed facts
2What’s unclear
  • Current relationship status (Wikipedia)
  • Details on children (unconfirmed reports) (Wikipedia)
  • Exact Berlin premiere date for Mickey 17 (February 13 vs 15, 2025) (Wikipedia)
3Timeline signal
  • Mickey 17 world premiere: February 13, 2025 (Wikipedia)
  • UK/US theatrical: March 7, 2025 (Radio Times)
  • HBO Max streaming: May 23, 2025 (Wikipedia)
4What’s next
  • The Stolen Girl (2025 miniseries) as Rebecca Walsh (Wikipedia)
  • Halo of Stars (TBA) as Emm (Wikipedia)

Three decades of credits, one consistent thread: Holliday Grainger has appeared in everything from medieval legends to Bong Joon Ho’s latest.

The table below summarizes key biographical details drawn from verified sources.

Detail Value
Full Name Holliday Clark Grainger
Born 27 March 1988
Also Known As Holly Grainger
Breakout Role Tallulah in The Borgias
Major Film Cinderella (2015)

What is Holliday Grainger’s most iconic role?

Ask fans to name Holliday Grainger’s standout performances and two answers keep surfacing: Tallulah in The Borgias and Anastasia in Disney’s 2015 Cinderella. Both roles showcase her ability to disappear into period pieces—whether portraying a Renaissance-era mistress or a wicked stepsister, she brings a modernity to historical settings that keeps audiences engaged.

Breakout TV performances

Grainger’s television career took off with Showtime’s The Borgias (2011–2013), where she played Tallulah, a character whose loyalty shifts like the winds around the infamous Borgia family. The role established her as someone who could hold her own in prestige period drama alongside established names. She followed this with BBC’s Merlin series, playing a character whose arc added depth to the legendary Arthurian tale.

Standout film roles

On the big screen, Grainger’s portrayal of Anastasia in Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella (2015) brought villainy to life with theatrical relish. She also delivered strong performances in Great Expectations (2011) as Estella, Jane Eyre (2011), and Anna Karenina (2012)—all films that demanded classical acting chops and period authenticity.

The pattern

Grainger gravitates toward characters with complicated moral compasses: neither fully good nor simply evil, but people whose choices define them. From Tallulah’s political maneuvering to Estella’s emotional armor, this range keeps her work fresh across genres.

The implication: her comfort with morally gray characters makes her adaptable across genres from period drama to psychological thriller.

What else is Holliday Grainger in?

Beyond the period dramas that first put her on the map, Grainger has steadily built a filmography that spans thrillers, literary adaptations, and science fiction. The breadth is unusual for actors who find early success in a particular niche.

Early career highlights

Starting as a child actress in the BAFTA-winning Roger and the Rottentrolls, Grainger built her craft through roles in British television before transitioning to film. Her early filmography includes The Queen (2006), where she appeared alongside Helen Mirren, and roles in Daylight Robbery and 99 Francs.

Recent projects

The last decade has seen Grainger take on increasingly complex roles. She appeared in The Finest Hours (2016) as Miriam Webber, My Cousin Rachel (2017) as Louise, Tulip Fever (2017) alongside Alicia Vikander, Tell It to the Bees (2018) as Lydia Weekes, and Animals (2019). She also voiced Darcy Dunraven in the miniseries Impact Winter (2022).

What to watch

For viewers who discovered her through period drama, The Capture offers a completely different side of Grainger—harder-edged, more contemporary, and deeply embedded in a psychological thriller that questions surveillance and truth.

What this means: Grainger’s willingness to shift between period authenticity and modern psychological intensity demonstrates an unusual acting range that keeps her career from becoming predictable.

Holliday Grainger movies and TV shows on Netflix

If you’re looking to stream Grainger’s work on Netflix, the options are somewhat limited. While no Netflix original films feature her prominently, her television work appears on different platforms depending on region.

Available streaming titles

In the United States, Grainger’s series Strike streams on Peacock under the title C.B. Strike. The BBC crime drama, based on novels by J.K. Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith, has run since 2017 with Grainger playing Robin Ellacott/Elliott, the indispensable partner to Cormoran Strike.

Popular picks

The Capture offers another entry point for US viewers, available on Peacock. For UK audiences, both Strike and The Capture air on BBC One with varying streaming availability. Notably, Mickey 17 streams on HBO Max rather than Netflix, and as of search results, no Netflix availability has been confirmed for this or other Grainger projects.

The catch

Streaming rights vary significantly by region. What appears on HBO Max in one country may not be available on Netflix elsewhere, making platform-hopping a reality for comprehensive Grainger viewing.

The catch: viewers wanting comprehensive access to Grainger’s work will likely need subscriptions to multiple platforms, with no single service offering her full filmography.

What is Holliday Grainger’s role in major projects like Merlin and The Borgias?

Two projects that defined Grainger’s early breakthrough remain fan favorites when discussing her career trajectory.

Merlin

BBC’s Merlin ran from 2008 to 2012 and featured Grainger in recurring appearances. While not the titular character, her character’s storyline intersected with the central Arthurian narrative in ways that left lasting impressions on viewers of the show.

The Borgias

Showtime’s The Borgias (2011–2013) gave Grainger her most high-profile television role to that point. Set in Renaissance Italy, the series follows the infamous Borgia family’s rise to power. Grainger’s Tallulah navigated the dangerous political landscape with intelligence and ambition, matching the show’s tone of intrigue, betrayal, and calculated power plays.

Why this matters

Both series demanded different acting registers: Merlin required fantasy-world naivety and growth, while The Borgias called for political sophistication and emotional complexity. Grainger’s comfort in both demonstrates her range beyond period-drama typecasting.

The pattern: Grainger’s early success in contrasting genres—fantasy adventure versus political intrigue—established her as an actress capable of tonal versatility.

What are Holliday Grainger’s latest movies like Cinderella and Mickey 17?

Grainger’s film career has evolved from supporting roles in literary adaptations to a co-starring position in a major 2025 science fiction release.

Cinderella (2015)

Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella offered a traditional take on the fairy tale, with Lily James as the titular princess and Grainger as Anastasia, one of the stepsisters. Rather than playing the role as cartoonish villainy, Grainger infused Anastasia with humanity—she’s cruel, yes, but also a product of her environment, which makes her more interesting than the usual pantomime villain.

Upcoming: Mickey 17

Grainger’s most recent high-profile project is Mickey 17, directed by Bong Joon Ho (Parasite, Okja). The film, based on Edward Ashton’s 2022 novel Mickey7, is a science fiction black comedy released in 2025. Grainger plays Red Hair, the head recruiter of the Niflheim expedition program, appearing alongside Robert Pattinson as Mickey Barnes/Mickey 17/Mickey 18, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, and Mark Ruffalo.

The film world premiered at Leicester Square in London on February 13, 2025, with theatrical releases following in South Korea (February 28, 2025) and the United States/United Kingdom (March 7, 2025). Originally scheduled for March 29, 2024, the release was delayed due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Digital HD availability began April 8, 2025, with physical media (Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD) following on May 13, 2025. Since May 23, 2025, the film has been available for streaming on HBO Max.

“Wanting to get off of Earth, Mickey Barnes signs up to be an ‘expendable’: a disposable employee where after one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of their memories intact.”

— Official synopsis from Radio Times film release guide

“The unlikely hero, Mickey Barnes has found himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job… to die, for a living.”

— Warner Bros. Pictures studio description

The upshot

Grainger’s casting in Mickey 17 represents a significant career move—stepping into international auteur cinema rather than remaining in British-focused productions. Whether this leads to more genre-defying roles remains to be seen, but the trajectory suggests an actress unwilling to rest on established comfort zones.

Bottom line: The implication: Grainger’s role alongside marquee names like Pattinson and Ruffalo signals a potential shift toward Hollywood-scale projects, though whether this translates to ongoing international casting remains uncertain.

Upsides

  • Diverse genre range from period drama to science fiction
  • Consistent work since childhood with career longevity
  • Lead roles in ongoing prestige TV series
  • International breakthrough with Bong Joon Ho collaboration

Downsides

  • Limited Netflix streaming availability for existing projects
  • No confirmed streaming plans for Mickey 17 beyond HBO Max
  • Some personal details remain unconfirmed or unclear
  • Project delays (Mickey 17 pushed back over a year from original date)

Other notable works and upcoming projects

Grainger’s filmography extends beyond the headline projects. She starred in Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams (2017), appearing in the episode “The Hood Maker” as Honor. This Amazon Prime series brought iconic science fiction short stories to television, with Grainger delivering a performance that fit the anthology format’s demands for quick character establishment.

Her role in The Capture (2019–present) represents perhaps her most contemporary work—set in modern London, the series explores surveillance, CCTV footage manipulation, and the nature of truth in a digital age. Grainger’s Rachel Carey is a detective whose investigation becomes entangled with larger questions about institutional power.

Looking ahead, The Stolen Girl (2025) will see Grainger play Rebecca Walsh in a miniseries—a main role that suggests continued television work alongside her film career. An upcoming project titled Halo of Stars (TBA) will feature her as Emm, though release details remain scarce.

Bottom line: Holliday Grainger has built a career that resists easy categorization. Her choices—from Shakespearean adaptations to Bong Joon Ho’s latest—suggest someone more interested in interesting work than comfortable typecasting. For viewers seeking quality period drama, her BBC work delivers consistently. For those following her international trajectory, Mickey 17 opens doors that British television alone might not have.

Related reading: Polly Walker Movies and TV Shows – Complete Filmography List · Jennifer Coolidge Movies and TV Shows – Complete Filmography Guide

Frequently asked questions

What is Holliday Grainger’s real name?

Her full name is Holliday Clark Grainger. She is also credited professionally as Holly Grainger.

Is Holliday Grainger in a relationship?

Current relationship status is not confirmed in verified sources. She tends to keep her personal life private.

Does Holliday Grainger have children?

Unconfirmed reports suggest she may have children, but verified sources do not provide specific details.

Who is Holliday Grainger’s husband?

She has not publicly confirmed marriage details. Her personal life remains largely private.

Does Holliday Grainger have twins?

Unconfirmed reports have mentioned twins, but no verified source has confirmed this information.

Is Holliday an Irish name?

Holliday is a name that appears across British and Irish naming traditions. It can be derived from various origins, including Old French “holied” (holy) or used as a surname-turned-first-name.

What is Holliday Grainger’s latest TV series?

Her most recent television work includes The Stolen Girl (2025 miniseries) as Rebecca Walsh, following ongoing roles in Strike (since 2017) and The Capture (since 2019).