Bel Powley
Isobel Dorothy Powley (born 7 March 1992) is an English actress. Born and raised in London, Powley was educated at Holland Park School. She began acting as a teenager on television, starring on the CBBC action television series M.I. High (2007–2008), the period miniseries Little Dorrit (2008), the crime series Murderland (2009), and the ITV sitcom Benidorm (2014).
Bel Powley
Powley gained critical praise for her portrayal of Princess Margaret in A Royal Night Out (2015), for which she was nominated for the British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer, and a sexually confused teenager in the coming-of-age film The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015), for which she was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead and won the Trophée Chopard at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Her films since include Carrie Pilby (2016), Mary Shelley (2017), Ashes in the Snow (2018), White Boy Rick (2018), Wildling (2018), and The King of Staten Island (2020).
On television, Powley has starred in the Apple TV+ series The Morning Show (2019–2021) and Masters of the Air (2024), the BBC One comedy-drama Everything I Know About Love (2022), and the National Geographic miniseries A Small Light (2023). For her performance as Miep Gies in the lattermost, Powley received critical acclaim and was nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award and Screen Actors Guild Award.
Early life[edit]
Powley was born in the Hammersmith borough of London, England,[1] to British actor Mark Powley and casting director Janis Jaffa.[2] Her mother is Jewish, the descendant of emigrants from Russia to Dublin, Ireland.[3][4] Powley attended Holland Park School.[5]
Career[edit]
Screen[edit]
From 2007 until 2008, Powley was one of the lead characters in M.I. High, starring in 23 episodes. Powley has also appeared in several other productions such as Murderland (three episodes, 2009), Little Dorrit (2008), The Bill (2008) and The Whistleblowers (2007). In 2013, Powley was joining the cast of the ITV series Benidorm for series six.[6]
Personal life[edit]
In an interview in 2013, Powley said she had a spot reserved to study history at the University of Manchester,[5] but she never attended. It was announced in July 2021 via actor Douglas Booth's Instagram page that he and Powley were engaged to be married, having met on the set of the film Mary Shelley in 2016.[17] The wedding took place on 28 October 2023 at Petersham Nurseries in Richmond, followed by an afterparty at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. The couple were married under a chuppah made by Booth's sister, an artist, to honour Powley's Jewish heritage.[18]
