Romola Sadie Garai (/ˈrɒmələ ˈɡæri/ ROM-ə-lə GARR-ee;[1] born 6 August 1982) is a Hong Kong-born British actress and film director.

She has gained prominence for her performances in the critically acclaimed costume dramas such as Vanity Fair (2004), As You Like It (2006), Amazing Grace (2007), Atonement (2007), Glorious 39 (2009), and Suffragette (2015).

She received a nomination for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for the BBC Two series The Crimson Petal and the White (2011).

Garai's great-grandfather, Bernhard "Bert" Garai, an immigrant from Hungary, was made manager[9] when his employers, Press Illustrating Company, merged with Keystone View Company, of the Keystone Press Agency, a photographic agency and archive, in London, in the early 20th century.

[3] Garai's first professional acting role was in the 2000 BBC-HBO TV film The Last of the Blonde Bombshells,[15] where she played Judi Dench's character as a young woman.

Co-starring Reese Witherspoon, Jim Broadbent and James Purefoy, the film was based on the 19th century novel by William Makepeace Thackeray and it was directed by Mira Nair.

In 2005, Garai received another BIFA nomination, this time for Best Supporting Actress, for her performance as Siobhan in the independent film Inside I'm Dancing.

[16] Her portrayal earned her the British Supporting Actress of the Year award from the London Film Critics Circle.

Co-starring Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Vanessa Redgrave, Saoirse Ronan and Brenda Blethyn, the film went on to receive seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.

[19] She also appeared in two Royal Shakespeare Company productions: as Cordelia in King Lear and as Nina in The Seagull, starring alongside Ian McKellen, Frances Barber, Sylvester McCoy, Jonathan Hyde and William Gaunt.

Garai next starred in Stephen Poliakoff's World War II thriller Glorious 39, alongside Julie Christie, Jenny Agutter, Bill Nighy, Christopher Lee and Eddie Redmayne.

[22] In 2009, she played the title role in a television adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma, a four-hour miniseries that premiered on BBC One in October 2009, co-starring Jonny Lee Miller and Sir Michael Gambon.

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 2009, The Sunday Times Magazine named her as one of Britain's rising stars[24] alongside Matthew Goode, Andrea Riseborough, Hugh Dancy, Eddie Redmayne and others.

"[25] Garai has been hailed by her Glorious 39 director Stephen Poliakoff as "the next Kate Winslet" and someone who will "dominate British cinema" in the future.

[27] 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.

[28] She also played the part of a drug addicted single mother in the independent British film Junkhearts with Eddie Marsan and Tom Sturridge.

[35] In 2012 she wrote and directed the short film Scrubber,[36] casting Amanda Hale, Michelle Duncan, Honor Kneafsey and Steven Robertson.

Garai's great-grandfather emigrated from Budapest to New York in the 1910s with his English-born wife, then moved to London, where he founded the Keystone Press Agency.

[42] She has visited Hong Kong, Malaysia, Italy, Austria, Morocco, Switzerland and the United States, "To be the outsider for a period of time changes you for the better.