Born in Reading, England, a lovely township nestled between London and Swindon that spawned great thespians like Kate Winslet and Kenneth Branagh, actress Natalie Dormer started studying ballet, jazz and modern dance at age three, but stopped when she reached age 16. Two years later, she relocated to London, where Dormer attended the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, studying drama under the same roof that spawned talents like Minnie Driver and Matthew Goode.

After honing her craft in British theatre, Dormer landed a substantial supporting role in “Casanova” (2005), a romantic comedy about the life and times of the world’s most famous lover (Heath Ledger). She next played a young heiress who gets involved with Detective John Rebus (Ken Scott) in the third instalment of the acclaimed BBC series, “Rebus: The Falls” (2006), before portraying Anne Boleyn, the doomed second wife of King Henry VIII (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) in Showtime’s lavish and expansive 10-part series, “The Tudors” (2007- ).