Faye Marsay

Faye Marsay’s Vel Sartha keeps her feelings under control in Andor (2022). Marsay gives her a quiet authority, with enough strain beneath it to make the restraint matter. We were moved by how much she suggests Vel has to keep to herself. Tony Gilroy’s writing suits that approach: this is a series that takes time over ordinary lives and lets its performers reward the attention. The opening is slow to find its shape, but we recommend staying with it for work as controlled as hers.

She arrived in period drama as Anne Neville in The White Queen (2013), her first major screen role, then reached a wider audience as the Waif in Game of Thrones (2015–2016). Pride (2014) came between them, giving her comedy as well as drama within a large cast. Across these early parts, a useful habit emerges: Marsay can establish a character without making the whole scene about her. Historical and genre settings recur in the work, while Adolescence (2025), in which she plays DS Misha Frank, continues her place in ensembles.

Matthew Warchus’s Pride makes particularly good use of that willingness to belong to a group. As Steph, Marsay handles the comedy and the serious passages with an assurance that helps the film earn its warmth. We find the account of solidarity a little too tidy, but the cast gives us people worth caring about. Marsay’s contribution fits that balance, allowing humour without making the character seem slight. It is a good place to see why an actor need not be the principal attraction to be worth following.

We would like a role that keeps her at the centre for longer and makes greater demands on the comic assurance evident in Pride. Being dependable can become a narrow job description, and casting Marsay only for restraint would overlook the humour. Those supporting parts already give us good reasons to seek her out. Start with Andor, and allow for the slow opening.