--- name: "Gayle Rankin" canonical: "https://film.one/person/gayle-rankin" fi1m_id: "gayle-rankin" imdb_id: "nm4587360" tmdb_id: 1782144 wikidata_id: "Q33089270" roles: ["Actor"] born: "1 August 1989" reviewed_on_fi1m: 3 average_fi1m_score: 68 average_as: "actor" average_over: 3 updated: "2026-09-23T22:12:25.999120+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Gayle Rankin ## Identity Gayle Rankin - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/gayle-rankin - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** gayle-rankin - **IMDb ID:** nm4587360 - **TMDB ID:** 1782144 - **Wikidata ID:** Q33089270 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gayle_Rankin, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33089270, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4587360/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1782144 Actor. Born 1 August 1989 in Paisley, Scotland, UK. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 1 August 1989, Paisley, Scotland, UK - **Active:** 2017–present - **Average Fi1m score:** 68, as actor, over 3 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 2010s 66 (2), 2020s 72 (1) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 68 to 67 across 3 titles - **Score spread:** 0 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 1 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 1 of 2 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Drama 3, Comedy 2, Sport 1 - **Screen time:** 3 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $459m across 1 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gayle_Rankin, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33089270, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4587360/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1782144 ## Streaming the US now - **Netflix:** [*GLOW*](https://film.one/tv/glow.md) (78) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Gayle Rankin > Gayle Rankin is funny because she takes her outsiders’ difficulties with other people seriously. Her physical comedy can be unruly, but *The Incomer* shows an actor who knows when to leave room for somebody else. In *The Incomer* (2026), Gayle Rankin makes Isla’s resistance to change look like hard physical work. Ordinary company is difficult for this isolated woman, and Rankin puts that difficulty into the comedy rather than waiting for a good line. We laughed at her fierceness because keeping the outside world at a distance seems to take so much effort. There is a person worth watching here, even when the film overdoes the island eccentricity. We like Rankin’s ability to make someone so unruly belong in a shared scene. Her breakthrough was Sheila the She-Wolf in *GLOW* (2017–2019), a role that made good use of her physical expressiveness and comic timing. Supporting parts in *The Meyerowitz Stories* (2017) and *The Greatest Showman* (2017) came during that rise. Emily Dodson, the grieving mother in *Perry Mason* (2020), offered a more directly dramatic role. By *The Incomer*, she was taking a lead role as Isla. She is often cast as a woman living outside ordinary social rules, though we would not want peculiarity to become the whole job description. Louis Paxton’s island comedy shows why the company matters. Domhnall Gleeson’s Daniel is the visitor, while Grant O’Rourke’s Sandy is Isla’s brother, and Rankin’s physical comedy works within their awkward exchanges. Gleeson lets the discomfort linger; O’Rourke helps make the sibling bond convincing. Rankin has room to be fierce without turning either man into a prop. None of the three seems to be waiting for the others to finish so that the proper performance can begin. The limitation is in Paxton’s writing, which too often relies on the islanders being peculiar. Rankin cannot make every laboured joke worth the trouble, and our affection for the performances does not erase that weakness. What does work is the attention to loneliness and belonging: her unruliness has something to do with how Isla lives, not simply how she looks to a visitor. That matters for an actor so often cast as an outsider. Start with *The Incomer* for the three performers, provided a little laboured eccentricity does not put you off. ## Biography Gayle Rankin is a Scottish actress. She was born on 1 August 1989 in Paisley and trained at the Juilliard School in New York, the first Scottish student to win a place there. She is known for her role as Sheila the She-Wolf in the Netflix series *GLOW* (2017–2019), Emily Dodson in the HBO series *Perry Mason* (2020–2023), Alys Rivers in *House of the Dragon* (2024–), and Queen Victoria in the film *The Greatest Showman* (2017). Her other film credits include *The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)* (2017), *Irreplaceable You* (2018), *Blow the Man Down* (2019), *Worth* (2021) and *Men* (2022). On stage, Rankin has appeared in Broadway productions of *Cabaret*, earning a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 2024 for her performance as Sally Bowles. She is credited as Isla in the 2026 film *The Incomer*. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, ibdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (3) - *The Incomer* (2026), Fi1m 72, as Isla — [page](https://film.one/film/the-incomer.md) - *GLOW* (2017), Fi1m 78, as Sheila the She-Wolf — [page](https://film.one/tv/glow.md) - *The Greatest Showman* (2017), Fi1m 54, as Queen Victoria — [page](https://film.one/film/the-greatest-showman.md) ## Complete filmography (28) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *The Incomer* (2026), as Isla — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/the-incomer.md) - *The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford* (2026), as Anna - *House of the Dragon: Season 3 Special Premiere* (2026), as Alys Rivers - *The Listeners* (2024), series, as Jo - *Bad Things* (2023), as Ruthie Nodd - *Kindred* (2022), series, as Margaret Weylin - *House of the Dragon* (2022), series, as Alys Rivers - *Men* (2022), as Riley - *Moon Manor* (2022), as Tammy - *Editing* (2021), as The Woman - *Worth* (2021), as Maya - *The Climb* (2020), as Marissa - *Perry Mason* (2020), series, as Emily Dodson — Fi1m 66, [page](https://film.one/tv/perry-mason.md) - *I Am a Seagull* (2019), as Gayle / Nina - *Jane* (2019), as Jane - *Blow the Man Down* (2019), as Alexis - *Her Smell* (2019), as Ali van der Wolff - *In a Relationship* (2018), as Rachel Flegelman - *Irreplaceable You* (2018), as Mira - *The Greatest Showman* (2017), as Queen Victoria — Fi1m 54, [page](https://film.one/film/the-greatest-showman.md) - *The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)* (2017), as Pam - *GLOW* (2017), series, as Sheila the She-Wolf — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/tv/glow.md) - *The Passing Season* (2016), as Tess - *Frank the Bastard* (2015), as Mary - *My America* (2014), Actor - *Warfield* (2012), as Molly - *Law & Order: Special Victims Unit* (1999), series, as Holly Schneider - *Ashley Wright*, as Ashley Wright ## Gallery - ![Gayle Rankin](https://film.one/media/person/92365/gallery-3329043579f4.jpg) Gayle Rankin — Image via TMDB - ![Gayle Rankin](https://film.one/media/person/92365/gallery-ccfaefdfea1b.jpg) Gayle Rankin — Image via TMDB --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/gayle-rankin