British Actresses You Should Know: Ruth Wilson

Award-winning actress Ruth Wilson has the sort of wide-ranging career that encompasses both period classics (Jane Eyre) and groundbreaking contemporary gems (Luther).

She’s also one of those performers whose work is generally so consistently great that we often forget to talk about how great it is. (For example, Wilson’s performance is literally the only thing making any part of His Dark Materials’ first season work.)

A talented character actress, she excels at playing everything from her own grandmother (Mrs. Wilson) to distinctly morally grey types who are hard to put in boxes (The Affair).

Here’s a look at several of Wilson’s most notable roles, in roughly chronological order, if only because I don't want to play favorites.

Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre is the miniseries that elevated Wilson to the upper echelon of British actresses working today, even if it was crime drama Luther that turned her into a household name. Wilson plays the eponymous Jane opposite Toby Stephens as Mr. Rochester, and the end result is the closest thing we’ve yet achieved to a definitive onscreen version of Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel.

To be fair, as an adaptation it plays a bit fast and loose with the source material at various points, but its added scenes further underline the novel’s themes of repression and loss. Plus, Wilson and Stephens have crackling chemistry together.