Photo: Joe Maher/Getty
Bella Ramseyhas come a long way since playing a pint-sized ruler onGame of Thrones.
The 19-year-old English actress is costarring alongside fellowGoTalumPedro Pascalin the highly anticipated video game turned original series,The Last of Us, on HBO.
“It’s only recently that I’ve accepted I am Ellie, and I can do it, and I am a good actor,” shetold theNew York Times. “But this will last for a few weeks and then I’ll think I’m terrible again. That’s just the process.”
Ramsey ended up getting so into character that it became hard to distinguish where Ellie stopped and her real self started.
“People always ask, at the end of a shoot day, how I get back into being Bella,” she said. “But I didn’t know how to do that with Ellie because we were so intertwined.”
During an interview withThe A.V. Club, Ramsey said it was “scary” to finally put the project out into the world.
As for season 2 of the show, Ramsey explained that she’s excited to get back to work.
“I’m really excited. It still feels surreal to me that it’s going to go again,” Ramsey said in a March 5, 2023, interview with ComicBook.com’sThe Last of Podspodcast. “But also, I don’t want to go into it comparing it to the experience of the first season, because […] Season 1 ofThe Last of Us was the best year of my life, and it’s not going to be the same. I just have to go into it being like, ‘This is season two. And I love season one, but this is just going to be different.’ "
From her experience working with Pascal to how she mastered her American accent, here’s everything to know about Bella Ramsey.
She got involved with theater at a young age
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Ramsey was born in September 2003 in Nottingham, England and grew up in Leicestershire. At age 3, she joined an amateur theater group and participated in drama clubs as a child.
She then enrolled in the Television Workshop in Nottingham and began auditioning for professional roles, which led to her first credited role.
In a video shared on Twitter, Ramsey recalled one of her first auditions and the feedback she received.
“The director really liked me, but I didn’t get the part becauseI didn’t have the ‘Hollywood look,’ “The Last of Usstar said. “That’s something that I’ve always found very interesting.”
Game of Throneswas her first acting job
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Ramsey joined the cast ofGame of Thronesat age 11 during season 6 of the series as Lyanna Mormont, head of House Mormont. Though she only appeared in nine episodes from seasons 6 through 8, the fierce Lady of Bear Island quicklybecame a fan favorite.
“I think playing confident characters also helps with your own confidence,” RamseytoldThe Cutin 2019 about her role as the petite leader. “Say you’re in a situation where you’re feeling anxious or nervous — you can become a character and work through it that way.”
She has been open about her eating disorder diagnosis
In Oct. 2018, Ramseyopened up on Twitterabout her struggles with aneating disorder. In a series of tweets posted in honor of World Mental Health Day, she revealed that she had been diagnosed with anorexia nervosa “just over a year ago,” but noted, “this illness had a hold of me for a year or so before that.”
“There isn’t always an answer but let me tell you this - there’s always a way out. There’s always light at the end of the tunnel no matter how dim it might seem,” she wrote. “I am fortunate to have reached that light, at moments it felt non existent. But it was always there.”
She credited a “huge part” of her recovery to religion, though she told theNew York Timesin 2023 her relationship with faith is now “a lot quieter.”
Her relationship with Pedro Pascal mirrors their characters' relationship
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Pascal’s character onGame of Thrones, Oberyn Martell,was killed offbefore Ramsey joined the show two seasons later, so the pair didn’t meet until production began onThe Last of Usin July 2021.
“We didn’t get as chance to meet or bond before we started filming. We were very much just thrown in. And that chemistry was just there immediately and just grew and developed as Joel and Ellie’s did,” Ramseytold GameRant.com. “As their relationship developed so did ours. And I think that was a very nice parallel and, yeah, maybe it was intentional on Neil and Craig’s [the creators of the show] behalf. To not give us time to like meet and bond. I think it worked really well.”
On Feb. 27, 2023, Ramseyposted behind-the-scenes photoson Instagram from the set ofThe Last of Us. In one snap, Pascal could be seen standing in front of a picturesque landscape while another shot showed him engaging in a broom sword fight.
She’s received several award nominations
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For her starring role in the medieval comedy filmCatherine Called Birdy,Ramsey was nominatedfor aCritics Choice Awardfor best young actor/actress.
“Thank you very very much @CriticsChoice and what cooool people to be in a category with,“she wrote on Twitterafter the nominations were announced.
In addition to her Critics Choice Award nomination, Ramsey has earnedBAFTAnominations for her roles inHildaandThe Worst Witch, plus aScreen Actors Guildnomination for her part in theGame of Thronesensemble cast.
Not only has she earned recognition from awards shows, but her castmates have also sung her praises as well.Joe Alwyn, herCatherine Called Birdycostar, told theNew York Timesthat Ramsey is “full of a childlike energy and a willingness to jump in and play, whilst also carrying a maturity and awareness way beyond her years.”
She’s spoken about being gender fluid
In her interview with theNew York Times, Ramsey opened up about gender identity, saying, “I guess my gender has always been very fluid.”
The actress added, “Someone would call me ‘she’ or ‘her’ and I wouldn’t think about it, but I knew that if someone called me ‘he’ it was a bit exciting.”
Ramsey also said she would tick “nonbinary” as an option if filling out a form. “I’m very much just a person,” she shared. “Being gendered isn’t something that I particularly like, but in terms of pronouns, I really couldn’t care less.”
Terence Patrick/CBS
During an appearanceonThe Late Late Show, Ramsey explained that the first phrase with an American accent she mastered with her dialect coach was “olive oil.” After that, came the curse words.
Fellow intervieweeRegina Hallsaid, “that’s really all you need” in terms of the teenager nailing her accent.
“Because the character that I play in this show,The Last of Us, Ellie, curses every two seconds,” Ramsey told hostJames Corden. “So that was definitely important. There are so many [curse words].”
source: people.com
