Erin Doherty

Erin Rachael Doherty (born 16 July 1992) is a British actress who played the young Princess Anne in the third and fourth seasons of the Netflix drama The Crown (2019–2020). She has also featured in Chloe (2022), Reawakening (2024), A Thousand Blows (2025), and Adolescence (2025).

Erin Doherty
Doherty in 2022
Born	Erin Rachael Doherty (1992-07-16) 16 July 1992 (age 32) Crawley, West Sussex, England
Education	Guildford School of Acting Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2016–present

Early life and education

Erin Rachael Doherty is of Irish heritage and is from Crawley in West Sussex.^[1][2][3] Her paternal grandfather was from Carndonagh, a town in Inishowen in the north of County Donegal in Ulster.^[4][5] Doherty's parents divorced when she was four. She began acting in Sunday drama classes with her older sister Grace shortly afterwards.^[6]

Doherty studied at Hazelwick School in Crawley.^[1] A talented footballer, Doherty played in midfield for and captained the Crawley Wasps and was scouted by Chelsea Women; she reached the age where she "had to commit" to either football or acting and chose the latter.^[7]

Doherty took a one-year course at the Guildford School of Acting (2011–12) before training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (2012–15).^[8][9]

Whilst training, Doherty won the Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year Award (SSSSPOTY) in 2015 for her rendition of "Broadway Baby" from the Sondheim musical Follies.^[10][11]

Career

Theatre

Doherty is a frequent theatre actress. Since graduating from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 2015, she has appeared in a number of productions at some of London's leading theatres. Doherty's performances have consistently attracted positive reviews from leading theatre critics. Michael Billington named Doherty as 'one of the year's greatest discoveries'^[12] after her performance in My Name Is Rachel Corrie, a one-woman play about the activist Rachel Corrie. Doherty starred in Jack Thorne's play Junkyard, which led What's On Stage reviewer Kris Hallett to write "Doherty is the star here, and by rights will soon be a star full-stop".^[13] Her leading performance in Alan Ayckbourn's play The Divide at the Old Vic Theatre was described by Dominic Cavendish for The Daily Telegraph as having "star-wattage as bright as anything".^[14]

Film and television

Doherty's first television appearance was in a 2016 episode of Call the Midwife, followed by a role in the 2018 BBC miniseries Les Misérables.^[8][9]

In 2018, Doherty was a Screen International Star of Tomorrow, and an Evening Standard Rising Star.^[15][16]

In 2019, Doherty appeared as Princess Anne in the third season of The Crown. She knew little about the princess before being cast, and consequently spent hours studying Anne's family history and life.^[17] Doherty made a point of only watching footage of the princess at the age she was portraying her, rather than interviews of Anne in later life.^[18][19] Anne's voice is very different from Doherty's, being much lower in pitch; the actress spent time carefully learning and mimicking it, finding that it "was the key into her psyche".^[20] Doherty reprised her role as Princess Anne in the fourth season of the series.^[21]

In 2022, Doherty is the protagonist in the BBC/Amazon Prime drama Chloe alongside Poppy Gilbert as Becky.^[22] She was also cast to portray Anne Askew in the historical drama film Firebrand in 2023.^[23] In 2024, she played Clare a missing child returning to her parents aged 24 in the British psychological thriller film Reawakening, alongside Jared Harris and Juliet Stevenson.^[24]

In 2025, she played child psychologist Briony Ariston, alongside Owen Cooper, in episode 3 of the Netflix miniseries Adolescence, which received media coverage due to the 52-minute episode being filmed entirely in a single uncut take.^[25] Lucy Mangan of The Guardian named the third episode the miniseries' "most astounding", declaring that Doherty was "surely emerging as one of the best actors of her generation".^[26] The same year, she continued working with Stephen Graham, playing Mary Carr in Disney+'s A Thousand Blows (2025).^[25]

Personal life

Doherty is a lesbian and was in a relationship with fellow actress Sophie Melville.^[22][27][28]

In 2024, Doherty was one of the celebrities chosen to play football for England against the World XI in the Charity event Soccer Aid for UNICEF; England won 6-3.^[29]

Filmography

Erin Doherty Soccer Aid for UNICEF 2024

Key

†	Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2023	Firebrand	Anne Askew
2024	Reawakening	Clare

Television

Year	Title	Role	Network	Notes
2017	Call the Midwife	Jessie Marsh	BBC	Episode 6.2
2018	Les Misérables	Fabienne	BBC	Episodes 1.2, 1.3 (uncredited)
2020	Unprecedented	Dee	BBC Four	Episode 1.5
2019–2020	The Crown	Anne, Princess Royal	Netflix	Main role (Seasons 3–4) 15 episodes
2022	Chloe	Becky	BBC and Amazon Prime Video	Six episodes
2025	A Thousand Blows	Mary Carr	Disney+	Main role
2025	Adolescence	Briony Ariston	Netflix	Episode 1.3

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Venue	Notes
2017	Junkyard	Fiz	Bristol Old Vic
2017	My Name Is Rachel Corrie	Rachel Corrie	Young Vic
2017	A Christmas Carol	Belle	The Old Vic
2018	The Divide	Soween	The Old Vic
2019	Wolfie	Z	Theatre503
2022	The Crucible	Abigail Williams	Olivier Theatre, Royal National Theatre
2024	Death of England: Closing Time	Carly	@sohoplace
2025	Unicorn	Kate	Garrick Theatre

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Company/Theatre	Result	Ref.
2015	Stephen Sondheim Society	Student Performer of the Year Award	Follies	Garrick Theatre	Won	[10][11]
2017	BroadwayWorld UK Awards	Best Actress in a New Production of a Musical	Junkyard	Bristol Old Vic	Nominated	[30]
2017	Manchester Theatre Awards	Best Actress in a Studio Production	Wish List	Royal Exchange Studio	Won	[31]
2019	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series	The Crown	Netflix	Won	[32]
2020					Won	[33]
2020	Newport Film Festival	Breakthrough Artist Award	The Crown	Netflix	Won	[34]
2022	Diva Awards	Actor of the Year	Chloe	BBC	Nominated	[35]