Leslie then won the Best Acting Performance - New Talent award at the Scottish BAFTAs for her turn as Rhian in the murder-mystery TV movie 'New Town' (BBC4 2009) before landing her breakthrough role as the ambitious housemaid-turned-secretary Gwen Dawson in the first season of Julian Fellowes' global phenomenon 'Downton Abbey' (ITV 2010-16). Born in London in 1987 but raised on her family's 15th Century ancestral seat, Lickleyhead Castle, in Aberdeen, Scotland, Leslie graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts with honors in 2008, the same year she also made her on-screen debut playing a cocaine addict who traps her boyfriend into becoming a drug mule in the 'Lima' episode of the hit docudrama 'Locked Up Abroad' (Channel 5, 2006-). A regular of the costume drama genre, flame-haired actress Rose Leslie was perhaps best known for her roles in two of the biggest success stories of the binge-watching era, 'Game Of Thrones' (HBO 2011- ) and 'Downton Abbey' (ITV1 2010-16).