Leslie worked for BBC Radio narrating The British Slave Trade: Abolition, Parliament and People. She won a BASSC certificate in stage combat and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in 2008. Her leading on screen debut came at age 21 in the television film New Town, for which she won the Scottish BAFTA for Best Acting Performance – New Talent Award. In September and October 2010, she became the lead in Nell Leyshon's infamous play Bedlam held at Globe Theatre. Based on the Bethlem Royal Hospital, representative of the worst excesses of asylums in the era of lunacy reform, Leslie portrayed May, a beautiful country girl driven mad by lost love. The Daily Telegraphs Charles Spencer praised her performance, commenting, "Leslie proves genuinely poignant." Her break-through role came as Gwen Dawson, a housemaid, in the first series of the ITV television drama Downton Abbey. In 2011, while on Downton Abbey, Leslie briefly appeared in two episodes of the British drama series Case Histories. In 2012, she was cast in seasons two, three and four of the popular HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones as the wildling Ygritte. The A.V. Clubs Rowan Kaiser stated: "As Ygritte, is both dangerous and flirtatious, and it's fun to watch." Den of Geeks David Crow exclaimed, "A complicated character Rose Leslie devours the screen." In 2013, Vox.coms Emily VanDerWerff review for "The Climb" episode, " Ygritte is a means to an end... on screen, as embodied by Rose Leslie, she becomes something more," whilst The Atlantics Christopher Orr summed up her portrayal in 2014's episode "The Watchers of the Wall" by concluding: "Rose Leslie has been one of a handful of performers on the show who’ve really elevated their characters above what they were in the books." While on Game of Thrones, Leslie appeared in the 2012 drama filmNow Is Good alongside Dakota Fanning and in episodes of ITV detective television series Vera,Channel 4 conspiracy drama Utopia and BBC One's comedy series Blandings. From October to November 2014, she appeared in the four-part mini-series The Great Fire. She then starred in the horror film Honeymoon with Harry Treadaway. She has since played DS Emma Lane in the BBC detective drama Luther with Idris Elba with positive response and starred alongside Vin Diesel and Elijah Wood in the 2015 action adventure/fantasy film The Last Witch Hunter. In 2016, she portrayed the character of Athena in Sticky Notes with Ray Liotta. In 2016, Leslie was cast in The Good Fight, a CBS All Access legal drama and spin off of The Good Wife. She plays Maia Rindell, a new lawyer who just passed the bar and whose family is involved in a financial scam, destroying her reputation. The first episode aired in February 2017. In July 2019, it was revealed that Leslie would not return for the show's fourth season. In 2017 Leslie provided the voice for the female protagonist "En" in the video game Echo, a game by Copenhagen-based game developer Ultra Ultra. In October 2019 Leslie was cast as Louise Bourget in 20th Century Fox'sadaptation of Agatha Christie's novel Death on The Nile, directed by Kenneth Branagh. The film is slated to be released on October 9th, 2020. In January 2020, Leslie joined the cast of BBC's and World Productions's upcoming series, Vigil.
Personal life
Leslie is fluent in French, having lived in France for three years. While working as an actress, she lived in Battersea, London, until moving to North London. She often refers to missing Aberdeen, her hometown, having said: "Aberdeen... in the middle of the countryside, all trees and nature... I feel very much at peace in Scotland". Leslie began a relationship with her Game of Thrones co-star Kit Harington in 2012. They announced their engagement through The Times in September 2017. Their wedding was held on 23 June 2018. They married at Rayne Church in Aberdeenshire, and the reception was held at nearby Wardhill Castle, owned by Leslie's family. , Leslie has a close friendship with Emilia Clarke.
