Bella Ramsey has come a long way since her Game of Thrones role as a pint-sized ruler.
The 19-year-old English actress co-stars with fellow Game of Thrones alum Pedro Pascal in HBO’s highly anticipated video game turned original series, The Last of Us.
Ramsey plays Ellie Williams, a teen who is immune to the fungus that has transformed the world into a post-apocalyptic wasteland teeming with “infected.” Pascal plays Joel Miller, a smuggler on a journey to deliver Ellie to a rebel group in the hope that she can be the cure.
“It’s only recently that I’ve accepted who I am as Ellie, that I can do it, and that I’m a good actor,” she told the New York Times. “But this will only last a few weeks before I realize I’m terrible. That is simply the procedure.”
Ramsey has admitted that she is not a gamer, but she was drawn to the starring role of Ellie and felt attached to her “for reasons I couldn’t explain.” The actress avoided playing the actual game to prepare for the role, as suggested by show creators Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin. Instead, she turned to YouTube to watch major gameplay scenes, which helped her “feel confident that the Ellie I felt inside of me, under my skin, was the right one,” she told the Times.
Ramsey became so immersed in character that it was difficult to tell where Ellie ended and her true self began.
“At the end of a shoot day, people always ask how I get back into being Bella,” she said. “But I couldn’t do it with Ellie because we were so inextricably linked.”
Ramsey told The A.V. Club that it was “scary” to finally release the project into the world.
“It has a very personal meaning for me. When I consider everyone who is watching it, everyone who is so invested, it feels very personal “She stated. “It’s strange, in a way, to share it with the rest of the world. But it’s also a joy that people have been responding so positively to it and being inspired by it and the story, just as they were in the video game.”
Here’s everything you need to know about Bella Ramsey, from her time working with Pascal to how she perfected her American accent.
She became involved in theater at a young age.
Ramsey was born in Nottingham, England in September 2003 and grew up in Leicestershire. She joined an amateur theater group at the age of three and participated in drama clubs as a child.
She then enrolled in Nottingham’s Television Workshop and began auditioning for professional roles, which resulted in her first credited role.
Her first acting role was in Game of Thrones.
Ramsey first appeared on Game of Thrones as Lyanna Mormont, the head of House Mormont, when she was 11 years old. Despite appearing in only nine episodes from seasons 6 to 8, the fierce Lady of Bear Island quickly became a fan favorite.
“I think playing confident characters helps with your own confidence,” Ramsey said of her role as the petite leader in 2019. “For example, if you’re feeling anxious or nervous, you can play a character and work through it that way.”
She has been forthright about her diagnosis of an eating disorder.
Ramsey opened up about her eating disorder struggles on Twitter in October 2018. She revealed in a series of tweets in honor of World Mental Health Day that she was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa “just over a year ago,” but that “this illness had a hold on me for a year or so before that.”
“There may not always be an answer, but there is always a way out. No matter how dim it appears, there is always light at the end of the tunnel “She penned a letter. “I consider myself fortunate to have reached that light, which felt non-existent at times. It was, however, always present.”
Religion was credited with a “huge part” of her recovery, though she told the New York Times in 2023 that her relationship with faith is now “a lot quieter.”
Her relationship with Pedro Pascal mirrors that of their characters.
Pascal’s Game of Thrones character, Oberyn Martell, was killed off before Ramsey joined the show two seasons later, so the two didn’t meet until July 2021, when production on The Last of Us began.
“We didn’t have much time to get to know each other before we started filming. We were thrown in at the deep end. And that chemistry was instantaneous and only grew and developed as Joel and Ellie’s did “Ramsey explained to GameRant.com. “Our relationship grew alongside theirs. And I thought it was a very nice parallel, and maybe it was intentional on Neil and Craig’s [the show’s] part. Not giving us time to meet and bond. I believe it was a success.”
Pascal went on to say, “True, it was very similar in terms of getting to know each other by walking onto the set at the same time, getting in front of the camera, and learning the story. And our shyness with one another, as well as our imagined expectations of one another, simply faded away.”
She’s received several award nominations
Ramsey was nominated for a Critics Choice Award for best young actor/actress for her role in the medieval comedy film Catherine Called Birdy.
“Thank you very very much @CriticsChoice and what cooool people to be in a category with,” she wrote on Twitter after the nominations were announced.
Ramsey has received BAFTA nominations for her roles in Hilda and The Worst Witch, as well as a Screen Actors Guild nomination for her contribution to the Game of Thrones ensemble cast.
Not only has she received recognition from award shows, but her castmates have also praised her.
According to Joe Alwyn, her Catherine Called Birdy co-star, Ramsey is “full of a childlike energy and a willingness to jump in and play, while also carrying a maturity and awareness way beyond her years.”
She has stated that she is gender fluid.
Ramsey discussed gender identity in an interview with the New York Times, saying, “I guess my gender has always been very fluid.”
“Someone would call me’she’ or ‘her,’ and I wouldn’t think about it,” the actress continued, “but I knew that if someone called me ‘he,’ it was a little exciting.”
Ramsey also stated that if filling out a form, she would select “nonbinary” as an option. “I’m just a person,” she admitted. “Being gendered isn’t something I particularly enjoy, but when it comes to pronouns, I couldn’t care less.”
By cursing, she perfected her American accent.
During an appearance on The Late Late Show, Ramsey revealed that the first phrase she learned with her dialect coach was “olive oil.” Then there were the curse words.
Regina Hall, another interviewee, stated that “that’s really all you need” in terms of the teenager nailing her accent.
“Because the character I play in The Last of Us, Ellie, curses every two seconds,” Ramsey explained to host James Corden. “That was definitely significant. There are numerous [curse words].”
The Last of Us premieres on HBO on January 15.