Bella Ramsey: 'Too Old and Too Young at the Same Time'
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- Game of Thrones launched Ramsey's career at age 11 as Lyanna Mormont, a role originally scripted for one scene that extended across three seasons after their performance stood out.
- The Last of Us earned Ramsey two Emmy, two Golden Globe, two Critics Choice, an Actor award and Bafta nominations for Ellie; the season one finale drew 32 million viewers.
- The Television Workshop in Nottingham, where Ramsey trained after failing their first audition, counts Samantha Morton, Jack O'Connell, Vicky McClure and Felicity Jones among alumni.
- The Worst Witch cast 11-year-old Ramsey as Mildred Hubble, requiring 16 weeks of filming in a hotel alone with no parent chaperone — which Ramsey now describes as 'one of the worst times and the best times of my young little life.'
- Ramsey received a formal neurodivergent diagnosis while filming The Last of Us season one, saying they had 'always felt slightly on the outside, too old and too young at the same time.'
- Sunny Dancer, a coming-of-age cancer-camp film, marked Ramsey's first time acting with peers their own age since The Worst Witch; they admitted fearing they'd 'be on the edge of things.'
- At 22, Ramsey bought their first one-bedroom flat in suburban London, calling homeownership 'a glitch in the system' because acting 'pays people too much money.'
Why it matters: Ramsey's path from the working-class Nottingham Television Workshop to HBO's The Last of Us — whose season one finale drew 32 million viewers — is unusually steady for a child star. Their openness about a mid-filming neurodivergent diagnosis, and discomfort at affording a flat at 22 while naming the industry pay inequality that made it possible, reframes how a global fanbase encounters their next role.
