Michelle Fairley

Acting

Michelle Fairley

Born 1963-07-11 · Coleraine, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, UK

Michelle Fairley (born 11 July 1963) is an actress from Northern Ireland. She is best known for playing Catelyn Stark in the HBO series Game of Thrones (2011–2013). She has since appeared in the USA Network series Suits (2013), the Fox series 24: Live Another Day (2014), the RTÉ miniseries Rebellion (2016), the science fiction series The Feed (2019), and the Sky Atlantic crime drama Gangs of London (2020–). Fairley was born in Coleraine to parents Brian and Teresa Fairley, the second eldest of six children. Her father was a popular publican, owner of Fairley's Bar and several off-licences, in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, but Fairley remembers both Catholics and Protestants frequenting the pub. Fairley appeared in a number of British television shows, including The Bill, Holby City and Casualty. Some of her earlier roles were as Cathy Michaels on ITV1's Inspector Morse in the episode titled "The Way Through The Woods" and as Nancy Phelan in Lovejoy in the episode 9 of Season 3 titled "Smoke Your Nose". She took over the role of Mrs. Granger from Heather Bleasdale (who had played Mrs. Granger in Chamber of Secrets) in the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows films. From 2011 to 2013, Fairley starred as Catelyn Stark (née Tully) in the first three seasons of the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, replacing Jennifer Ehle who played the character in the original, unaired, pilot episode. Fairley joined the cast of the USA Network series Suits for its third season, playing the recurring role of Dr. Ava Hessington, a chemical engineer and oil CEO accused of bribery, and after that, accused for murder. She played Margot Al-Harazi in 24: Live Another Day on Fox. Her film roles included The Invisible Woman (2013) and In the Heart of the Sea (2015). In 2014, Fairley was cast as Margaret Langston in the ABC TV Series Resurrection (2014-2015). In 2017, it was announced Fairley would appear in a revival of Jim Cartwright's play Road at the Royal Court Theatre In 2018, she played Cassius in Julius Caesar at the Bridge Theatre, alongside David Calder, David Morrissey and Ben Whishaw. In 2019, Fairley led the Virgin Media and Amazon Prime science fiction series The Feed as Meredith Hatfield. As of June 2020, Fairley stars as Marian Wallace in the Sky Atlantic crime drama Gangs of London. She starred as Millie in the 2021 film Nobody Has To Know alongside Bouli Lanners. In 2023, Fairley starred as Princess Augusta in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story on Netflix. She also contributed to The Gone a TVNZ and RTE coproduction.

Acting credits

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 poster
7.7

Harry, Ron and Hermione walk away from their last year at Hogwarts to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes, putting an end to Voldemort's bid for immortality. But with Harry's beloved Dumbledore dead and Voldemort's unscrupulous Death Eaters on the loose, the world is more dangerous than ever.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

2010

Whistle poster
6.3

When a misfit group of unwitting high school students stumbles upon a cursed Aztec Death Whistle, they discover that blowing it unleashes a terrifying sound that summons their future deaths to hunt them down.

Whistle

2026

The Others poster
7.6

Grace is a woman who lives in an old house kept dark because her two children, Anne and Nicholas, have a rare sensitivity to light. When the family begins to suspect the house is haunted, Grace fights to protect her children at any cost in the face of strange events and disturbing visions.

The Others

2001

In the Heart of the Sea poster
6.8

In the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex is assaulted by something no one could believe—a whale of mammoth size and will, and an almost human sense of vengeance.

In the Heart of the Sea

2015

Small Things Like These poster
6.7

In 1985, while working as a coal merchant to support his family, Bill Furlong discovers disturbing secrets kept by the local convent and uncovers truths of his own; forcing him to confront his past and the complicit silence of a small Irish town controlled by the Catholic Church.

Small Things Like These

2024

No Ordinary Heist poster
6.5

Inspired by the true 2004 Northern Bank robbery, two feuding bank employees are forced to execute Ireland’s biggest heist after criminals kidnap their families and threaten to kill them.

No Ordinary Heist

2026

Game of Thrones: The Last Watch poster
7.0

For a year, acclaimed British filmmaker Jeanie Finlay was embedded on the set of the hit HBO series “Game of Thrones,” chronicling the creation of the show’s most ambitious and complicated season. Debuting one week after the series 8 finale, GAME OF THRONES: THE LAST WATCH delves deep into the mud and blood to reveal the tears and triumphs involved in the challenge of bringing the fantasy world of Westeros to life in the very real studios, fields and car-parks of Northern Ireland. Made with unprecedented access, GAME OF THRONES: THE LAST WATCH is an up-close and personal portrait from the trenches of production, following the crew and the cast as they contend with extreme weather, punishing deadlines and an ever-excited fandom hungry for spoilers. Much more than a “making of” documentary, this is a funny, heartbreaking story, told with wit and intimacy, about the bittersweet pleasures of what it means to create a world – and then have to say goodbye to it.

Game of Thrones: The Last Watch

2019

Philomena poster
7.3

A woman searches for her adult son, who was taken away from her decades ago when she was forced to live in a convent.

Philomena

2013

Chatroom poster
5.8

When strangers Jim, Eva, Emily and Mo meet William online in his new 'Chelsea Teens!' chatroom, they're completely seduced by his fast-talking, charismatic character. But beneath the surface lies a much darker truth. William is a dangerous loner, channeling all his energies into cyberspace. He's become an analyser, a calculating manipulator who finds it almost impossible to interact normally with others in the real world, instead turning his hand to manipulating people online.

Chatroom

2010

Hidden Agenda poster
6.9

In Ireland, American lawyer Ingrid Jessner and her activist partner, Paul Sullivan, struggle to uncover atrocities committed by the British government against the Northern Irish during the "Troubles." But when Sullivan is assassinated in the streets, Jessner teams up with Peter Kerrigan, a British investigator acting against the will of his own government, and struggles to uncover a conspiracy that may even implicate one of Kerrigan's colleagues.

Hidden Agenda

1990

The Invisible Woman poster
5.9

In 1857, at the height of his fame and fortune, novelist and social critic Charles Dickens meets and falls in love with teenage stage actress Nelly Ternan. As she becomes the focus of his heart and mind, as well as his muse, painful secrecy is the price both must pay.

The Invisible Woman

2013

Hideous Kinky poster
6.0

In 1972, disenchanted about the dreary conventions of English life, 25-year-old Julia heads for Morocco with her daughters, six-year-old Lucy and precocious eight-year-old Bea.

Hideous Kinky

1999

Lost Lives poster
6.0

This poignant testament to the physical and emotional cost of war, centres on the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Lost Lives

2019

Nobody Has to Know poster
6.7

After a stroke and no memories from his past, Phil encounters Millie who inhabits a desert part of Isle of Lewis. She will shortly entrust him with his deepest secret : they were in love.

Nobody Has to Know

2022

Montana poster
6.1

In the mean streets of London's East End, a former Serbian commando and a fourteen-year old boy plot revenge against a powerful crime lord and his ruthless lieutenants. As our heroes prepare to take on their enemies, the boy is mentored in the dark arts of assassination and learns the true meaning of friendship, honor and respect.

Montana

2014

The Trap poster
6.0

Isolation and loneliness converge on an unexpected journey when intrigue and new come to town.

The Trap

2019

The Trap poster
NR

A woman who has shut herself off from the world is slowly brought back to life through her friendship with a damaged young man. Feature adaptation of the 2019 short film of the same name.

The Trap

2023

Cup Cake poster
6.0

PJ is in a pickle: his parents are missing, he is a spectacular failure at running their bakery called Cup Cake, and he is up to his neck in debt with the local loan sharks. To add to his misery, he has been duped into marriage by their impossibly tanned and serially jilted sister, Kitty. Enter Gala, a mysterious, beautiful artist with a few tricks of her own. PJ, a robot-obsessed dreamer, and his hapless friends—aided by the ever resourceful Gala—set about cooking up the revival of Cup Cake's fortunes and spicing up PJ's love life along the way.

Cup Cake

2010

Responsible Child poster
6.5

Ray, a twelve-year-old boy, must confront the British legal system when he is accused of murder.

Responsible Child

2019

Edith poster
7.4

Edith explores the heartbreaking inevitability that is old age.

Edith

2016

National Theatre Live: Julius Caesar poster
7.5

Caesar returns in triumph to Rome and the people pour out of their homes to celebrate. Alarmed by the autocrat’s popularity, the educated élite conspire to bring him down. After his assassination, civil war erupts on the streets of the capital. Nicholas Hytner’s production will thrust the audience into the street party that greets Caesar’s return, the congress that witnesses his murder, the rally that assembles for his funeral and the chaos that explodes in its wake.

National Theatre Live: Julius Caesar

2018

An Irish Goodbye poster
6.6

In rural Northern Ireland, following the untimely death of their mother, a young man with Down syndrome and his estranged brother discover her unfulfilled bucket list.

An Irish Goodbye

2022

No artwork available
8.0

To mark the 70th anniversary of the birth of the NHS, acclaimed poet Owen Sheers takes us on a journey that weaves the extraordinary story of the birthing of Nye Bevan's vision of free healthcare for all people with personal stories of the NHS in British society today.

To Provide All People

2018

Ahead of the Class poster
7.4

Drama based on real-life events. Marie Stubbs, a diminutive Glaswegian headmistress who is coming up to retirement age, takes on one last challenge: to improve the fortunes of St George's School in north west London which was facing closure after the notorious murder of its previous headmaster, Philip Lawrence, in 1995 as he was breaking up a fight between his pupils and those from a rival school.

Ahead of the Class

2005