10 Stars Who Were on PBS’s ‘Masterpiece’ Before Becoming Famous
Masterpiece promises to “[bring] you the best of British drama, including period dramas, mysteries, and more.” And the PBS franchise also brings you the best acting talent across the pond, too. Just check out the big-name stars below, all of whom got their starts in British TV productions aired stateside on Masterpiece, sometimes even in the same project.
Two of them starred in Charles Dickens adaptations (David Copperfield and Little Dorrit), two took on a Jane Austen story (Northanger Abbey), and one appeared in a movie about Jane Austen (Miss Austen Regrets).
Here are Masterpiece alums with other masterpieces on their filmographies…
David Oyelowo & Naomie Harris
Before their big breaks, Oyelowo and Harris costarred as the married couple Gilbert and Hortense in the 2009 television drama Small Island, based on the Andrea Levy novel of the same name. Now Oyelowo is known for his starring roles in Selma on the big screen and Lawmen: Bass Reeves and Silo on the small screen. Harris, meanwhile, got an Oscar nomination for her work in Moonlight, and she’s the latest actor to play Moneypenny in the James Bond film franchise.
Daniel Radcliffe
The boy who lived… on to star as the titular wizard of the Harry Potter film series also graced Masterpiece. He played a younger version of the eponymous character in the two-part 2000 Charles Dickens adaptation David Copperfield.
Felicity Jones
Jones, who got Academy Award nominations for her performances in The Theory of Everything and The Brutalist, led the cast of the 2007 TV adaptation of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, playing the role of Catherine Morland.
Carey Mulligan
In the supporting cast of Northanger Abbey was Mulligan in the part of Isabella Thorpe. And she’s a three-time Oscar nominee, having picked up nods for An Education, Promising Young Woman, and Maestro.
Tom Hiddleton
You low-key know him as Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — the Thor films and the TV series Loki in particular — or perhaps you’ve seen him star in The Night Manager. But Hiddleston also portrayed John Plumptre in the 2007 movie Miss Austen Regrets and William Buxton in the 2009 series Return to Cranford.
Matt Smith
These days, fans admire Smith for his starring roles as Doctor Who’s Eleventh Doctor, The Crown’s first Prince Philip, and House of the Dragon’s one and only Daemon Targaryen. But he made his TV debut playing Jim Taylor 2006’s The Ruby in the Smoke and returned to the part for 2007’s The Shadow in the North, both TV movies adaptations of Philip Pullman stories.
Claire Foy
The Emmy-winning Queen Elizabeth II to Smith’s Prince Philip in The Crown, Foy also has Masterpiece roots. She starred as the title character in the 2008 series Little Dorrit, another Dickens adaptation.
Josh O’Connor
O’Connor, another veteran of The Crown and a star of the new blockbuster Disclosure Day, made his screen debut playing Charlie Stephenson in a 2012 episode of Inspector Lewis. And just before he got famous, he starred as Larry Durrell in the 2016–2019 series The Durrells in Corfu.
Colin Firth
A 26-year-old Firth got to share the screen with Laurence Olivier in the 1986 miniseries Lost Empires, an adaptation of the J.B. Priestley novel of the same name. Now, of course, Firth is a household name who won an Oscar for The King’s Speech and joined O’Connor in Disclosure Day.
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