Why you recognise The Lady's Mia McKenna-Bruce, from EastEnders to her huge BAFTA win
Mia McKenna-Bruce plays Fergie's killer ex-dresser in ITV's new drama
The Lady stars Mia McKenna-Bruce as Jane Andrews, the killer ex-dresser at the heart of the drama. She’s a formidable talent – and you’ve definitely seen her before.
The four-part series, premiering on ITV and ITVX on February 22, follows Andrews’ “rise and fall” story from working with Sarah Ferguson to her murder conviction.
It boasts a who’s who ensemble of British acting talent, whether it’s Game of Thrones’ Natalie Dormer as Fergie or Downton Abbey’s Ed Speelers as Andrews’ doomed partner.
For McKenna-Bruce, it’s another lead role in her already extensive filmography – and there are plenty of things you’ve probably seen her in before.
Mia McKenna-Bruce movies and TV shows before The Lady
Mia McKenna-Bruce’s acting career began in 2007, with a small part as a ballet girl in the West End’s production of Billy Elliot.
She made her TV debut in 2008. Her first on-screen role was playing Ester in Small Dark Places, before landing a single-episode appearance in Holby City.
She also starred in EastEnders as Penny Branning, Jack and Selina’s daughter (now played by Kitty Castledine).
Next, McKenna-Bruce showed up in The Bill and Doctors. However, the biggest role of her career (at that point) came in 2012 with Tracy Beaker Returns.
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The star portrayed Tee Taylor, a character who was carried over into The Dumping Ground spin-off. She held the role for nine years, and according to a 2020 interview, they were some of the “best years of [her] life”.
“She was very similar to me, so everything Tee was learning and going through, it felt as though I was too,” she told the Exit 6 Film Festival.
How to Have Sex led to a BAFTA win
McKenna-Bruce has had continuous acting work since The Dumping Ground, whether it’s the BBC’s Get Even, brief appearances in The Witcher and Vera, or a role in Netflix’s Persuasion.
Her most important role came in 2023 with How to Have Sex, a sobering, tremendous indie film that earned well-deserved and widespread acclaim.
She played Tara, a 16-year-old girl who goes to Malia with her friends and feels pressure to lose her virginity.
It has a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score, and it won several awards, including a prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Later that year, McKenna-Bruce was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award alongside Phoebe Dynevor, Ayo Edebiri, Jacob Elordi, and Sophie Wilde. And… she won!
“I thought there was absolutely no chance of me winning that award at all,” she told Refinery29.
“It’s a huge relief and hopefully it means that I get to continue doing this for quite some time. There’s also a lot of excitement. I’m excited to see what comes from this and hopefully it means more people watch the film that didn’t know it was there before.”
McKenna-Bruce played an Agatha Christie hero in Seven Dials
Mia McKenna Bruce played Lady Eileen Brent, better known as Bundle, in Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials.
While the Netflix series was an adaptation of the 1929 novel, Bundle was actually introduced four years earlier in The Secret of Chimneys. She barely has anything to do in the story, even though a murder takes place in her home.
Seven Dials gave her a meatier role, with McKenna-Bruce’s sleuth going between her estate and London to uncover a sprawling, dangerous conspiracy.
As the star told Radio Times, it’s a different story to “what we’ve seen before, but it still clings on to the things people love about Christie”.
“We’ve got the classic scene where all the suspects are in a room and Superintendent Battle is unpicking it all and revealing the killer,” she said.
“It’s got the dark side to keep you hooked constantly, but it’s set in the roaring 20s and has this young, fresh, glitzy vibe. Visually, it’s stunning and, for me, watching it made me want to jump into that world, despite all the death!”
Why Mia McKenna-Bruce chose to star in The Lady
Speaking ahead of the show’s release, McKenna-Bruce explained how she “fell in love with every aspect” of the project.
She told ITV: “Getting to play a role like Jane, particularly one that’s based on a true story, I really needed to go in totally unbiased, as if i was in her mindset and not trying to second guess what she was doing or thinking, “What i would do in this situation?”
The actress “definitely” felt a great responsibility in playing a real-life person – never mind someone as notorious as Andrews.
“We were trying to tell the story with as much care as possible,” she said.
How old is Mia McKenna-Bruce? Is she married?
Mia McKenna-Bruce is 28 years old. She married Tom Leach (an actor who’s appeared in Casualty and Silent Witness) in 2024, seven years after they met on The Rebels.
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Speaking to Vogue, she said her wedding – held at Brympton House in Somerset – was “perfect”.
They also have a son together: Leo, who was born in August 2023.
What Mia McKenna-Bruce is doing next after The Lady
Mia McKenna-Bruce has two major projects lined up: The Beatles biopics and Everybody Wants to [bleep] Me.
Production is still ongoing on The Beatles biopics. Skyfall director Sam Mendes is making not one, not two, but four separate biopics about the band.
Yes, this means they’ll be told from the POV of each band member. The current plan is to release them all on the same day: April 7, 2028. McKenna-Bruce will play Maureen Starkey, the first wife of Ringo Starr (portrayed by Barry Keoghan).
Finally, she’ll star alongside Taron Egerton in Everybody Wants to [bleep] Me, a comedy-thriller set “in the world of modern dating”.
Read more: The best movies you can stream for free on ITVX
