Sophie McShera

Sophie McShera: born 1985

Sophie McShera plays Daisy on Downton Abbey

Sophie McShera cleans up nicely in real life

Sophie McShera says it’s easy to look good in real life after playing shy, greasy haired Daisy on Downton Abbey. McShera’s television career started in 2007 with a minor part on long running soap opera Emmerdale. She also worked on Doctors and Survivors in 2008. Her biggest role before Downton Abbey came when she joined the regular cast of the BBC school drama Waterloo Road, playing A-level student Ros McCain. Sophie McShera joined the cast of Downton Abbey after leaving Waterloo Road.

McShera started acting as a hobby. Her brother Liam was taking tennis lessons and she signed up for drama classes at Footsteps Theatre School in Eccleshill. The theatre had five girls auditioning for The Goodbye Girl in London, but one of the girls couldn’t go. They needed someone with an American accent to audition. Sophie spent the summer watching Saved by the Bell and felt she could pull it off. She got the job. After that she played the role of Annie in the musical and ended up doing a national tour with her Irish grandmother as a chaperone. Look for Sophie McShera in 2013 on the ITV sitcom The Job Lot, set in a busy unemployment bureau.