Morven Christie is a Scottish actress and filmmaker.
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Early life and education
Christie was born in Dunbartonshire and raised in Glasgow. She left school at 15. She studied method acting at the Drama Centre London, under Reuven Adiv, an associate of Lee Strasberg.
Career
Theatre
Christie has multiple stage credits, spanning over a decade, including plays by Jack Thorne and Tom Stoppard alongside a classical canon. In 2006, Christie starred in the William Shakespeare plays Romeo & Juliet (as Juliet), Much Ado About Nothing (as Hero), and King John (as Blanche) for the Royal Shakespeare Company in their star-studded Complete Works season.
In 2009, Christie played Anya in the Anton Chekhov play The Cherry Orchard and Perdita in the Shakespeare play The Winter's Tale, for Sam Mendes' "Bridge Project", both at Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York and at The Old Vic, London, alongside Simon Russell Beale, Ethan Hawke and Rebecca Hall. She played Isa in the National Theatre, Glasgow, production of Men Should Weep, directed by Josie Rourke.
Television and film
In 2014, Christie played Amanda Hopkins in the ITV drama Grantchester for its first three seasons with James Norton and Robson Green. In 2017, she played Ellen Rooney in the BBC drama The Replacement, alongside Vicky McClure, and Dougray Scott. This role gained Christie her first BAFTA Scotland nomination.
From 2016 to 2020, she played Alison Hughes, the mother of an autistic child, in the BBC drama The A Word, for which she was again nominated for a BAFTA Scotland Award. In 2018 she also played Kirsten Lindstrom in Sarah Phelps' production of Agatha Christie's Ordeal by Innocence.
Christie starred as DS Lisa Armstrong, the lead role in the ITV crime drama series The Bay, filmed through the latter months of 2018, and aired on ITV from 20 March 2019. She received her third consecutive BAFTA Scotland nomination for her performance. It was announced on 16 February 2021 that Christie had quit the drama, which had just completed a second series.
Post her exit, she completed two independent films and the Joe Cornish eight-part drama Lockwood & Co. for Netflix.
In 2023, she led a six-part drama Payback, for Jed Mercurio's HTM label, opposite Peter Mullan, airing on ITV and internationally.
In 2024 she began shooting the role of Anna Thurman in Apple TV's Silo, and features in the third season of the television series.
In 2025 she wrote and directed short film, STRAY, and is in development as writer/director of her debut feature.
Personal life
Christie lives in Glasgow with her partner, musician Iain Cook.
Filmography
Audio
Radio
When You Cure Me (2006, radio play) as Rachel
An Inspector Calls as Sheila Birling
Whenever I Get Blown Up I Think of You as Molly Naylor
A Farewell to Arms (2011, BBC Radio 4) as Catherine Barkley
Austerlitz (December 2012, BBC Radio 3) as Agata
Audiobooks
Code Name Verity (2012) as Queenie/Verity (Co-read with Lucy Gaskell)
Burial Rites (2013)
