Actress Lola Petticrew surprised Anne Boleyn viewers during the first episode after sharing a tender onscreen kiss with her character Jane Seymour's love rival.
It's the highest profile role to date for the 26-year-old, from Belfast, whose star has gradually been rising since she graduated from university four years ago.
Lola began acting after joining a drama group at the age of 12, before landing her break out role in gritty drama Bloodlands alongside James Nesbitt.
Since then, the vegan queer actress has gone on to wow viewers as pregnant schoolgirl Orla in the BBC series Three Families as well as closeted lesbian in Dating Amber - and is now set for her biggest role yet as Jane Seymour in the Channel 5 historical drama.
Irish actress Lola Petticrew, 26, from Belfast, has become a rising star of the pandemic after appearing in dramas including Bloodlands and Anne Boleyn
The actress, who identifies as queer, surprised viewers during the first episode of Anne Boleyn earlier this week after sharing a tender onscreen kiss with her character Jane Seymour's love rival (left). She previously starred in music videos where she was also seen kissing women (right)
Lola, who only graduated from drama school in 2017, landed her big break this year starring opposite James Nesbitt in Bloodlands
Lola, who uses both she/her and they/them pronouns, came from humble beginnings and was born in West Belfast where she attended St Dominic's Grammar School for Girls.
She said she was inspired to be an actress by Line of Duty star Vicky McClure, telling Bustle: 'I was always interested in acting, but I remember watching This Is England ’86, and looking at Vicky McClure, and thinking: "I want to do that."'
RELATED ARTICLES
'Really flattering for my curvy figure': This strappy midi... Promoted 
Couple transform their 1930s semi-detached house with a...
Share this article
ShareShe previously said her parents were 'very proud' and supportive of her dream to be an actress, telling Grazia: 'My mum and dad were always more sure that I could do it than I was.
'And they still are so supportive...It's actually incredible how supportive they are.'
Before quarantine, Lola wrapped on Nathalie Biancheri’s feature film Wolf, with George MacKay and Lily-Rose Depp about a man who believes he is a wolf trapped in a human body
Under the watchful eye of her parents, she joined a local drama group when she was 12.
But her teenage years weren't always easy, with Lola telling the Girls on Tops blog: 'My mum and dad would say I had a mouth growing up – I think that’s common with teenage girls!
'You think you have the world figured out, and you want people to hear your opinions before they’re even fully formed.'
At the age of 14, she came out as bisexual and began dating both women and men.
She said she was inspired to be an actress at a young age after seeing Line of Duty star Vicky McClure in This Is England, which came out when she was nine-years-old
She went on to train at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, graduating in 2017 with a Bachelor of Arts in Acting and quickly moved to London to pursue her career.
In 2018 she starred alongside Christopher Eccleston in the BBC One drama Come Home.
She made her feature film debut as Allegra in the 2019 comedy-drama film A Bump Along the Way, which earned her a New Talent Award at the Galway Film Fleadh.
The same year she played Kate in Michael Patrick’s adaptation of the stage play My Left Nut for BBC Three.
She had more film roles in 2020, starring as the titular character in Dating Amber opposite Fionn O'Shea (pictured together)
The comedy focuses on the platonic love story between two queer teenagers and, at the climax of the film, Lola is filmed having an orgasm
She also portrayed Baba in the renowned play The Country Girls, which was adapted from Edna O'Brien's book, controversially banned in Ireland on publication in 1960.
The book is a coming-of-age tale about two convent-educated girls who move to the big city to experience life and love.
It was considered so shocking that it was banned in Ireland and burned in village squares.
She had more film roles in 2020, starring as the titular character in Dating Amber opposite Fionn O'Shea.
The actress, who identifies as queer, has said playing the character of Amber had helped her come to terms with her own sexuality
The comedy focuses on the platonic love story between two queer teenagers and, at the climax of the film, Lola is filmed having an orgasm.
She told The Queer Review that playing the character had helped her come to terms with her own sexuality, saying: 'What’s funny is when I was younger I was so much more comfortable with my sexuality...although that [bisexual] label never quite fit I was unafraid of the idea that I liked and loved women and I had girlfriends.
'Then something funny happened in my late teens and my early twenties and I think that I was sort of hammered with the idea of compulsory heterosexuality.'
Lola, who has also described herself as being 'obsessive' about her work, continued: 'I went from being really young and unafraid and being surrounded by my close queer friends to leaving the country and then being around a lot of heterosexual people and sort of assimilating.
As of February 2021, Petticrew starred as Izzy Brannick in the BBC One police procedural Bloodlands
'In a way I had quietened my queerness and decided that it was something that I wasn’t going to deal with and that I was going to ignore.'
She said shooting the film had been a 'second coming out' and called it 'liberating.'
And in October last year she appeared in the music video the author alongside fellow actress Maya O'Shea for the singer Lulz.
The three minute video follows two friends who fall in love but struggle with their sexuality, before they share a kiss on the beach at the end of the clip.
Before lockdown, she wrapped on Nathalie Biancheri’s feature film Wolf, with George MacKay and Lily-Rose Depp about a man who believes he is a wolf trapped in a human body.
She went on to play Orla Healy in the two-part drama Three Families, who falls pregnant while in school
In the BBC drama, Orla's mother Theresa discovered she had fallen pregnant, and ordered pills online for her to terminate the baby
The trio became exceptional close during filming, with Lola later sharing several Instagram snaps as she snuggled up with the group.
Sharing a photo as she posed alongside Lily-Rose, she wrote: 'The fellowship of the claddagh ring. I love you ya french b****.'
As of February 2021, Petticrew starred as Izzy Brannick in the BBC One police procedural Bloodlands.
Originally a four-parter, it was renewed in March. And she went on to play Orla Healy in the two-part drama Three Families.
The role of Jane Seymour in the new Channel 5 drama is the highest profile role to date for the 26-year-old (pictured, on set)
The series followed her mother, Theresa, who considered abortion a 'mortal sin'. Her best friend Louise (Kerri Quinn) heckled women outside abortion clinics.
However when she discovers Orla had fallen pregnant, she was spurred into taking action to help her terminate the pregnancy by ordering pills online.
The secret leaked out. After Orla and Theresa talked to their GP, he called child protection services — and Orla’s school called the police.
Shockingly, Theresa ended up in court, where the magistrate’s voice dripped with contempt as he read out the charge that, in contravention of a 150-year-old law, she was accused of ‘supplying poison to secure a miscarriage’.
During the first episode, a pregnant Anne is blindsided by the realisation that Henry has an eye on one of her ladies, Jane, who eventually goes on to succeed her as the Queen of England.
She recently told Country and Town House the series was 'very tough' to film, saying: 'We had such a beautiful and generous cast and crew who created a great atmosphere.'
It's also far from a coincidence that many of her projects have been set in Northern Ireland.
The actress said: 'Whenever I’m away from home for a really long time I get really homesick for the people.'
She is currently starring in the Channel 5 series Anne Boleyn, which re-imagines the final months of the doomed queen.
The 26-year-old recently debuted a new pixie cut hairstyle to her Instagram followers after chopping off her auburn locks
The first episode, which aired earlier this week, saw Anne share a tender onscreen kiss with love rival Jane, while it also featured several racy sex scenes between Anne and Henry VIII, played by Mark Stanley.
During the first episode, a pregnant Anne is blindsided by the realisation that Henry has an eye on one of her ladies, Jane, who eventually goes on to succeed her as the Queen of England.
Lola said it is refreshing that the series focuses on the female gaze, revealing: 'I think that so often we see ourselves used as a tool or a device on screen for a man’s story, and what’s happening between these two women is so much more interesting.
'These are two women that have to clamber and fight for their place at the table. [Despite their differences] I think in a way there’s a mutual respect between the two women – they have to do what they have to do in order to survive.'
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCmmZmhe6S7ja6iaJ6Voq6quI6aqa2hk6GyboWVbWttaWlkpKm7jKugrKGenHq0wMCrZIWnnJZ6kbHTraCcqpWserG70a2pmrGjYpeiusRmip6xnaTCs3mgp6WeZXKkuabFzWefraWc