Aisling Franciosi

Aisling Franciosi is an Irish-Italian actress celebrated for her transformative performances across both film and television. Known for her intense emotional range and fearless portrayals, Aisling first gained recognition in the critically acclaimed BBC series The Fall (2013) (2013-2016) as Katie Benedetto, winning an Irish Film and Television Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Aisling gained further acclaim for her breakout role as Clare, an Irish convict in colonial Tasmania, in Jennifer Kent's The Nightingale (2018) (2018). Her portrayal earned her the Australian Academy Award (AACTA) for Best Lead Actress, and the performance was hailed as "virtuosic" by critics for its depth and emotional range. Her work was further acknowledged with the Berlin International Film Festival's EFP Shooting Star Award in 2019.

In God's Creatures (2022) (2022), she starred alongside Emily Watson and Paul Mescal. The film premiered in the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes and earned Aisling a British Independent Film Award nomination for Best Supporting Performance.

Aisling's career has brought her to major international screens, including her portrayal of Lyanna Stark in Game of Thrones (2011) (2016-2017) and her role opposite Sandra Bullock and Viola Davis in Netflix's The Unforgivable (2021) (2021). She also starred in Universal Pictures' The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023) (2023), a Dracula-inspired horror film produced by Amblin, and most recently the horror-thriller Speak No Evil (2024) (2024) with James McAvoy and Mackenzie Davis.

In 2020 she led the BBC's Black Narcissus (2020) mini-series with Gemma Arterton, and in 2023, she took on the lead in Stopmotion (2023), a psychological thriller premiering at the London Film Festival.

Upcoming, Aisling is a series regular in Netflix's American western The Abandons (2025), alongside Lena Headey and Gillian Anderson. And she has another co-starring film role with James McAvoy in the forthcoming thriller film Pose (2025).

Aisling's early life was split between Ireland and Italy before returning to Ireland, where her love of acting began. She also studied French and Spanish at Trinity College Dublin. Now, she is based in New York and continues to build a remarkable portfolio of daring, complex roles that showcase her versatility and depth.