The Bridgerton Cast Looks Completely Different in Real Life
One of your favorite Bridgerton cast members, Golda Rosheuvel, was in the middle of filming episode three of Netflix's sweeping Shondaland series when she let Glamour in on a little secret about becoming Queen Charlotte. “I'm wearing two wigs,” she revealed back in January 2021. “It's a wig on top of a wig! And the three feathers are real hair that Adam James Phillips [the show's principal hairstylist] crafted by hand. It's genius. Every look is different.”
Rosheuvel may have been talking about her character's look specifically, but “genius” can be used to describe nearly every costume on the show. Thanks to a lot of wigs, sideburns, and even fake fringe, most of the Bridgerton cast looks completely different in everyday life than they do onscreen.
That's no surprise, considering Bridgerton on Netflix is set in Regency-era London. But now that over 63 million households have streamed the first season of the lavish series, it's only normal that some might assume Polly Walker (Lady Featherington) has red hair IRL or Adjoa Andoh (Lady Danbury) walks around with a tiara. Not so!
If you happened to spot the Bridgerton cast in the wild, would you really know what they looked like? Okay, so you might be able to spot Regé-Jean Page now that he's a household name, but what about the new cast members joining London's high society in season two?
In the second book from Julia Quinn's Bridgertonbook series, The Viscount Who Loved Me, Kate Sheffield is the older sister of Edwina, the woman Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) is set to marry. But when she decides the head of the Bridgerton family isn’t good enough for her little sister, it kicks off an enemies-to-lovers plot that readers can't stop tweeting about.
Back in February 2021, Netflix announced that Sex Education star Simone Ashley would be taking on the role of Kate Sheffield, who will now be known as Kate Sharma. Charithra Chandran is also joining the cast as her sister, Edwina Sharma. Sadly, with these fresh faces also comes some disappointment. Page will not be returning as the brooding Duke of Hastings. Thankfully, he's basically the only member of the core Bridgerton cast to not be returning!
So what does everyone look like off- and onscreen? Well, consider this your cheat sheet to help you out before season two drops on Netflix on March 25. Of course, if you can't wait one more second, there's also a new Bridgerton book to tide you over. Lady Whistledown would definitely approve.
Netflix/Getty Images1/15Adjoa Andoh as Lady Danbury
Adjoa Andoh undoubtedly plays the most fun character on Bridgerton. As Andoh tells Glamour, “She's got loads of money, she's a powerhouse in the town, a friend of the queen's, and she knows all the strategies and all the manipulations that need to go on. For women in this period, she's about as free as you can be. And then she gets together with her girlfriends, plays cards, smokes, drinks…she's just living her best life.”
Netflix/Getty Images2/15Regé-Jean Page as Simon Basset
When we asked Page whether the Duke of Hastings is the equivalent of Grey's Anatomy's McSteamy (Mark Sloane), the 30-year-old actor coyly answered, “I wouldn't disagree with that description. There is steam on this show, there is salaciousness, there is scandal, and there are moments when you might wish that your parents weren't in the room with you. If there were a reaction I am looking for, it's for people to be shocked, appalled, and delighted all at once.”
Sadly, don't expect to see Page in season two. The show's official Instagram account announced his departure in April 2021. “Dear Readers, while all eyes turn to Lord Anthony Bridgerton’s quest to find a Viscountess, we bid adieu to Regé-Jean Page, who so triumphantly played the Duke of Hastings,” the message began. “We’ll miss Simon’s presence onscreen, but he will always be a part of the Bridgerton family. Daphne will remain a devoted wife and sister, helping her brother navigate the upcoming social season and what it has to offer–more intrigue and romance than my readers may be able to bear.” Bridgerton just won't be the same without him.
Netflix/Getty Images3/15Ruth Gemmell as Lady Violet Bridgerton
English actor Ruth Gemmell was the perfect choice to play the warm and welcoming matriarch of the Bridgerton family. Best known for roles in Fever Pitch, Deep State, and Penny Dreadful, Gemmell told shondaland.com that the character she most relates to on Bridgerton is her onscreen daughter Eloise. “I admire her strength of character, her humor, and am slightly envious of her outspokenness—direct but fair and always with charm,” she says.
Violet's one and only flaw as a mom? Not explaining coitus to her daughters. Those sex scenes didn't need to be so educational! Then again, with so many kids, maybe she just didn't get to it. The Bridgerton family tree is quite extensive.
Netflix/Getty Images4/15Phoebe Dynevor as Daphne Bridgerton
Leading the cast of Bridgerton is Phoebe Dynevor, who is daughter of soap star Sally Dynevor and was previously seen on Younger. Dynevor told Glamour that she really felt for Daphne from the moment she stepped into her shoes. “Not only is she figuring out herself, but she's also trying to find the man of her dreams while doing it,” she said of her character in season one. “I really resonated with the pressure to be this perfect thing or what you think people want you to be, and then what's underneath that.”
Now that she's found a husband, had a baby and, of course, developed quite the pleasurable sex life, Daphne's going to help her siblings follow in her footsteps…if not exactly in that order.
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Netflix/Getty Images5/15Claudia Jessie as Eloise Bridgerton
“She's quite brazen,” Jessie told Glamour of her character, Eloise Bridgerton. “I love her because she's funny and sarcastic and doesn't really mind what people think of her, which I'd love to have.” It should probably come as no surprise then that IRL Jessie says she'd most like to have a cup of tea with the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle. “What a wonderful woman, [especially] with what she's had to deal with,” she says.
Netflix/Getty Images6/15Jonathan Bailey as Lord Anthony Bridgerton
When we asked Jonathan Bailey whether he was ready for his life to change because of Bridgerton, the actor told Glamour, “What's brilliant is I've got half my face covered in hair. I just get everything sort of blow-dried forward. It adds about another seven feet just in hair. So I think with that alone, I've sort of protected myself from being recognized ever again.” Um, beg to differ. We'd know those eyes anywhere.
Get ready to see a lot more of them as he takes on an even more prominent role in season two. “We left Anthony Bridgerton at the end of the first season at a bit of a crossroads,” creator Chris Van Dusen said after Bridgerton was renewed. “So I’m looking forward to jumping in and see how he fares in the marriage market.”
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Netflix/Getty Images7/15Polly Walker as Lady Portia Featherington
“She's the Kris Jenner of the period,” Golden Globe nominee Polly Walker told BT TV of playing the ambitious Featherington matriarch. “She's a very complicated lady with many, many challenges thrown her way,” she said, referring to Portia's frustration with marrying her three children off to wealthy suitors. “She faces a lot of criticism. I feel sympathy for her.”
Netflix/Getty Images8/15Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Featherington
Even after Coughlan began filming Bridgerton, she couldn't believe the role was actually hers. “The producers had seen me in Derry Girls, but that's a very different character,” the Irish actor told Glamour. “This is a drama; that was a comedy. So I was like, How? Why? I went to the table read, terrified, thinking the minute I open my mouth, they'd say, ‘Oh, we didn't mean her. We meant Nicole Kidman, not her.’ Every day I'm like, How am I here? It's crazy to me.” Now we can't imagine the show without her.
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Netflix/Getty Images9/15Bessie Carter as Prudence Featherington
Bessie Carter is the real-life daughter of acting royalty Imelda Staunton (the next Queen Elizabeth II on The Crown) and Jim Carter (Downton Abbey). The actor told Glamour that she and her onscreen sisters (Nicola Coughlan, Harriet Cains) set up a Featherington WhatsApp group after they were cast on Bridgerton. “We first met at a dialect session for the show,” she says. “And then we went to the bar and bonded over tequila.”
Netflix/Getty Images10/15Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte
Rosheuvel told Glamour that there was a time when she never could have dreamed of playing a role like Queen Charlotte on Bridgerton. “I just wasn't represented. There weren't people that looked like me playing roles like this,” she said. “But in terms of representation of color, it's a beautiful, enriching time now. And Netflix is the perfect platform for a show like ours because it's global. The audience can see themselves be represented. And I feel very, very blessed to be part of that.”
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Netflix/Getty11/15Ruby Barker as Marina Thompson
Poor Marina Thompson. The pregnant Featherington cousin's tale of long-lost love was a heartbreaker, but that didn't mean fans were willing to excuse her lies. “I didn’t play her to be liked. I played the truth,” Barker told the Evening Standard. “It pissed a lot of viewers off because she did break boundaries and people’s perceptions—a lot of people couldn’t handle it. They need to look in the mirror and ask what about that makes them so angry.”
Netflix/Getty12/15Charithra Chandran as Edwina Sharma
British Indian actor Charithra Chandran plays Anthony's betrothed, Edwina, a good-girl debutante raised to be kind and polite to all. This is by far the 25-year-old's most high-profile role to date, but she was already a star academically. According to Bustle, Chandran graduated from the University of Oxford with a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, she utilized that big brain to discuss Lady Whistledown's pamphlets through a feminist lens. She said, “One could argue that the negative perception of gossip is a misogynistic feature to prevent women from communicating and sharing knowledge.” Exactly!
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Netflix/Getty13/15Simone Ashley as Kate Sharma
Poised to be the breakout star of season two, Simone Ashley was already a fan favorite from Netflix's Sex Education. Her experience no doubt came in handy when she joined the hottest show on television. It's a bodice ripper, after all.
And yes, we can expect things to get pretty intimate between Kate and Anthony—in more ways than one. Ashley told E.W., “They can hit each other's buttons within a second, and it's something that's instinctive. Their sense of self they project to other people, they can't do that [with one another]; they're naked in front of each other.”
Netflix/Getty14/15Shelley Conn as Mary Sharma
Also seen on Amazon's fantasy-comedy series Good Omens, Shelley Conn is a British TV veteran who's done everything from crime dramas to romantic comedies. In Bridgerton, she'll take a backseat to her daughters' shenanigans, but Mary's got some history of her own. Born to nobility, Mary married far below her rank (for love, we assume), but weathered the scandal and has now returned to high society to help her girls do the same.
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Julie Andrews as the voice of Lady Whistledown
Spoiler ahead! Though season one revealed that Penelope Featherington wields the pen behind the Lady Whistledown column, it's stage and screen legend Andrews who provides the voice-over. We thought she sounded familiar!
