Erin Doherty is a British actor best known for playing Princess Anne in Netflix’s The Crown and, more recently, winning an Emmy for her performance in Adolescence. But the highlight reel is deeper than that. From psychologically charged dramas like Chloe to the very gay red carpet moment that broke the internet, Doherty has quietly built one of the most watchable careers on British telly.
Off-screen, she’s spoken openly about being a lesbian, hard-launched her girlfriend at the 2025 Emmys, and admitted to becoming (her own words) a “cliché lesbian” after moving in with her partner. Basically, she’s giving us everything and asking for nothing in return. We love that for us.
Read on for everything you need to know, or use the skip-to links below.
- Who is Erin Doherty?
- What is Erin Doherty famous for?
- Erin Doherty’s biggest films and TV shows
- Is Erin Doherty queer?
- Who is Erin Doherty’s girlfriend?
- Erin Doherty’s Emmy win for Adolescence
- What did Erin Doherty do before acting?
Who is Erin Doherty?
Erin Doherty is a British actor born 16 July 1992 in Crawley, West Sussex. She’s currently 33 and trained at the Guildford School of Acting before switching to Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which explains why she can do “cold and controlled” and “emotionally catastrophic” in the same scene without breaking a sweat.
If you know her face but can’t place her, that’s because she’s one of those actors who disappears into a role and re-emerges as “oh… that was her?” every single time.
What is Erin Doherty famous for?
Most people clocked Erin via The Crown, where she played Princess Anne in seasons 3 and 4. Her Anne is clipped, bone-dry, razor-smart, and magnetic. You wouldn’t want to sit next to her at dinner, but you absolutely want to watch her ruin someone else’s.
Since then she’s kept swerving into darker, weirder, more interesting projects. The ones that turn your “casual watch” into “wait, why am I holding my breath?” And in 2025 she landed the role that finally put her on the awards circuit: child forensic psychologist Briony Ariston in Netflix’s Adolescence, opposite Stephen Graham. More on that in a minute.
Erin Doherty’s biggest films and TV shows
The Crown (Princess Anne) The role that put her on the map. Her Anne is clipped, funny, constantly unimpressed, and somehow still the most human person in a room full of royals.
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Chloe (as Becky/Sasha) If you like your TV glossy and unsettling, where everyone has great skin and terrible boundaries, Chloe is peak. Erin’s performance is a masterclass in “you can’t look away.”
Adolescence (2025) The one that changed everything. As child forensic psychologist Briony Ariston opposite Stephen Graham, Erin turned in a performance that quietly wrecked audiences. Cue the Emmy. And then the Critics Choice Award. And then, presumably, everyone in her family group chat crying.
Firebrand Period drama, political rot, women surviving men with too much power. You know the vibe.
A Thousand Blows She plays Mary Carr, the real-life leader of the Forty Elephants all-women gang in Victorian London. Yes, obviously we’re seated.
Also worth flagging: Call the Midwife, Les Misérables, and a Soccer Aid appearance we’ll come back to.Similar article: Reneé Rapp: age, sexuality, girlfriend, career – everything you need to know
Is Erin Doherty queer?
Yes. Erin Doherty is a lesbian and has been openly out for years. She’s talked about being a “visible gay woman” as something that genuinely matters to her, and has been vocal about wanting queer roles that aren’t just tragic girlfriend plots with bad lighting.
She’s also said the penny dropped later than expected. Doherty has spoken about realising she was gay at 25, after a “mind-blowing” relationship with a woman made everything click into place. Iconic behaviour.
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Who is Erin Doherty’s girlfriend?
Erin Doherty is dating Sinéad Donnelly, an NHS radiographer based in North London who works at Whipps Cross Hospital. Very much not in the industry, which is arguably the healthiest choice an actor can make.
Sinéad was hard-launched at the 2025 Emmys, where Erin kissed her on the way up to accept her award and then thanked her from the stage in one of the sweetest speeches of the night. The pair have since moved in together, which Erin discussed on Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast in early 2026, joking that they’d resisted the “cliché lesbian” instinct to move in immediately… before giving in and doing exactly that. Same, honestly.
Before Sinéad, Doherty was in a seven-year relationship with actor Sophie Melville. The pair met in 2017 while starring in Alan Ayckbourn’s play The Divide, and their split was confirmed in March 2025.
Erin Doherty’s Emmy win for Adolescence
In September 2025, Erin won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for her role in Adolescence. She followed it up in January 2026 with the Critics Choice Award in the same category. Not bad for someone who once said she has “difficulty processing” fame.
The Emmys night is now the stuff of queer red carpet legend, thanks to that kiss and that speech. If you missed it, log off and go watch it back.
What did Erin Doherty do before acting?
Plot twist: she was a footballer. Erin played midfield, captained Crawley Wasps, and was scouted by Chelsea Women before choosing acting. In 2024 she returned to the pitch for Soccer Aid for UNICEF, which explains why she looked entirely at home doing it.
Between the football scouting, the Emmy win, and the very public queer love story, we’re calling it: Erin Doherty is having the run of her life.
And there you have it, everything you need to know about Erin Doherty.
Nonchalant x
You next read: Lucy Bronze: Career, Dating History & Highlights
Babs heads up Logistics and Product here at Nonchalant Magazine.
