Sorcha Mary Groundsell (born 15 February 1998) is a Scottish actress. She starred in the
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
series ''
The Innocents'' (2018) and the independent film ''
Far From the Apple Tree'' (2018).
Early life
Groundsell was born in
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
, England and grew up in
Ness on the
Isle of Lewis
The Isle of Lewis () or simply Lewis () is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides archipelago in Scotland. The two parts are frequently referred to as if they were separate islands. The t ...
in the
Outer Hebrides
The Outer Hebrides ( ) or Western Isles ( , or ), sometimes known as the Long Isle or Long Island (), is an Archipelago, island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland.
It is the longest archipelago in the British Isles. The islan ...
until she was nine. Her father was a graphic designer, and her mother worked in marketing. A fluent
Gaelic speaker, Groundsell attended the
Glasgow Gaelic School upon moving to the city. She took drama classes at the
Citizens Theatre and later the
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She left school at 16 to pursue acting as career and moved to London at 18.
Career
In 2015, Groundsell made her feature film and stage debuts as Sarah in ''
Iona'' and Amy in ''Stain'', respectively, at the
Edinburgh Fringe Festival
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...
. She received an
RTS Award nomination for her role in ''Sleeping Lions''. The following year, she starred as Jane Muncie in the ITV true crime miniseries ''
In Plain Sight''.
Groundsell played Elizabeth Smith in the first series of the
BBC Three
BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...
thriller ''
Clique''. In 2018, Groundsell starred in leading fantasy roles in the
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
series ''
The Innocents'' as well as the independent film ''
Far From the Apple Tree''. She appeared in the 2019
Yard Theatre production of ''
The Crucible
''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1692 to 1693. Miller wrote ...
'', the two-parter ''Thanks for the Memories'', made a guest appearance in ''
Grantchester
Grantchester () is a village and civil parish on the River Cam or Granta (river), Granta in South Cambridgeshire, England. It lies about south of Cambridge.
Name
The village of Grantchester is listed in the 1086 Domesday Book as ''Granteset ...
'', and had a recurring role in the
BritBox
BritBox is a British Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Video on demand#Subscription models, video on demand Streaming television, streaming service founded by BBC Studios and ITV plc, ITV which operates in eight countries across Australi ...
adaptation of
Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist and short story writer. His 1993 novel ''Trainspotting (novel), Trainspotting'' was made into a Trainspotting (film), film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, ...
's ''
Crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...
''.
In 2022, Groundsell appeared in series three of the
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...
and
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
adaptation of ''
His Dark Materials
''His Dark Materials'' is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting of '' Northern Lights'' (1995; published as ''The Golden Compass'' in North America), '' The Subtle Knife'' (1997), and '' The Amber Spyglass'' (2000). It follo ...
'' and the seventh series of ''
Shetland
Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...
'', also on BBC One.
In 2025, she played family liaison officer Kat Crichton in the Scottish-Gaelic language crime series .
Filmography
Film
Television
Web
Video games
Stage
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grounsell, Sorcha
Living people
1998 births
21st-century Scottish actresses
Actresses from Bristol
Actresses from Glasgow
English people of Scottish descent
People from the Isle of Lewis