Hayley Atwell

Hayley Elizabeth Atwell was born on 5 April 1982 in London as the only child of her parents; her mother, Allison Cain, is English and her father, Grant Atwell, is an American photographer from Kansas City, Missouri. Atwell has dual citizenship of the United Kingdom and the United States.

After attending Sion-Manning Roman Catholic Girls' School in London, she took her A-Levels at the London Oratory School.

Atwell took two years off to travel with her father and work for a casting director. She then enrolled at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she trained for three years, graduating in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in acting.