2016 is a great year for Natalie Simpson, with the actress set to appear in two Royal Shakespeare Company productions - her debut roles for the prestigious theatre company.

Simpson will play the tragic Ophelia in Hamlet in March, before tackling King Lear's daughter Cordelia in August. Born to an English father and a Nigerian mother, Simpson spent the first ten years of her life in Lagos, Nigeria before moving to Buckinghamshire. Her love of acting was then developed at the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, before she went on to obtain a degree in Modern Languages at University College London. Now a LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) graduate, the future looks bright for this rising star.