Game of Thrones star Laura Elphinstone receives an honorary degree from the University of Sunderland

Laura was born in South Shields in 1982 but grew up on Barnes View in Sunderland with her brother Sam and her parents Judith, who was a teacher at Thornhill School, and Christopher, who later on in life became a professional director at the Customs House Theatre in South Shields.

As a child Laura grew up around amateur theatre with her parents directing and performing regularly at the Royalty Theatre Sunderland.

Setting her first steps on stage, Laura often performed at Royalty Theatre and also in shows staged by The Sunderland Amateur Operatic Society at the Empire Theatre.

Since then Laura has worked on multiple block busting shows, from being chased by dragons in Game of Thrones, investigating allegations of corruption in Line of Duty, and retelling the harrowing stories of everyday people on Chernobyl.

Although Laura lives in London, she describes herself as “a proud Mackem” and yesterday (November 25) returned to the city to receive her honorary degree at the Stadium of Light.

She said: “I can’t tell you how chuffed and genuinely moved I am to have received this honorary degree from the University of Sunderland and especially to be receiving it in the Stadium of Light where I got my first job at 16 waitering.”

Most recently, Laura stared as DS Bella Moy in the ITV drama Grace, and in October this year (2024) she finished filming the show’s fifth series.

She was joined at the university’s winter graduation ceremony by husband Tim, her mum Judith, brother Sam and her aunt Hilary.