Laura Carmichael was hired for Maggie Smith resemblance

Laura Carmichael landed a role in Downton Abbey because producers noticed she resembled a young Maggie Smith.
The British actress was cast as Maggie’s onscreen granddaughter, Lady Edith Crawley, in the show and played her for six seasons before the period drama recently came to an end.
Laura has now disclosed how she managed to secure the coveted part, revealing the show’s casting director Jill Trevellick saw similarities between the young actress and Hollywood veteran Maggie, who had been cast as the Dowager Countess of Grantham.
“Our casting director Jill said she could trace a line from Maggie to me,” she tells U.K. TV show BBC Breakfast. “Because I don’t really look like (onscreen parents) Hugh (Bonneville) or Elizabeth (McGovern) – but she could sort of work in the family tree through Maggie, which I love.”
During the interview, Laura goes on to credit the show with completely changing her life, because she was working as a secretary in a doctors’ surgery when she scored the Downton role.
“It has been great,” she adds. “I think for any actor you just want to be in the conversations that people are having about new projects, and so when you’re in something like Downton, which a lot of people have seen, that’s very helpful (for my career).”
Laura has been juggling her TV career with theatre roles, and she is back on stage this month (Feb16) in a new production of The Maids at London’s Trafalgar Studios.
The 29 year old talks about her love of live performance, and even compares working in the theatre to life as a rock star, adding, “You just have to power through it… Live performance is like being a rock star in that way. It’s the closest you’ll get to it, isn’t it?”
Laura appears opposite Orange is the New Black actress Uzo Aduba in the play.