Born in England to father Adrian (banker) and mother Janet (journalist) on July 1 1982, Romola Garai's unusual name is credited as the female version of Romulus, an Italian name for boys. She grew up in Singapore and Hong Kong until she was eight when her family returned to lay roots in Wiltshire. At sixteen, she left her parents and youngest sister, Roxy, to live in London with her older sister, Rosie, and attend school at City of London's School for Girls, where her major studies were based on theatre. She got her beginnings as a professional actress when she was spotted in a school production by a casting director looking for girls to play Judi Dench in the ITV drama The Last of the Blonde Bombshells. After that role, she went on with her studies, eventually enrolling in University of London where she majored in English, planning to become a journalist like her mother once was. But after offers for other roles began to come in, she deferred her degree and eventually quit altogether to focus more on her acting career. Romola went on to film Daniel Deronda, I Capture the Castle, Nicholas Nickleby, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights and Vanity Fair with Reese Witherspoon. Not to mention her role in the West End adaptation of George Eliot's novel, Calico as Lucia Joyce for which she is currently nominated Outstanding Newcomer by the Evening Standard Theatre Awards.
She is currently at university reading English. She used to sing in a jazz band. A casting agent scouting at her school for young girls, chose her for her first acting role in The Last of the Blonde Bombshells. [2000] Can play the violin. Was brought up in Hong Kong and Singapore until she was 10. She has three siblings: one brother named Ralph and two sisters named Rosie and Roxy. She is of Hungarian decent and her great grandfather is Bert Garai, founder of Keystone Press Agency in London in 1924. Her two oldest siblings Ralph and Rosie were adopted as babies before she and her sister were born. She had no professional dancing experience before arriving on the set of Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. Born on the same day as Adrianne Curry. Director François Ozon affectionately calls Romola "his muse". Enjoys cooking and traveling in her spare time. Has visited Hong Kong, Singapore, Malta, Venice, Australia, Italy, Belgium and Indonesia.