Wolf Hall star Kate Phillips’ very private family life with famous partner

Kate Phillips is back on our screens as Henry VIII’s third wife, Jane Seymour, in the BBC’s smash hit Tudor drama Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, which returned to our screens earlier this month after almost ten years. 

Kate, 35, quickly shot to fame after making her TV debut on the drama back in 2015 and has since starred in a wide range of popular series, including Peaky Blinders and Miss Scarlet and The Duke. But how much do you know about her life away from the cameras? Find out all about her home life with her famous partner…

Kate’s breakout role and acting career

Kate landed her role in Wolf Hall whilst she was still studying at Guildford School of Music and Drama. The actress auditioned during her third year and after winning the part, was allowed to leave the drama school ahead of graduation.

“Third year is your showcase year, when you hope people will come to see you in plays and I was very lucky to be put up for the Wolf Hall role and I couldn’t believe I got it,” she told The Sunday Post in 2022. 

© Nick Briggs

From there, Kate’s career went from strength to strength and she soon landed the role of Linda Shelby in Peaky Blinders, Venetia Scott in the 2019 Downton Abbey film, and Laura Lyttelton in The English Games. 

© Sergej Radovic/Masterpiece

In 2020, she won her first leading role in the period drama Miss Scarlet and The Duke, which was followed by roles in the 2021 film Benediction and Apple TV+’s thriller Hijack. 

Kate’s famous partner

Kate isn’t the only famous face in her family as she’s in a relationship with fellow actor, Oliver Chris. 

© David Fisher/Shutterstock

Oliver, 46, has appeared in a number of huge shows, including The Crown, Maternal and Green Wing. He’s perhaps best known for playing Freddy in the hit Apple TV+ drama Trying, as well as Julia’s lazy husband Paul in the BBC comedy Motherland. 

Oliver also appears alongside Kate in Miss Scarlet and The Duke, in which he plays Basil Sinclaire. Most recently, the actor portrayed TV presenter James Vereker in the smash hit Disney+ romance Rivals, an adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s bonkbuster novel. 

While the couple tend to keep their relationship out of the spotlight, they have been pictured together at various red carpet events, including the 2023 premiere of the rom-com film What’s Love Got to Do with It?, in which Oliver starred alongside Lily James and Shazad Latif.

Kate’s family life

Kate and Oliver, who live in north London according to an interview from 2020, share a three-year-old daughter, whose name isn’t publicly known. 

The actress recently opened up about the birth of her little girl during an interview with The Times ahead of the return of Wolf Hall. 

© Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock

Recalling her experience of childbirth, Kate said she was given an epidural after “nearly a day of extraordinary agony,” at which point she turned to Oliver and said: “How the [expletive] did women do this in the Tudor period?”

While the actress likes to keep photos of her little girl private, she showcased her daughter’s artistic flare in a very relatable parenting post. Alongside snaps of her, Oliver and their friends with streaks of colourful paint on their faces, Kate penned: “My three-year-old took advantage of us over lunch. There’s definitely a vision of sorts…”