Clara Paget’s screen career began with a British comedy, took in a Hollywood action film and reached its longest-running television role as Anne Bonny in Black Sails. Since her first listed film appearance in 2009, she has worked across feature films, short films and television, while also pursuing modelling. Her credits offer a more grounded account of her career than the extravagant labels sometimes attached to her aristocratic background or personal style.

A London-born actress starts on screen

Paget was born in London on 12 September 1988. Her full name is Lady Clara Elizabeth Iris Paget. Her father is Charles Paget, 8th Marquess of Anglesey; her mother, Georgeanne Elliot Downes, worked as a writer and painter. Paget’s family background has drawn attention, but the chronology of her professional work starts with acting, rather than with claims about the influence of her ancestry on her career.

Her first listed film role was Bella in St Trinian’s 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold in 2009. The British comedy gave way to two smaller parts in 2011: a cocktail waitress in One Day and a waitress in Johnny English Reborn. Those early credits show her entering the screen industry through supporting roles, in productions that ranged from romantic drama to spy comedy.

Paget also began appearing on television in 2011. She played Charlotte Cameron in an episode of Midsomer Murders and Linda in Little Crackers. In 2013 she appeared as Vegh in Fast & Furious 6, an international action film, and as a model in the short film Albert Camus: The Sea Close By. Taken together, the early credits show a career developing across different formats, rather than a single route through film or television.

Anne Bonny and Black Sails

Paget’s most sustained television part was Anne Bonny in Black Sails. She was a main cast member from 2014 to 2017, as the series followed fictionalised adventures in a world shaped by piracy. The character draws on the historical female pirate Anne Bonny, but the television portrayal is fictionalised, not a documentary reconstruction.

The production was filmed in South Africa between 2014 and 2017. Paget’s role therefore combined a British performer’s work with an international production made outside Britain. It also gave her a recurring part over several years, a different kind of screen commitment from the brief appearances in her earlier television credits.

After Black Sails, Paget played Zoe Davis in the first episode of Strike Back: Revolution in 2019. Her later television credits include a guest appearance as Georgia-Peach in the first series of Too Much in 2025. The list spans a period of more than a decade, with roles in drama and comedy and at different scales, from a main cast part to an individual episode.

Film work and modelling

Paget continued to take film roles alongside her television work. In 2014 she played Lia in Acid Girls. Later credits include The Lost Blonde: The Veronica Lake Story in 2021 and House Red in 2022. In the 2025 short film The Pearl Comb, she played the Mermaid. Her listed 2026 film role is Mabel in Madfabulous; The Chelsea Cowboy, in which she is listed as Wendy Hodge, is described as in post-production.

Modelling forms another strand of Paget’s working life. She worked for the fashion house Burberry in 2016. This specific credit supports describing her as a model as well as an actress, without needing to claim a wider influence on fashion or a record of runway appearances and magazine covers. The account of her career is strongest when it stays with identifiable work: screen roles, the named modelling credit and the projects in which she has appeared.

Paget is also involved with Project 0, a charity. That detail offers a limited but concrete account of activity beyond acting and modelling; broader assertions about philanthropic work or its effects are not necessary to establish the shape of her public career.

Why Clara Paget deserves a place in British Legacy

Clara Paget merits a place in British Legacy as an English performer with a career that can be traced through specific screen work. She began with a role in St Trinian’s 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold, followed it with appearances in One Day and Johnny English Reborn, and went on to appear in Fast & Furious 6. Those credits connect British productions with a wider international screen industry, while her later television work demonstrates how a performer’s career can move between formats and production contexts.

Her role as Anne Bonny in Black Sails is particularly significant within that record: it was a main cast part over several years, in a series filmed in South Africa and built around a fictionalised version of a historical pirate. Paget’s work in the series brought a British actress to an international audience, without requiring the series to be mistaken for a factual account of Bonny’s life. Her film and television credits, together with her modelling work for Burberry and involvement with Project 0, provide a clear, proportionate basis for remembering her. Rather than treating aristocratic ancestry or unsupported claims of trend-setting as achievements, this account recognises the work itself: a continuing screen career spanning British and international productions, supporting parts and a substantial television role.

Sources

Clara Paget — revision 1376785230

Adapted in part from Clara Paget by Wikipedia contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Text has been edited and combined with the existing article; this adapted text is shared under the same licence. Contributor history.