Lucy Halliday: Career, The Testaments, Blue Jean and the Rise of a Scottish Star

Lucy Halliday is a Scottish actress whose career has moved quickly from a first professional film audition to major roles in British cinema and international television. She first attracted attention as Lois in Blue Jean, then reached a much wider audience as Daisy in The Testaments, the television follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale.

Her rise is unusual because acting was not originally the career she expected to pursue. Halliday had a background in youth theatre but was studying medicine when the opportunity that became Blue Jean appeared. Within a few years, she had won a BAFTA Scotland award, joined a major Hulu drama and earned two further BAFTA Scotland nominations.

Quick Bio

Detail	Information
Full Name	Lucy Halliday
Profession	Actress
Nationality	Scottish
Birthplace	Paisley, Scotland
Age	Reported as 22 in April 2026
Known For	Blue Jean, The Testaments, California Schemin’
Breakthrough Role	Lois in Blue Jean
Major TV Role	Daisy in The Testaments
Award	BAFTA Scotland Actress – Film for Blue Jean
Youth Theatre	PACE Youth Theatre
Instagram	@lucyhallidayy

Reliable entertainment publications described Halliday as 22 in April 2026. Her exact date of birth, however, has not been consistently established by authoritative public sources, so precise birthday claims found on some biography websites should be treated cautiously.

Who Is Lucy Halliday?

Lucy Halliday is from Paisley, Scotland, close to Glasgow. Long before becoming a professional actress, she took part in PACE Youth Theatre in Paisley.

Screen International reported that Halliday joined PACE when she was around nine years old. She had already shown an interest in storytelling and had been sending her own stories to the BBC. PACE gave her a place to perform, but she did not initially see acting as a realistic long-term profession.

Instead, she considered a very different career.

Halliday was studying medicine when she encountered an open casting call for filmmaker Georgia Oakley’s Blue Jean. She decided to audition despite having no previous professional screen career. That decision became the turning point in her life.

Her path also shows that a successful screen career does not always begin with traditional drama-school training. Halliday entered professional acting through an open casting process after years of community youth theatre.

Lucy Halliday’s Breakthrough in Blue Jean

Halliday made her professional screen breakthrough in Georgia Oakley’s 2022 drama Blue Jean.

The film takes place in Newcastle in 1988, against the political and social background surrounding Section 28. Rosy McEwen plays Jean, a lesbian PE teacher trying to keep her private life separate from her job. Halliday plays Lois, one of Jean’s pupils, whose presence creates a difficult conflict for the teacher.

It was an unusually significant first screen role.

Halliday’s performance earned her a nomination for Best Supporting Performance at the 2022 British Independent Film Awards. The Blue Jean cast was also nominated in the Best Ensemble Performance category.

The recognition continued the following year.

In 2023, BAFTA Scotland named Lucy Halliday the winner of its Actress – Film award for Blue Jean. BAFTA specifically noted that it was her first on-screen performance.

For a newcomer, that was a major achievement. It immediately established Halliday as more than simply a young performer with potential. She had already delivered an award-winning performance in her first professional screen project.

From Medicine to Acting and Writing

Halliday’s academic background makes her career story particularly interesting.

She was studying medicine when Blue Jean changed the direction of her life. By 2024, Screen International reported that she was completing a maths and physics degree while continuing to build her acting career.

Her creative ambitions also extend beyond acting.

Halliday took part in Convergence, a writing programme supported by the BFI and Screen Scotland. During the programme, she worked on both short-film and feature-film scripts and discussed projects with producers.

That suggests her longer-term career may not be limited to performing in front of the camera. Writing could become another important part of her work.

Lucy Halliday in The Testaments

The biggest expansion of Lucy Halliday’s audience came with The Testaments.

Based on Margaret Atwood’s novel, the Hulu series The Testaments continues the world established in The Handmaid’s Tale. Halliday stars as Daisy alongside Chase Infiniti as Agnes, with Ann Dowd returning as Aunt Lydia.

Hulu describes Daisy as a newcomer from beyond Gilead’s borders whose arrival changes the lives of the young women around her. The first season contains 10 episodes and premiered in 2026.

Disney’s official guide describes Daisy as having grown up in Canada before entering Gilead. Her outsider perspective immediately separates her from girls who have spent their lives under Gilead’s rules.

The role is much larger in scale than Halliday’s earlier work.

While Blue Jean introduced her to film audiences and awards organisations, The Testaments placed her at the centre of a major international television franchise.

Halliday has spoken in interviews about working with established performers such as Elisabeth Moss. She described observing Moss’s professionalism and experience on set as something she wanted to learn from.

Is The Testaments Returning for Season 2?

Yes.

Disney officially announced in May 2026 that The Testaments had been renewed for a second season. At that point, the company said the series had generated more than 45 million streaming hours globally across Hulu and Disney+.

Production on Season 2 began later in 2026, with Halliday continuing as part of the principal cast. A release date had not been officially announced as of October 2026.

That means Daisy is likely to remain one of the roles most closely associated with Halliday as her international profile grows.

California Schemin’ and Working With James McAvoy

Another important Lucy Halliday movie is California Schemin’, the feature directorial debut of Scottish actor James McAvoy.

The film tells the remarkable true story of Scottish musicians Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd, who pretended to be an American hip-hop act in an attempt to break into the music industry.

Halliday plays Mary Boyd. The cast also includes Samuel Bottomley, Séamus McLean Ross and McAvoy himself.

The project gave Halliday another opportunity to work on a distinctly Scottish story while moving into a different style of film from the intense period drama of Blue Jean.

Her performance also brought further awards recognition.

In October 2026, BAFTA Scotland announced Halliday as a nominee for Actress – Film for California Schemin’.

A Double BAFTA Scotland Nominee in 2026

One of the strongest signs of Halliday’s growing career came with the 2026 BAFTA Scotland nominations.

She received two acting nominations in the same year:

• Actress – Film for California Schemin’
• Actress – Television for The Testaments

BAFTA described her as a previous winner when announcing the nominations. The 2026 winners are due to be announced on November 15 in Glasgow.

The nominations are important because they show that her success with Blue Jean was not an isolated breakthrough. Recognition has continued as she has moved into both larger films and television.

Lucy Halliday in 7 Miles Out

Halliday is also leading another notable British film project, 7 Miles Out.

Written and directed by Carol Morley, the film is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama set around Stockport during the late 1970s and 1980s.

Halliday plays Ann Westbourne, a young woman dealing with grief while finding escape through music and the emerging new-wave scene.

The British Council lists Halliday alongside Aidan Gillen and Gemma Whelan as principal cast members. 7 Miles Out was also selected for the 2026 BFI London Film Festival’s Official Competition.

The role adds another character-driven drama to Halliday’s filmography and gives her a leading position in a film centred on adolescence, loss, creativity and music.

Lucy Halliday Movies and TV Shows

Halliday’s professional filmography remains relatively compact, but it has developed quickly:

Year	Project	Role
2022	Blue Jean	Lois
2025 (UK theatrical release 2026)	California Schemin’	Mary Boyd
2026	The Testaments	Daisy
2026	7 Miles Out	Ann Westbourne

Her credits show a clear preference so far for dramatic, character-focused projects rather than simply taking as many roles as possible.

Why Lucy Halliday Is Becoming a Name to Watch

What makes Halliday’s career notable is not simply how quickly it has developed, but the kind of work she has chosen.

Her debut dealt with sexuality, identity and social pressure in 1980s Britain. The Testaments explores control, resistance and the lives of young women within an authoritarian society. 7 Miles Out turns toward grief, adolescence and music.

These are demanding subjects for a performer still at an early stage of her career.

Screen International included Halliday among its Stars of Tomorrow 2024, another indication that the British film industry was paying attention to her development even before The Testaments reached audiences.

Her 2026 double BAFTA Scotland nomination strengthens that trajectory further.

Lucy Halliday’s Personal Life

Halliday has become increasingly visible through premieres, interviews and promotional appearances, but reliable public information about her private relationships remains limited.

There is no strong authoritative source confirming a husband, boyfriend or partner. Articles that provide specific relationship details without credible sourcing should therefore be treated with caution.

The same applies to supposed online estimates of Lucy Halliday’s net worth. No verified financial disclosure or authoritative estimate establishes her personal wealth.

For readers interested in her public work rather than speculation, her verified career developments offer considerably more reliable information.

Halliday is also active on Instagram under @lucyhallidayy, an account referenced by established entertainment publications covering The Testaments.

What Is Next for Lucy Halliday?

As of October 2026, Halliday has several reasons to remain on viewers’ radar.

The Testaments has been renewed for Season 2, 7 Miles Out is set to screen at the 2026 BFI London Film Festival, and she is nominated twice at the 2026 BAFTA Scotland Awards.

That represents a substantial change from the young Paisley performer who once expected to pursue medicine rather than acting.

Her career is still at an early stage, so it is too soon to define exactly what kind of actress she will become. What is already clear is that Blue Jean was not simply a one-off success. Halliday has continued building a varied body of work across independent British cinema and high-profile international television.

Also Read: Izuka Hoyle: Age, Career, BAFTA Win, Big Boys and Prisoner

FAQ

How old is Lucy Halliday?

Lucy Halliday was reported as 22 years old in April 2026 by several established entertainment publications. A reliable primary source confirming her exact date of birth is not currently available.

Where is Lucy Halliday from?

She is from Paisley, Scotland, near Glasgow. She also spent part of her childhood performing with PACE Youth Theatre in Paisley.

Who does Lucy Halliday play in The Testaments?

Lucy Halliday plays Daisy, one of the central young characters in Hulu’s The Testaments, alongside Chase Infiniti’s Agnes and Ann Dowd’s Aunt Lydia.

What was Lucy Halliday’s first film?

Her first professional on-screen role was Lois in Blue Jean, released in 2022. The performance later won her the 2023 BAFTA Scotland Actress – Film award.

Has Lucy Halliday won a BAFTA?

Yes. She won Actress – Film at the 2023 BAFTA Scotland Awards for Blue Jean. In 2026, she received two more BAFTA Scotland nominations for California Schemin’ and The Testaments.

What is Lucy Halliday’s net worth?

There is currently no reliable publicly verified figure for Lucy Halliday’s net worth. Estimates published by unofficial celebrity-wealth websites should not be treated as confirmed financial information.