“It’s rare to go back to what feels like a regular job,” Dockery, 40, reflects. I felt like, in that moment, it changed my life, but I never imagined just quite how much it would.” I just couldn’t believe that I had been offered this role. “And I remember I was in my bedroom and my agent calling me and I had to sit down. “I was living in this house in South London I shared with three other girls - it was like a student housing and I wasn’t a student at the time,” she recalls. She adds, “But in the back of my mind, I was thinking, ‘Somebody else who’s a little more established will likely get it.’”ĭockery left the audition feeling she’d done her best, but also acknowledging that she probably should “let this one go.” When she ultimately got the part, she was genuinely shocked. premiere of “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” a sequel to 2019’s “Downton Abbey” movie. “I was 26 at the time and I did go in thinking, ‘I’m going to give this my best shot,’” Dockery remembers, speaking from a hotel in London the day after the U.K.

She was largely unknown at the time, having primarily performed onstage around England and in several BBC productions, including an adaptation of “The Turn of the Screw.” Despite some trepidation, Dockery knew, absolutely, that she could inhabit Lady Mary Crawley. Michelle Dockery will never forget her audition for “Downton Abbey.” The actress immediately knew she loved the role of Lady Mary but wasn’t convinced the producers of the TV series would cast her.

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