A native of Essex, England, Michelle Dockery graduated from England's Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2004. She then spent 14 months at London's National Theatre before she landed her breakthrough role as Eliza Doolittle in Peter Hall's production of Pygmalion at London's renowned Old Vic Theatre.

A jazz singer, Dockery and her Downton Abbey on-screen mother Elizabeth McGovern share a passion for music. They have recorded together and Dockery has appeared with McGovern's band Sadie and the Hotheads for several festival appearances.

Reflecting on Lady Mary's character, Dockery says, "I guess she becomes a woman in the third series." She explains, "In the first few episodes people loved to hate her. She was very cold, she had this icy exterior and she was vile to her sister. Then, halfway through the first series, after the incident with Pamuk, she began to soften. Then in the second series you see the heart of the character much more because of course we were at war – every time she saw Matthew could have been the last. And I've loved that arc that Julian [Fellowes] has written for her. Even in the third series it's changing."

Dockery's other television credits include the 2012 miniseries Restless, Terry Pratchett's The Hogfather, the British trilogy Red Riding, MASTERPIECE's Return to Cranford and The Turn of the Screw. She appeared in the 2011 feature film Hanna, and 2012's Anna Karenina, alongside MASTERPIECE alums Keira Knightly (Doctor Zhivago) and Matthew Macfadyen (Any Human Heart).