Lily Chloe Ninette Thomson, better known by her stage name Lily James, is an English actress from Esher, Surrey.

James played the role of Katrina in Play House alongside Obi Abili and Marijka, and in Definitely the Bahamas alongside Ian Gelder and Kate Fahy. This is a double bill written and directed by Martin Crimp at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond as part of their fortieth anniversary.

Her other theatre credits include Desdemona in Daniel Evans production of Othello at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, alongside Dominic West and Clarke Peters and Ella and Taylor in Vernon God Little at the Young Vic Theatre in a production of Tanya Ronda's stage adaptation of DBC Pierre's Booker Prize-winning novel Vernon God Little directed by Rufus Norris. Most recently she starred as Nina in a modern adaptation of The Seagull at Southwark Playhouse.

James starred in Fast Girls, the 2012 movie directed by Noel Clarke centered around a group of young female athletes competing in the World Championships. Previous to this, James played the role of Korrina in Warner Brothers the Wrath of the Titans, where she appeared alongside Sam Worthington, Rosamund Pike, Toby Kebbell, Bill Nighy, Ralph Fiennes, and Liam Neeson.

Her television credits include Poppy in the fourth season of ITV's Secret Diary of a Call Girl starring Billie Piper, the BBC production of Richmal Crompton's Just William with Daniel Roche and the third and fourth seasons of popular British series Downton Abbey.

In April 2013, James was cast as the title character in a live-action re-imagining of Walt Disney's Cinderella.