At one point or another, everyone wanted to be like Princess Diana. Fierce, strong, and loving – there are as many adjectives in the dictionary that would suit perfectly for her. The Princess would have been in her 60s now if she hadn’t died in a Paris car crash in 1997.
While her sons, Princes William and Harry, continue her legacy off-screen, Diana still remains a source of fascination in film and television. Numerous dramas, documentaries, and even a musical examined the princess’s inner life over the last four decades. If you are curious to know who played Diana on screen, scroll down.
Related: What Was The Real Reason Behind Prince Charles And Princess Diana’s Divorce?
10 Actresses Who Have Played Princess Diana On Screen
1) Kristen Stewart
‘Spencer’ was directed by Jackie auteur Pablo Larrain, is set during the early 1990s at the Royal Family’s winter residence, Sandringham, when Diana decides to separate from Prince Charles. In the first trailer, Diana cuts a lonely figure set against the trappings of royal life. Stewart was a surprise choice to play the tragic British royal, the ‘Twilight Saga‘ star’s casting has garnered increasing buzz since its first announcement of the trailer.
2) Jeanna De Waal
De Waal, a theatre performer and ‘Iron Fist‘ alum, takes on the title role in ‘Diana‘. It is a musical filmed for Netflix after the COVID-19 pandemic delayed its Broadway debut. Debuted in San Diego in 2019, the ‘Diana’ musical is written by Joe DiPietro and David Bryan. It was directed by fellow Tony Award-winner Christopher Ashley. The all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza garnered rave reviews on the West Coast and swiftly moved to Broadway.
3) Elizabeth Debicki
The star of ‘The Night Manager‘ and ‘Tenet‘ took over the part of Diana for the final two seasons of ‘The Crown’, opposite Dominic West as Prince Charles. The Paris-born actress made a statement saying, “Princess Diana’s spirit, her words, and her actions live in the hearts of so many. It is my true privilege and honor to be joining this masterful series, which has had me absolutely hooked from episode one.”
4) Emma Corrin
The British actress took on Princess Diana in the fourth season of the Netflix hit ‘The Crown‘. The series detailed Charles and Diana’s romance from the beginning, when Diana Spencer was just 19 years old. The show even recreated her iconic wedding dress, a spitting image of Diana’s gown.
5) Bonnie Soper
The New Zealand actress played Dianna in not one but two Lifetime movies. Bonnie Soper starred as Princess Diana in the 2018 movie ‘Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance’, which aired a week before their nuptials and the 2019 movie ‘Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal’ about the couple’s first year of marriage. Different actors played Harry and Meghan in the two films but Soper remained as Princess Diana.
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6) Naomi Watts
Naomi Watts played Diana in the 2013 film ‘Diana’. The story followed the princess relationship with heart surgeon Hasnat Khan followed by her coupling with Dodi Fayed. “Ultimately, the reason I wanted to say ‘no’ so much became the reason I wanted to do it as well. I was intrigued by the challenge,” she said. “I mean, in the beginning I thought, how do you possibly take on the most famous woman of all time when everybody feels they know her so well? How do you take possession of that character? So that was daunting, to use a word of hers…”
7) Genevieve O’Reilly
Genevieve O’Reilly – perhaps better known to fans as Mon Mothma in the ‘Star Wars’ universe – played Diana in the hybrid TLC docu-drama. A decade after the princess’s passing, the drama ‘Diana: Last Days of a Princess’ was released. Using a mixture of scripted and unscripted footage, with interviews from newspaper editors and those in Diana’s inner circle, it covers the last two months of her life and the tragic circumstances of her death.
8) Lesley Harcourt
The Scottish actress briefly portrayed Diana in a clip from a television interview during Hallmark Channel’s ‘William and Catherine: A Royal Romance’. The TV movie aired in 2011 just four months after Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding.
9) Amy Seccombe
A year after Princess’ passing, the 1998 British movie ‘A Tribute to The People’s Princess‘ was released in honor of her and followed the last year of her life. This included the romance between her and Dodi Fayed before they were both killed in the Paris car crash. The movie starred Amy Seccombe as the late Princess Diana and George Jackos as Fayed.
10) Serena Scott Thomas
In 1992, NBC released ‘Diana: Her True Story‘, starring Serena Scott Thomas as Princess Diana and David Threlfall as Prince Charles. The movie was an adaptation of the 1992 Andrew Morton biography and followed Diana’s highs and lows of royal life.
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