Raquel Cassidy Biography

Raquel Cassidy, born Raquel Josephine Dominic Cassidy, hails from Fleet, Hampshire, England and is a versatile British actress celebrated for her intelligent, heartfelt performances across television, film, radio, and theatre.

Raised by a Spanish mother and English father, she attended Farnborough Hill Convent and later studied modern languages and biological anthropology at Girton College, Cambridge, before choosing to pursue acting full-time. Raquel is fluent in Spanish, with working knowledge of French and German, and trained in singing, guitar, flamenco dance, and accents.

Raquel's early TV roles include a Spanish-speaking victim in The Bill (1999) and Susan Gately in Teachers (2001-02). She went on to play Jo Porter in Party Animals, Cassie Turner in The Worst Week of My Life, Nancy Weeks in Moving Wallpaper, and Mel in Lead Balloon (2006-11).

Between 2013 and 2015, Raquel garnered international recognition playing Miss Phyllis Baxter — a talented maid with a complicated past — in the final three seasons of Downton Abbey. The ensemble earned a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance in 2015. She reprised the role in the feature film adaptations Downton Abbey (2019), Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022) and Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (2025).

Raquel has brought warmth and depth to TV screens in such as Miss Hardbroom in The Worst Witch (2017-20), Frankie Martin in The Good Karma Hospital (2022), and Maria Swanson in The Chelsea Detective (2023).

Her film résumé includes early appearances in Do I Love You? (2002) and Before You Go (2002), Festival (2005), The Boat People and Tick Tock Lullaby (2007), the short Nightwalking (2008), Das Andre Kind (2013), and Cliffs of Freedom, along with Official Secrets — all released in 2019.

Raquel has also lent her voice and artistry to radio dramas, with credits including Spending My Inheritance (2008) and Ed Reardon’s Week (2015), and has excelled on stage in productions such as Twelfth Night, Othello, and Macbeth.

Before becoming an actress full time, she was on track to earn her PhD in biological anthropology at Cambridge University but quit when she realized acting was her real passion.

Filmography:

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (2025)
Van der Valk (2024)
Ferryman (2023)
The Chelsea Detective (2023)
Safe Space (2022)
Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022)
The Good Karma Hospital (2022)
The Twisted Death of a Lonely Madman (2016)
Downton Abbey (2019)
Official Secrets (2019)
Cliffs of Freedom (2019)
Two Is a Family (2016)
The Twisted Death of a Lonely Madman (2016)
The Ballad of Langley Lane (2014)
Heading Out (2013)
Jo (2013)
The Other Child (2013)
A Touch of Cloth (2012)
Vera (2011)
Land Girls (2011)
No Heroics (2008)
Nightwalking (2008)
Britz (2007)
Sold (2007)
Tick Tock Lullaby (2007)
Party Animals (2007)
Festival (2005)
According to Bex (2005)
Blake’s Junction 7 (2005)
The Worst Week of My Life (2004)
Trevor’s World of Sport (2003)
Trust (2003)
Red Cap (2003)
Do I Love You? (2002)
Before You Go (2002)
Shooters (2002)
Thin Ice (2000)
Hearts and Bones (2000)
Nature Boy (2000)
Perdie (1999)
Killer Net (1998)