Baby Reindeer Cast (2024)
Netflix | Drama, Thriller | Limited Series (7 episodes) | Created by Richard Gadd
Baby Reindeer is a Netflix limited drama series that premiered in April 2024 and became one of the most discussed and acclaimed television events of the year. Created, written by, and starring Richard Gadd, the series is based on his semi-autobiographical one-man stage show of the same name. It follows Donny Dunn, a struggling comedian working as a bartender in London, who offers a free cup of tea to a distressed woman named Martha — and inadvertently sets in motion a years-long stalking ordeal. As the series unfolds, it deepens into an examination of complicity, trauma, and the complicated ways in which victims and perpetrators can switch roles. The show won multiple BAFTA and Emmy Awards including Best Limited Series.
The Baby Reindeer cast is deliberately small and intimate, reflecting the claustrophobic, inward-looking nature of the story Richard Gadd tells. The show rests almost entirely on the shoulders of two extraordinary performances: Gadd himself as the perpetually compromised Donny, and Jessica Gunning as Martha, whose portrayal of obsessive love is one of the most extraordinary things seen on any screen in recent memory. The Baby Reindeer ensemble — including Nava Mau as Donny's girlfriend Teri and Tom Goodman-Hill as the predatory Darrien — gives the story the specific human texture it needs to avoid becoming a simple thriller, anchoring it instead in something rawer and more truthful.
Main Cast
Richard Gadd
Donny Dunn
A struggling stand-up comedian and bartender whose impulsive act of kindness to a lonely woman spirals into a nightmare of stalking, manipulation, and self-examination. Gadd based the character directly on his own experiences, and his performance — raw, funny, and deeply uncomfortable — is the centre around which the whole series rotates.
Jessica Gunning
Martha
The woman who fixates on Donny after their brief meeting, pursuing him with relentless intensity across years and platforms. Gunning's performance is extraordinary: Martha is frightening, pathetic, and intermittently sympathetic in ways that the show refuses to resolve. She won the BAFTA and Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series for the role.
Nava Mau
Teri
Donny's girlfriend, a trans woman whose relationship with him is tested by his inability to be fully honest with her about everything happening in his life. Mau's portrayal of Teri's patience, intelligence, and eventual heartbreak is one of the most affecting things in the series, and she received Emmy and BAFTA nominations for the performance.
Tom Goodman-Hill
Darrien
A predatory TV writer who exploits Donny's vulnerability and ambition, and whose actions form one of the series' most disturbing and central threads. Goodman-Hill plays Darrien with a surface of charm that makes the character's true nature all the more unsettling.
Mark Lewis Jones
Supporting role
A Welsh character actor known for his work in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Gangs of London, and numerous theatre productions; appears in a significant supporting capacity within the series.
Danny Kirrane
Supporting role
Kirrane, a character actor known for his stage and screen work in British productions, contributes to the ensemble of people in Donny's world as the story unfolds.
Shalom Brune-Franklin
Supporting role
Brune-Franklin, who appeared in Our Girl and Line of Duty, appears in a supporting role in the series, contributing to the network of relationships surrounding Donny.
Supporting & Recurring Cast
| Actor | Character | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Goodman-Hill | Darrien | A predatory TV writer who abuses his position of power over Donny; pivotal to the series' themes | Limited series |
| Mark Lewis Jones | Supporting | Welsh character actor with film and TV credits; supporting role in Donny's world | Limited series |
| Danny Kirrane | Supporting | British character actor; part of the ensemble surrounding Donny's daily life | Limited series |
| Shalom Brune-Franklin | Supporting | Known for Line of Duty; supporting role within the series' London setting | Limited series |
| Niky Wardley | Liz | Donny's manager at the bar where he works; a sympathetic presence in the early episodes | Limited series |
Creators & Production
Richard Gadd
Creator, Writer & Lead Actor — Gadd conceived, wrote, and stars in Baby Reindeer. The series is adapted from his one-man Edinburgh Fringe show of the same name (2019), which won the Edinburgh Comedy Award's Best Show prize. Gadd also co-wrote the scripts with additional input for the television format, expanding the stage show's 60-minute running time across seven episodes.
Weronika Tofilska
Lead Director — Tofilska directed the majority of episodes of Baby Reindeer, establishing the show's close-up, uncomfortable intimacy as its dominant visual grammar. Her direction was praised for never letting the viewer off the hook from Donny's contradictions and complicity.
Clerkenwell Films
Production Company — Baby Reindeer was produced by Clerkenwell Films, the London-based production company also responsible for Misfits and Skins, in association with Netflix.
Netflix
Network & Distributor — Netflix released all seven episodes of Baby Reindeer on April 11, 2024. The show became a global phenomenon almost immediately, reaching the number-one spot in Netflix rankings in multiple countries within days of release. Its success prompted Netflix to commission additional projects with Gadd.
BAFTA & Emmy Recognition
Awards — Baby Reindeer won four BAFTA Television Awards including Best Limited Series and Best Supporting Actress (Jessica Gunning). At the Emmy Awards, it won Outstanding Limited Series, with Richard Gadd winning for Writing and Jessica Gunning for Supporting Actress.
About the Baby Reindeer Cast
Baby Reindeer's casting process was necessarily unusual, given that the show's creator was also its lead actor and the source of its autobiographical material. Richard Gadd had performed the original one-man stage version for years before the Netflix adaptation was commissioned, and he brought the same raw, unguarded quality to the screen performance. His portrayal of Donny Dunn requires him to be simultaneously likeable and infuriating, vulnerable and complicit — a balance that few actors could sustain across seven episodes, and that he maintains throughout. Gadd has spoken about the difficulty of revisiting the most painful experiences of his life for a global audience, and that courage is visible in every frame.
The casting of Jessica Gunning as Martha was the most consequential creative decision made during production. Gunning, already known for Inside No. 9 and The Outlaws in Britain, had not previously had a role of this scale or exposure. Her decision to make Martha recognisably human — to find the loneliness and confusion beneath the obsession — gave the show its moral complexity and prevented it from being a straightforward stalker thriller. The casting of Nava Mau as Teri was also significant: Mau is a trans actress and activist, and her portrayal of a trans woman in a loving, complicated relationship within a mainstream Netflix drama was praised both for its quality and its representation. All three central performers received major award nominations, and Gunning and Mau both won at BAFTA for their work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who stars in Baby Reindeer?
Baby Reindeer stars Richard Gadd as Donny Dunn, a struggling comedian who is stalked by a woman he met in the bar where he works. Jessica Gunning co-stars as Martha, the stalker, in a performance that became one of the most acclaimed of 2024. Nava Mau plays Teri, Donny's girlfriend.
Who plays Martha in Baby Reindeer?
Jessica Gunning plays Martha, the obsessive stalker at the centre of Baby Reindeer. Gunning's portrayal — frightening, pathetic, and unexpectedly sympathetic — won her a BAFTA Award and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series.
Who created Baby Reindeer?
Baby Reindeer was created, written by, and stars Richard Gadd. The series is based on his semi-autobiographical one-man stage show of the same name, which he performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2019. Gadd adapted the material for Netflix with executive producer Weronika Tofilska directing.
Is Baby Reindeer based on a true story?
Baby Reindeer is based on Richard Gadd's own experiences. The show is semi-autobiographical, drawing on real events including a period during which Gadd was stalked. Names and some details have been changed, but the emotional truth of the story is Gadd's own.
Who plays Teri in Baby Reindeer?
Nava Mau plays Teri, Donny's girlfriend. Mau, who is a trans actress and activist, became one of the most talked-about members of the Baby Reindeer cast — her performance was praised as deeply moving and she received Emmy and BAFTA nominations for the role.
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