The stellar cast poised for Sally Rooney stardom

As the highly-anticipated adaptation of Sally Rooney’s steamy novel Conversations with Friends hits the small screen tonight, the show’s star-studded cast are sure to be poised for superstardom.

After Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal enjoyed global fame following the wildly popular adaptation of Normal People, fans are desperate to see which how the next cast of actors bring the authors work to life.

Leading the cast of the adaptation is Taylor Swift’s actor boyfriend Joe Alwyn, 31, Girls star Jemima Kirke, 37, Utopia actress Sasha Lane, 26, and British newcomer Alison Oliver.

Conversations with Friends launches on BBC Three this week, telling the story of how former couple Frances and Bobbi end up enjoying an affair with writer Melissa and her boyfriend Nick. Pictured from left: Bobbi (played by Sasha Lane), Nick (played by Joe Alwyn), Frances (played by Alison Oliver) and Melissa (played by Jemima Kirke)

The BBC Three adaptation, which premieres today, follows a mysterious, sexy married couple, Nick (Alwyn) and Melissa (Kirke), and their unusual attraction to two younger women, Frances (Oliver) and Bobbi (Lane).

Frances embarks on an erotic affair with Nick while trying to reconcile her feelings for best friend and ex-girlfriend Bobbi, whom she is in love with.

Like Normal People, the novel is packed full of racy moments sure to get viewers hearts thumping and will likely follow in the footsteps of the cult show in thrusting its cast into the spotlight.

Here, FEMAIL reveals the stellar cast of Conversations with Friends sure to become cult stars after the hotly-anticipated show.

Joe Alwyn

Leading the cast of the BBC Three adaptation, which premieres today, is Taylor Swift’s actor boyfriend Joe Alwyn, 31, pictured with the pop star in New York in 2019

The star has acted alongside A-list stars including Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone and Nicholas Hoult in dark comedy The Favourite

Actor Joe is best known for his roles in critically acclaimed films like The Favourite (pictured playing Masham in the 2018 film) and Mary Queen of Scots

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Actor Joe Alwyn is best known for his roles in critically acclaimed films like The Favourite and Mary Queen of Scots.

The Kent-born actor was raised in North London where he attended City of London School and joined the National Youth Theatre after discovering his passion for acting.

Joe’s first big flick was Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk in 2016, where he played the titular character and was seen embarking on a steamy scene with co-star Makenzie Leigh.

The sizzling scenes saw the British hunk comfortable on a bed, while Makenzie positioned herself on top of him, before two romped.

He also acted alongside A-list stars including Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone and Nicholas Hoult in dark comedy The Favourite, plus Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie in historical drama film Mary Queen of Scots.

In 2017 reports began emerging that Joe was dating pop singer Taylor Swift, with her pal Ed Sheeran confirmed the two were dating during an interview on a British radio programme.

And while its unclear exactly when they met, fans believe it was at the 2016 Met Gala – with sleuths deciphering the song Dress on her 2017 album Reputation refers to their first meeting.

In 2020, Swift confirmed that Alwyn had co-written select songs for her album Folklore under the pseudonym William Bowery.

Fans had long suspected that the mystery writer was actually Swift’s boyfriend, whose great-grandfather William Alwyn was a successful musician and composer.

He continued to collaborate with the singer on her next album, Evermore, collaborating again under the moniker William Bowery on three tracks.

Jemima Kirke

Jemima pictured in New York in 2019, rose to fame in the smash hit HBO series Girls, known for its no holds barred nudity and adult themes

The actress starred in the HBO series Girls for six seasons on the show between 2011 to 2017 as as bohemian Jessa Johansson, regularly stripping down in a number of raunchy scene

After her stint on the television programme, Kirke starred alongside her real-life sister and fellow actress Lola, plus British actor Jamie Dornan, in 2018 film Untogether

Jemima Kirke rose to fame in the smash hit HBO series Girls, known for its no holds barred nudity and adult themes.

London-born Jemima was raised in New York with her father Simon, the former drummer of the rock bands Bad Company and Free, and her mother Lorraine, the owner of a vintage boutique that supplied a number of outfits for the series Sex and the City.

At university, she studied fine art, before being asked to star alongside her childhood pal Lena Dunham in her debut film Tiny Furniture and later taking on a role in her hit series Girls.

The actress starred in the series for istanabet17 six seasons on the show between 2011 to 2017 as as bohemian Jessa Johansson, regularly stripping down in a number of raunchy scenes.

She often took part in steamy scenes during series, with her character Jessa shown masturbating, romping with Zachary Quinto and Adam Driver and walking around naked.

The comedy-drama series, following four young women living in New York, received critical acclaim upon its release and has won various awards including the BAFTA for Best International Programme.

Speaking of the series in 2017, she told ES magazine: ‘Like Lena, I think I was always quite comfortable being nude. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t without my insecurities.

‘When I was younger, I would pretend to be really confident when I wasn’t necessarily, but then, I think, real confidence did follow from that.’

‘I’ve never been so nude anywhere I don’t think,’ she recalled. ‘I was naked for hours and hours and hours.’

The actress started dating Australian musician and singer-songwriter Alex Cameron in 2017 and she has two children from a previous marriage to lawyer Michael Mosberg.

After her stint on the television programme, Kirke starred alongside her real-life sister and fellow actress Lola, plus British actor Jamie Dornan, in 2018 film Untogether.

British fans may also know the actress from her role in Netflix series Sex Education, where she played the stern headmistress of Moordale Secondary School Hope.

Sasha Lane

Playing Bobbi will be Sasha Lane, an American actress who made her film debut after being scouted by a film director on a beach in 2016

After dropping out of university, Sasha starred in the 2016 teen road drama as an Oklahoma runaway called Star, who starts selling magazines door to door and falls in love with a man called Jake

Mother-of-one Lane, who became pregnant with daughter, Aster, aged 23, landed a role in 2018 gay conversion drama The Miseducation of Cameron Post

Playing Bobbi will be Sasha Lane, an American actress who made her film debut after being scouted by a film director on a beach in 2014, aged just 19.

Sasha was born and raised in Texas, where she had an impressive High School athletics career in basketball and track and field before attending Texas State University.

While at university, Lane was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, previously telling the Independent: ‘There are voices in your head, things are really dark.

‘It’s hard to explain to people who care about you that you can’t sleep and you’re hearing voices all day and you’re sad and you’re just tired. By the time I was a teenager, I was so tired.’

However Lane didn’t finish her studies in social work and psychology after she was spotted on a Florida beach by director Andrea Arnold, who asked her to improvise a scene for her.

After dropping out of university, Sasha starred in the 2016 teen road drama as an Oklahoma runaway called Star, who starts selling magazines door to door and falls in love with a man called Jake (Shia LeBeouf).

Following her first ever acting project, which earned numerous awards and nominations, Sasha has bagged various television and film roles including a part in MCU TV series Loki.

Mother-of-one Lane, who became pregnant with daughter, Aster, aged 23, also landed roles in 2018 gay conversion drama The Miseducation of Cameron Post and Gillian Flynn’s 2020 adaptation of British TV series Utopia.

Sasha revealed in a recent interview that she and Kirke became fast friends ahead of filming together, messaging on Instagram about the realities of motherhood before they’d even met.

‘I’d never met her in my life but we spent a good couple of hours texting back and forth. It made me fall in love a little, which I do so easily. I get so intrigued by people’, she told the Telegraph.

Alison Oliver

Unlike the rest of the cast, little is known about the show’s lead role of Frances, who will be played by emerging talent Alison

Alison will make her debut in the series having graduated from drama school Lir Academy in Dublin, Ireland

Unlike the rest of the cast, little is known about the show’s lead role of Frances, who will be played by emerging talent Alison.

She will make her debut in the series having graduated from drama school Lir Academy in Dublin, Ireland.

Oliver, who grew up in Cork and went to the same drama school as Normal People star Paul Mescal, revealing this week that he got in touch with her after she landed the role.

‘I knew Paul a little bit from college and he was so lovely in getting in touch and I think it’s really nice to have that contact across the shows because it is quite a similar thing,’ she told BBC’s The One Show.

Miss Oliver has also chatted to Daisy Edgar-Jones about the part. ‘We are all part of the Rooneyverse, so there is a camaraderie,’ she told The Sunday Times. ‘They told me to just enjoy it.’

Conversations with Friends is Alison’s first television role and previously revealed she was a big Rooney fan prior to landing the role – often reading the author’s works while studying in Dublin.