Kelly Macdonald (born 23 February 1976) is a Scottish actress. She is known for her roles in '' Trainspotting'' (1996), '' Gosford Park'' (2001), '' Intermission'' (2003), '' Nanny McPhee'' (2005), '' No Country for Old Men'' (2007), ''

Boardwalk Empire ''Boardwalk Empire'' is an American period crime drama television series created by Terence Winter and broadcast on the premium cable channel HBO. The series is set chiefly in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era of the 1920 ...

'' (2010–2014), ''

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2'' is a 2011 fantasy film directed by David Yates from a screenplay by Steve Kloves. The film is the second of two cinematic parts based on the 2007 novel ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow ...

'' (2011), '' Brave'' (2012), the '' Black Mirror'' episode " Hated in the Nation" (2016), ''

Giri/Haji ( ja, 義理/恥, 'Duty/Shame') is a British crime drama television series which premiered on BBC Two in the United Kingdom on 17 October 2019, and was released internationally on Netflix on 10 January 2020. A co-production between the BBC an ...

'' (2019), ''

Line of Duty ''Line of Duty'' is a British police procedural television series created by Jed Mercurio and produced by World Productions. On 26 June 2012, BBC Two began to broadcast the first series; it was its best-performing drama series in ten years w ...

'' (2021) and '' Operation Mincemeat'' (2021). For the 2005 television film '' The Girl in the Cafe'', she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie and was nominated for the

Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film The Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film or Best Actress – Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television is a Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globe Award presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Associat ...

. For her performance in the 2007 film '' No Country for Old Men'', she was nominated for the

BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Best Actress in a Supporting Role is a British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding supporting performance in a film. This award ...

. She went on to star for five seasons in the HBO series ''

'' (2010–2014) as Margaret Thompson, for which she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and two nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film.

Early life

Macdonald was born on 23 February 1976 in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

, Scotland, and grew up in Neilston. Her parents divorced when she was young. She was raised along with her brother David, by her mother, who was a garment industry sales executive. Macdonald attended Eastwood High School from 1989 to 1993.

Career

Macdonald's career began while she was working as a barmaid in Glasgow. She saw a leaflet advertising an open casting session for '' Trainspotting'' and decided to audition, winning the part of Diane, the underage seductress to Ewan McGregor's Renton. Other roles include Mary O'Neary in '' Two Family House'', and an actress playing

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...

in '' Finding Neverland''. She had major roles in

Robert Altman Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was a five-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and is considered an enduring figure from the New ...

's British period piece '' Gosford Park'', where she played an

aristocrat The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient R ...

's maid, and in '' Intermission'' (2003), as Deirdre. On radio, she portrayed Mary in the 1999 BBC radio drama '' Lifehouse'', based on

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is co-founder, leader, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. Towns ...

's abandoned rock opera, some of the songs for which were released on

The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

's album '' Who's Next''. On television, her highest profile roles have been in two BBC dramas, the Paul Abbott serial '' State of Play'' (2003), and the one-off

Richard Curtis Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis (born 8 November 1956) is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, producer and film director. One of Britain's most successful comedy screenwriters, he is known primarily for romantic comedy films, among them '' ...

piece ''

The Girl in the Café ''The Girl in the Café'' is a British made-for-television drama film directed by David Yates, written by Richard Curtis and produced by Hilary Bevan Jones. The film is produced by the independent production company Tightrope Pictures and was ...

'' (2005). Both of these were directed by

David Yates David Yates (born 8 October 1963) is an English film director, producer and screenwriter, who has directed feature films, short films, and television productions. He is best known for directing the final four films in the ''Harry Potter'' ser ...

, and both also starred Bill Nighy. For her performance in ''The Girl in the Café'', she was nominated for the

in 2006, and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. Macdonald had a supporting role in the

Coen brothers Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning film '' No Country for Old Men'' (2007), for which she was nominated for a

. It was reported that she had to fight her agent to be considered for the role, but Macdonald later denied the story. Other films where she had supporting roles include '' Choke'' (2008), the film adapted by Clark Gregg from the 2001

Chuck Palahniuk Charles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk (; born February 21, 1962) is an American freelance journalist and novelist who describes his work as transgressional fiction. He has published 19 novels, three nonfiction books, two graphic novels, and two adu ...

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

, as Paige Marshall; ''

In the Electric Mist ''In the Electric Mist'' (French title: ''Dans la brume électrique'') is a 2009 Franco-American mystery drama film directed by Bertrand Tavernier, and written by Jerzy Kromolowski and Mary Olson-Kromolowski based on the novel ''In the Electric M ...

'' (2009) (based on

James Lee Burke James Lee Burke (born December 5, 1936) is an American author, best known for his Dave Robicheaux series. He has won Edgar Awards for ''Black Cherry Blues'' (1990) and ''Cimarron Rose'' (1998), and has also been presented with the Grand Master ...

's ''In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead'' (1993), as Kelly Drummond, alongside

Tommy Lee Jones Tommy Lee Jones (born September 15, 1946) is an American actor and film director. He has received four Academy Award nominations, winning Best Supporting Actor for his performance as U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard in the 1993 thriller film '' T ...

and

John Goodman John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He gained national fame for his role as the family patriarch Dan Conner in the ABC comedy series '' Roseanne'' (1988–1997; 2018), for which he received a Golden Globe Award, ...

; and ''

Skellig ''Skellig'' is a children's novel by the British author David Almond, published by Hodder in 1998. It was the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year and it won the Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's outstanding ...

'' (2009), as Louise. She played the lead in '' The Merry Gentleman'' (2008). In 2011, she played the "Grey Lady" (revealed to be Helena Ravenclaw) in ''

'', the final instalment of the ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at ...

'' film franchise. She replaced

Nina Young Nina Young (born 1966) is a British-Australian actress. Early life Nina Young was born in 1966. She is the daughter of Perth businessman Peter Young and Tania Verstak, a woman of Russian origin who was Miss Australia 1961 and Miss Internati ...

, who originally played the role. In 2012, she provided the voice of Merida, the heroine of the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...

film '' Brave'', and played Dolly in ''

Anna Karenina ''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, «Анна Каренина», p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever writt ...

''. She starred in the romantic comedy film ''

The Decoy Bride ''The Decoy Bride'' is a 2011 British romantic comedy film written by comedian Sally Phillips and Neil Jaworski, and starring David Tennant, Alice Eve and Kelly Macdonald and set on the fictional island of Hegg, supposedly located in the Outer H ...

'', which was released in 2012. From 2010 until its ending in 2014, she starred in the HBO crime drama ''

'' as Margaret Thompson, the wife of

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholi ...

-era Atlantic City crime boss

Nucky Thompson Enoch Malachi "Nucky" Thompson is a fictional character and the protagonist of the HBO TV series ''Boardwalk Empire'', portrayed by Steve Buscemi. Nucky is loosely based on former Atlantic City, New Jersey political figure Enoch Lewis "Nucky" ...

(

Steve Buscemi Steven Vincent Buscemi ( ,As stated in interviews by Buscemi himself, some may insist that his pronunciation of his own name is "wrong" because it does not match the original Italian pronunciation as well. It is not uncommon for people to pronou ...

). She appeared in all five seasons of the series. In 2011, she and the rest of the show's cast were awarded the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. In 2016, she starred in

Ricky Gervais Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office'' (2001–2003), '' Extras'' (2005–2007), and ''An Idiot Abroad'' ...

' '' Special Correspondents'' as Claire Maddox, and '' Swallows and Amazons'' as Mrs. Walker. In 2016, she played the lead role in " Hated in the Nation", an episode of the

anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a dif ...

'' Black Mirror'' for which she received critical acclaim. On 3 November 2016 Macdonald was featured in the trailer for Danny Boyle's '' T2 Trainspotting'' confirming she would reprise her role as Diane from the original film, which she did. In 2017, she co-starred opposite Benedict Cumberbatch in the BBC film '' The Child in Time''. Macdonald played the guest lead in the sixth series of the BBC's police drama ''

''.

Personal life

In August 2003, Macdonald married musician Dougie Payne, bassist of the rock band Travis. They have two sons. They moved back to their hometown of

in 2014, after living in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. They separated in 2017.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Awards and nominations

Honours

Eastwood High School, where she was a pupil, has a drama studio and theatre named in her honour.

References

External links

* * *
Kelly Macdonald in ''Skellig'' on Sky1, Easter 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Kelly 1976 births Living people 20th-century Scottish actresses 21st-century Scottish actresses Actresses from Glasgow Audiobook narrators Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners People educated at Eastwood High School, Newton Mearns Scottish film actresses Scottish radio actresses Scottish television actresses Scottish video game actresses Scottish voice actresses