Paula Sage (born 28 November 1980) is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

actress,

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 172 countries. Special Ol ...

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

player, and advocate for people with Down syndrome.

Early life

Sage was adopted as an infant. Her parents are Alan and Mary Sage. Her father is a university lecturer. She attended primary school and high school in

Cumbernauld Cumbernauld (; ) is a large town in the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Dunbartonshire and council area of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the tenth List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, most-populous locality in Scotl ...

, and attended the Merkland school in

Kirkintilloch Kirkintilloch (; ; ) is a town and a Burgh of Barony (The Baron of Kirkintilloch) in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It lies on the Forth and Clyde Canal and on the south side of Strathkelvin, about northeast of central Glasgow. Historically ...

Career

Sage's performance in the 2003 British film ''

AfterLife The afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's Stream of consciousness (psychology), stream of consciousness or Personal identity, identity continues to exist after the death of their ...

'', playing Roberta Brogan, brought her a

BAFTA Scotland BAFTA in Scotland is the Scottish branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Formed in 1986, the branch holds two annual awards ceremonies recognising the achievement by performers and production staff in Scottish film, televis ...

award for best first time performance and Best Actress in the

Bratislava International Film Festival The Bratislava International Film Festival (also known as Bratislava IFF) is an international film festival established in 1999 and held annually in Bratislava, Slovakia. Apart from the international competition programme, it also regularly featu ...

, 2004. Her character is sister to

Kevin McKidd Kevin McKidd (born 9 August 1973) is a Scottish actor and television director best known as Dr. Owen Hunt in ''Grey's Anatomy'' and Tommy Mackenzie in Danny Boyle's '' Trainspotting'' (1996). McKidd played Colin in the 2008 film Made of Hono ...

's character, and daughter to

Lindsay Duncan Lindsay Vere Duncan (born 7 November 1950) is a Scottish actress. She is the recipient of three BAFTA nominations and one Scottish BAFTA nomination, as well as two Olivier Awards and a Tony Award for her work on stage. She has starred in sever ...

's. In review, critic Liz Hoggard found "the most remarkable thing about the film is the purity of Sage's performance." ''AfterLife'' also won the Audience Award at the 2005

Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), established in 1947, is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all titles are World, international, European or UK Premieres), in al ...

. It also won Sage a role as Donna McCabe in BBC Scotland's ''

River City ''River City'' is a Scottish television soap opera created by Stephen Greenhorn which has been broadcast on BBC One Scotland since September 2002. Since 2019, the show has aired episodes a day earlier on the new BBC Scotland channel. Set in ...

'' soap. Sage won a silver medal as a member of the British netball team at the Special Olympics. She is an ambassador for Down's Syndrome Scotland and Mencap, and a patron of the Ann Craft Trust. She was the first person with Down syndrome to be a Mencap ambassador. She worked part-time at a travel agency and cafe in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

References

External links

*
Paula Sage interview
on ''Woman's Hour'' (13 August 2004).
A 2004 photograph of Paula Sage and Shirley Henderson
at

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. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sage, Paula Actors with Down syndrome Living people 1980 births People from Cumbernauld Scottish netball players 21st-century Scottish sportswomen Scottish film actresses Special Olympics Scottish soap opera actresses Actresses from North Lanarkshire