Ruth Katrin Gemmell (born October 1967) is an English actress. She starred in the film
''Fever Pitch'' in 1997 which was followed by supporting roles in television series ''
EastEnders'', ''
Casualty'', ''
Home Fires'' and ''
Penny Dreadful
Penny dreadfuls were cheap popular serial literature produced during the nineteenth century in the United Kingdom. The pejorative term is roughly interchangeable with penny horrible, penny awful, and penny blood. The term typically referred to ...
.'' She has played
Carly Beaker
''The Story of Tracy Beaker'' is a British children's book first published in 1991, written by Jacqueline Wilson and illustrated by Nick Sharratt.
Background
The book is told from the point of view of Tracy Beaker, a troubled ten-year-old gir ...
, the mother of title character in the ''
Tracy Beaker'' franchise since 2004. In 2020, she began playing Lady Violet Bridgerton in the Netflix series ''
Bridgerton
''Bridgerton'' is an American historical- romance streaming television series created by Chris Van Dusen for Netflix. Based on the book series by Julia Quinn, it is Shondaland's first scripted show for Netflix. It revolves around the eponymo ...
''.
Early life and education
Ruth Katrin Gemmell was born in October 1967 in
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...
and grew up in
County Durham, first in
Barnard Castle
Barnard Castle (, ) is a market town on the north bank of the River Tees, in County Durham, Northern England. The town is named after and built around a medieval castle ruin. The town's Bowes Museum's has an 18th-century Silver Swan automa ...
before moving to
Darlington
Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town.
In the 19th century, Darlington under ...
with her mother upon her parents' divorce. She has three brothers. She attended