Kelly Macdonald

Early life and education

Kelly Macdonald was born on 23 February 1976 in Glasgow, Scotland, and grew up in Neilston.

She 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 in Finding Neverland. She had major roles in Robert Altman's British period piece Gosford Park, where she played an aristocrat's maid, and in Intermission (2003), as Deirdre.

On radio she portrayed Mary in the 1999 BBC radio drama Lifehouse, based on Pete Townshend's abandoned rock opera, some of the songs for which were released on The Who'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 piece The Girl in the Café (2005). Both of these were directed by David Yates, and both also starred Bill Nighy. For her performance in The Girl in the Café, she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film 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' Academy Award-winning film No Country for Old Men (2007), for which she was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. 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), adapted by Clark Gregg from the 2001 Chuck Palahniuk novel, as Paige Marshall; In the Electric Mist (2009) (based on James Lee Burke's In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead (1993), as Kelly Drummond, alongside Tommy Lee Jones and John Goodman; and Skellig (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 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, the final instalment of the Harry Potter film franchise. She replaced Nina Young, who originally played the role. In 2012, she provided the voice of Merida, the heroine of the Disney/Pixar film Brave, and played Dolly in Anna Karenina. She starred in the romantic comedy film The Decoy Bride, which was released in 2012.

From 2010 until its ending in 2014, she starred in the HBO crime drama Boardwalk Empire as Margaret Thompson, the wife of Prohibition-era Atlantic City crime boss Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi). 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' 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 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 Line of Duty.

In 2025 Macdonald appeared as a therapist in the Netflix thriller Dept. Q and as a sheriff in the HBO series Lanterns.

Personal life

In August 2003 Macdonald married musician Dougie Payne, bassist of the band Travis. They have two sons. The couple moved back to their hometown of Glasgow in 2014 after living in London and New York City. 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

References

1. (23 February 2016). "Birthdays: Feb. 23". [[The Houston Chronicle]].
2. Nicoll, Vivienne. (28 November 2013). "Star Kelly stages a comeback at school". [[Evening Times]].
3. Cadwallader, Carole. (5 April 2009). "Cinema's best-kept secret". [[The Guardian]].
4. "Trainspotting". DVDMG.
5. "Two Family House". Spirituality and Practice.
6. "Finding Neverland". [[Yahoo Movies]].
7. "Gosford Park". [[TV Guide]].
8. "Intermission". [[About.com]].
9. Credits from the cassette release from the BBC Radio Collection
10. "State of Play". [[BBC]].
11. "Girl in the Café". Qwipster.
12. "2006 Golden Globe". [[About.com]].
13. (28 August 2006). "Scots star wins Emmy for TV role". [[BBC News]].
14. "2008 baftas". [[British Academy of Film and Television Arts]].
15. (24 September 2017). "Kelly Macdonald: 'Never mind hangovers on the Trainspotting set, people were still drunk'". The Guardian.
16. Wilson, Benji. (11 April 2009). "Kelly MacDonald's 'comeback' with Skellig". [[The Times]].
17. "the merry gentleman". Cinematical.
18. Macnab, Geoffrey. (14 May 2010). "Tennant, MacDonald, Eve walk down the aisle with "Decoy Bride"". [[ScreenDaily]].
19. Sneider, Jeff. (30 May 2015). "'Boardwalk Empire's' Kelly Macdonald Joins Ricky Gervais' Netflix Movie 'Special Correspondents' (Exclusive)". [[TheWrap]].
20. Barraclough, Leo. (29 June 2015). "'Sherlock's' Moriarty, Andrew Scott, Joins Cast of 'Swallows and Amazons' (EXCLUSIVE)". [[Variety (magazine).
21. "Line of Duty: Who is Kelly Macdonald playing?".
22. Saner, Emine. (22 May 2025). "'I'm less apologetic now': Kelly Macdonald on her Trainspotting teen highs and hitting her stride in her 40s". The Guardian.
23. (8 September 2014). "Actress Kelly Macdonald to pocket £500,000 from sale of plush New York apartment".
24. (12 April 2012). "My London: Kelly Macdonald".
25. "Actress Kelly Macdonald, Travis Bassist Douglas Payne Have Separated".
26. "Full record for 'DANCING, SOME DAYS' (7290)".
27. O'Rourke, Ryan. (6 February 2024). "Matthew Goode Leads Netflix's Gritty New Crime Drama 'Department Q'".
28. Kit, Borys. (30 October 2024). "'Lanterns': Kelly Macdonald Joins HBO, DC Studios' Superhero Crime Drama".