Kelly MacDonald

Kelly MacDonald: biography

Throughout her career, the Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald has appeared in many movies and played various characters. The audience remembers her roles in The Girl in the Café and Boardwalk Empire; both projects brought her several nominations.

The would-be actress was born in winter 1976 in Glasgow, Scotland. Soon after the girl was born, the family moved to Aberdeen. Kelly went to Eastwood High School. As the artist remembered in her interviews, she used to be an active child and liked to be in the center of people’s attention. However, her acting abilities did not manifest themselves at once.

As the young woman graduated from school, she returned to her native city and got hired as a waitress. She thought about cinematography and followed the news about auditions to participate in some of them.

Movies

The audience saw Kelly for the first time in an episode of the series Screen Two. This work did not bring her recognition; the next project did. One day, the beginning actress got a leaflet and learned about the auditions for the drama Trainspotting by Danny Boyle. She decided to go there and succeeded, despite the fact she had no drama education. Thus, she had the first significant role in her filmography.

Macdonald personified Diane, the young seducer who charms the main character. The movie was welcomed worldwide; Kelly was nominated for BAFTA Scotland Awards – Best Film Actress. Such an achievement at the beginning of the career opened many roads for the artist.

The next year, Kelly received the lead role in Stella Does Tricks; 1997 was marked with two more projects. In 1998, Macdonald participated in Cousin Bette and personified Isabel Knollys in the historical drama Elizabeth about the great British queen.

1999 was even more fruitful: the actress worked on Splendor, Entropy, The Loss of Sexual Innocence, My Life So Far, and Tube Tales. Young Kelly could get into any character, so directors gladly invited her to their projects.

In 2001, Kelly gained the role of Mary Maceachran in Robert Altman’s Gosford Park. It is a historical detective: as the story runs, the friends of a mansion owner arrive at his place to have a rest for a couple of days. However, the celebration stops: the dead body of the host is found; apparently, somebody has helped him to die.

Movie critics positively reviewed the movie; it was even nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The project grossed $87 million worldwide.

The actress had some roles in series as well. In 2003, she participated in State of Play; Alias and Boardwalk Empire followed later.

2004 proved to be a significant year for Kelly. She played in Marc Forster’s biopic Finding Neverland starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. The movie shows how the Scottish writer James Matthew Barrie created the famous fairy tale about Peter Pan.

It was Kelly who played Peter Pan himself; she handled her role brilliantly. The movie budget was $25 million; it grossed five times as much. The project was nominated for BAFTA in eleven categories and the Academy Awards in seven categories.

The next year, the audience enjoyed the actress’s work in the melodrama The Girl in the Café; she played the main character and gained two prizes. In 2005, Macdonald appeared in All the Invisible Children. It is a part of the international UNICEF project and the UN program. All the money was sent to the children’s fund that helped kids in need.

The 2007 movie No Country for Old Men was equally successful. The artist personified Carla Jean Moss and had the opportunity to collaborate with Tommy Lee Jones, Beth Grant, and Stephen Root. The movie won many prestigious prizes including the Academy Awards, the Golden Globe, the Palme d'Or, and the Golden Eagle Award.

In 2008, Kelly had a part in the screen version of Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Choke. The next year, she played in Skellig based on David Almond’s bestselling book under the same title.

In 2011, the woman auditioned for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 and got the role of Helena Ravenclaw. The project grossed more than $1 billion worldwide while the budget was $125 million.

The same year, Macdonald worked in two other movies and took a break for five years. In 2016, she came back in the series Black Mirror.

The same year, she appeared in three other projects. In 2017, she played in the drama The Child in Time with Benedict Cumberbatch. In 2018, the actress joined the cast of Puzzle and Holmes & Watson and voiced one of the characters in the animated movie Ralph Breaks the Internet.

Personal life

Little is known about the popular actress’s personal life. In 2003, she married Dougie Payne, the bass guitarist of the Scottish group Travis.

After the marriage, the woman and her husband settled in London. In spring 2008, the couple’s son was born; the second child was born in December 2012. However, the kids could not save the family: the actress and the musician split up in 2017.

Present days

In 2018, Kelly started working on the series Giri/Haji and played the primary character, Sarah. The first episode will be premiered in 2019. Overall, the artist continues to develop her acting career and trying herself in new stage types.

The woman tries to keep her personal life secret; she has no Instagram account or pages in other social networks. There are no pictures in a swimsuit or nudes expect for some moments from the movies, such as Trainspotting, where the actress is wearing lingerie.

The actress’s net worth is $8 million in 2019.

Filmography

• 1995 – Trainspotting
• 1997 – Cousin Bette
• 1999 – My Life So Far
• 2001 – Gosford Park
• 2004 – Finding Neverland
• 2007 – No Country for Old Men
• 2011 – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
• 2016 – Black Mirror
• 2017 – The Child in Time
• 2018 – Puzzle
• 2018 – Holmes & Watson