Kelly Mcdonald Bio - Biography

Name Kelly Mcdonald
Height 5' 3"
Naionality British
Date of Birth 23 February 1976
Place of Birth Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Famous for
Hailed from Glasgow, Scotland, Kelly MacDonald began acting in an amateur dramatics club when she was a young. Her big breakthrough arrived in 1996, when she landed the supporting role of Diane in director Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting, a comedy starring Ewan McGregor. Her fine presentation of an underage seductress won her public’s attention and a Best Actress BAFTA Scotland nomination. The film itself was a massive international hit.

The success of Trainspotting brought McDonald to the limelight, but she was soon broke and returned to her murkiness of being a barmaid in Glasgow. She then undertook a starring role in Stella Does Tricks (1996), a drama about a teen call girl who tries to change her life. Again, she became a favorite of critics. With two victories films under her belt, McDonald made her way to London to further pursue her career.

After starring in the short film Dead Eye Dick (1997), McDonald starred as Hortense Hulot in the period drama Cousin Bette (1998) and had a small role in the historical epic Elizabeth (1998). She offered a notable supporting part as the best friend of Kathleen Robertson in writer/director Gregg Araki’s Splendor (1999). She followed that up with other supporting roles in such films as the romance Entropy (1999, with Stephen Dorff), Mike Figgis’ drama The Loss of Sexual Innocence (1999, opposite Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Saffron Burrows) and the biopic My Life So Far (1999, starred Colin Firth). McDonald, who appeared in television film for the first time in 1996’s Flowers of the Forest, took part in the London-made TV film Tube Tales, in 1999.

McDonald received an Independent Spirit nomination for Best Female Lead for her performance as Mary O’Neary in Raymond De Felitta’s Two Family House (2000), and in House! (2000), she was cast as Linda, a young woman attempting to keep her local bingo house. The same year, she also was noted as the eccentric Laura in Some Voices, along side the forthcoming James Bond Daniel Craig.

Following Strictly Sinatra (2001), an average film saved by another magnificent performance from the actress, McDonald joined the cast of Robert Altman’s ensemble film Gosford Park (2001) that included Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon and Kristin Scott Thomas. Finely playing Mary Maceachran, a maid to Maggie Smith’s Constance Trentham, she was handed an Empire nomination for Best British Actress. With other Gosford Park’s casts, she also took home several ensemble awards like a Broadcast Film Critics Association, a Florida Film Critics Circle, an Online Film Critics Society, a Satellite and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Next up for McDonald, she had a feature role in the television film Brush with Fate (2003), gave a memorable guest appearance as journalist Della Smith in an episode of the BBC short-lived series “State of Play” (2003), teamed up with Cillian Murphy and Colin Farrell in Intermission (2003) and made a small, but remarkable, part as Peter Pan in director Marc Foster’s Finding Neverland (2004), which starred Kate Winslet and superstar Johnny Depp.

In 2005, after an episodic role in “Alias,” McDonald had a cameo role as a correspondent in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The same year, she also appeared in such films as Michael Winterbottom’s A Cock and Bull Story, All the Invisible Children, the family picture Nanny McPhee, starring Emma Thompson and Colin Firth, and the adventure/family film Lassie, opposite Peter O’Toole and Samantha Morton. However, it was McDonald’s portrayal of Gina, a mysterious young woman who discovers love in Nighy’s shy politician in Iceland during the G8 summit, in the attractive made-for-TV film The Girl in the Café (2005) that won the accomplished performer glowing reviews, including a 2006 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie.

McDonald is scheduled to play the supporting role of Carla Jean in the Coen brothers upcoming film No Country for Old Men, which is for 2007 release. Among her costars are Javier Bardem, Richard Barela, Josh Blaylock and Rodger Boyce.

Kelly Mcdonald Photos