Kelly Macdonald Biography

Kelly Macdonald (born 23 February 1976) is a Scottish actress, known for her role in the independent film Trainspotting and mainstream releases such as Nanny McPhee, Gosford Park, Intermission, No Country for Old Men, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and Brave. On television, she is known for her roles in Boardwalk Empire, The Girl in the Café and State of Play.

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 also had major roles in Robert Altman's British period piece Gosford Park, where she played an aristocrat's maid, as well as 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, Macdonald was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2006, and won an Emmy.

Macdonald starred in the 2005 film Nanny McPhee, as the scullery maid Evangeline, and has since had supporting roles in A Cock and Bull Story (2006) and the Coen brothers' Academy Award-winning No Country for Old Men (2007). Her agent was originally unsure she was right for the latter part, and Macdonald is reported as having to "fight for the role". Her persistence paid off, however, as she was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress. Other films where she had supporting roles include Choke (2008), as Paige Marshall, the film adapted by Clark Gregg from the 2001 Chuck Palahniuk novel; 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 also played the lead in The Merry Gentleman (2008), as Kate Frazier. She plays Margaret Schroeder on HBO's Boardwalk Empire. In 2010, she played her first comedy role, in the British independent romantic comedy film The Decoy Bride opposite David Tennant. The Decoy Bride was released in 2012, on cable TV On-Demand.

During 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, the original actress in the role. In 2012, she provided the voice of Merida, the heroine of the Disney/Pixar movie Brave and starred as Dolly in Anna Karenina.

Personal life

Macdonald was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Her mother was a garment industry sales executive.

In August 2003, Macdonald married musician Dougie Payne, bassist of rock band Travis. Their first son, Freddie, was born on 9 March 2008. Their second son, Theodore, was born on 8 December 2012.

Filmography

Film and television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Trainspotting	Diane Coulston
1996	Stella Does Tricks	Stella
1996	Flowers of the Forest	Amy Ogilvie	BBC TV-Movie
1997	Dead Eye Dick	Wendy	Short film
1998	Cousin Bette	Hortense Hulot
1998	Elizabeth	Lettice Knollys
1999	Splendor	Mike
1999	Entropy	Pia
1999	'	Susan
1999	My Life So Far	Elspeth Pettigrew
1999	Tube Tales	Emma	Segment: Mr Cool
2000	Two Family House	Mary O'Neary
2000	House!	Linda
2000	Some Voices	Laura
2001	Strictly Sinatra	Irene
2001	Gosford Park	Mary Maceachran
2003	Intermission	Deirdre
2003	Brush with Fate	Aletta Pieters	CBS (Television movie)
2003	State of Play	Della Smith
2004	Finding Neverland	Peter Pan
2005	'	Reporter
2005	All the Invisible Children	Jonathan's wife	Segment: Jonathan
2005	Nanny McPhee	Evangeline
2005	Lassie	Jeanie
2005	Alias	Kiera MacLaine/Meghan Keene	Episode: Ice
2005	'	Gina	BBC
2006	'	Jenny
2007	No Country for Old Men	Carla Jean Moss
2008	'	Kate Frazier
2008	Choke	Paige Marshall
2009	In the Electric Mist	Kelly Drummond
2009	Skellig	Louise
2010"present	Boardwalk Empire	Margaret Schroeder
2011	'	Katie Nic Aodh
2011	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows " Part 2	Helena Ravenclaw
2012	Brave	Princess Merida (voice)	Animation debut
2012	Anna Karenina	Dolly

Awards and nominations

List of awards and nominations

Year	Nominated work	Award	Category	Result
1997	Trainspotting	BAFTA Scotland Awards	Best Film Actress
2001	Boardwalk Empire	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Female Lead
2002	Gosford Park	Online Film Critics Society Awards	Best Ensemble
2002	Gosford Park	Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards	Best Acting Ensemble
2002	Gosford Park	Satellite Awards	Outstanding Motion Picture Ensemble
2002	Gosford Park	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture
2002	Gosford Park	Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	Best Acting Ensemble
2002	Gosford Park	Florida Film Critics Circle Awards	Best Ensemble Cast
2003	Gosford Park	Empire Awards	Best British Actress
2006	The Girl in the Café	Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
2006	The Girl in the Café	Golden Globe Awards	Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
2008	No Country for Old Men	Online Film Critics Society Awards	Best Supporting Actress
2008	Choke	Sundance Film Festival	Special Jury Prize for Best Dramatic Film
2008	No Country for Old Men	BAFTA Awards	Best Supporting Actress
2008	No Country for Old Men	London Film Critics Circle Awards	British Supporting Actress of the Year
2008	No Country for Old Men	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2010	Boardwalk Empire	Golden Globe Awards	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting role in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film
2011	Boardwalk Empire	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2011	Two Family House	Golden Globe Awards	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting role in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film
2012	Brave	Annie Awards	Outstanding Voice Acting Performance in a Feature Production