Kelly Macdonald
Kelly Macdonald is a Scottish Emmy Award-winning actress renowned for her diverse roles in film and television. She gained significant recognition for her performance in the cult classic "Trainspotting" (1997) and went on to star in acclaimed series like "Boardwalk Empire" (2010-2014). Macdonald's career includes notable films such as "No Country for Old Men" (2007) and the animated feature "Brave" (2012), where she voiced the lead character, Princess Merida.
Born and raised in Glasgow, Macdonald's journey into acting began unexpectedly at age 19 when she auditioned for "Trainspotting" after seeing a flyer. Despite her early success, she maintained a grounded perspective, often returning to more routine jobs between roles. Throughout her career, she has received critical acclaim, including Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, and has garnered a reputation for her ability to portray complex characters.
In her personal life, Macdonald prefers to keep a low profile, focusing on her family, which includes two sons from her marriage to musician Dougie Payne. She continues to take on a variety of roles, including recent performances in projects like "Operation Mincemeat" (2021) and "The Radleys" (2024).
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Kelly Macdonald
Actor
- Born: February 23, 1976
- Place of Birth: Glasgow, Scotland
Contribution: Kelly Macdonald is an Emmy Award–winning television and screen actor, best known for her roles in Trainspotting (1997), Boardwalk Empire (2010–14), No Country for Old Men (2007), and Brave (2012).
Background
Kelly Macdonald grew up living in public housing in Glasgow, Scotland with her mother and younger brother. Her parents divorced while she was very young. At age sixteen, Macdonald left school and drifted between jobs. She worked for a time as a barmaid at various pubs in Glasgow. In a 2012 interview in Red magazine, Macdonald said that she had not known anyone who was an actor and never considered acting to be a realistic career goal before she landed her first film role.
Career
Macdonald broke into the film industry in 1995, when she was nineteen. She saw a flyer for acting auditions that read “Do you want to be the next Sharon Stone?” The auditions were for director Danny Boyle’s film Trainspotting, about a group of heroin-addicted friends living in Scotland. Boyle said in later interviews that he knew Macdonald was right for the role as soon as he saw her audition. Macdonald’s role as Diane Coulston in Trainspotting was risqué, requiring her to be nude in a sex scene with actor Ewan McGregor.
Following her role in Trainspotting, Macdonald returned to her work as a barmaid. She took a few acting jobs, waiting for opportunities that would allow her to play different kinds of characters.
In 1996, Macdonald appeared in the lead role in the Scottish film Stella Does Tricks. She was cast in a small role in the 1998 biographic drama Elizabeth, alongside Cate Blanchett. One of the first major roles in which Macdonald was noticed by American critics was director Robert Alman’s ensemble film Gosford Park (2001), in which she played the voyeuristic Mary Maceachran. Macdonald also appeared in small roles in Finding Neverland (2004) and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005).
In 2005, Macdonald received an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe nomination for her appearance in the television movie The Girl in the Café. In a 2011 interview for the UK Independent, Macdonald stated that her Emmy Award had no major impact on her career and likened the exposure that came with winning the award to public interest in reality series like X-Factor, where audiences feel involved in the moment but quickly forget about the individuals on the show.
In 2007, Macdonald was cast in a small, but emotionally poignant role in the film No Country for Old Men, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. The film was a commercial and critical success, and received the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director. The success of the film helped to establish Macdonald’s reputation in Hollywood as a lead actor.
In 2010, Macdonald was cast in the role of Margaret Schroeder in the HBO (Home Box Office) Original Series Boardwalk Empire. Macdonald’s portrayal of the tormented wife of Atlantic City mobster Enoch “Nucky” Thompson (played by Steve Buscemi) received widespread praise from critics and audiences alike. Macdonald received an Emmy nomination and two Golden Globe nominations for her work on the series, which made her popular among new audiences worldwide. She also shared Screen Actors Guild Awards for best drama ensemble in 2011 and 2012. The series concluded in 2014.
Since starring on Boardwalk Empire, Macdonald has been featured in a variety of leading roles. In 2011, she starred alongside David Tennant in The Decoy Bride and landed a role in the final film of the Harry Potter franchise, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II. The following year Macdonald portrayed Princess Merida, the female lead in the Disney/Pixar animated film Brave, which won the 2013 Academy Award for best animated feature, and starred alongside Keira Knightley and Jude Law in the Joe Wright production of Anna Karenina (2012).
In the mid-to-late 2010s, Macdonald went on to appear in a number of supporting roles once more. She played Mrs. Walker in Swallows and Amazons (2016), a British pirate adventure based on the children's book of the same name. The next year she reprised her breakout role of Diane Coulston in T2 Trainspotting (2017), the follow-up to Trainspotting, and portrayed the nanny to A. A. Milne's son, Olive, in the well-received biopic Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017).
In 2018, Macdonald landed another leading role, this time opposite Benedict Cumberbatch, in the television-movie drama The Child in Time (2018). The film, about a couple whose child goes missing, earned critical acclaim. Her starring performance in the drama Puzzle (2018) was also lauded.
In the late 2010s and early 2020s, Macdonald had roles in several TV series, including Giri/Haji (2019) and Line of Duty (2021). She also starred in the 2021 film Operation Mincemeat, the true story of a covert World War II espionage mission. In 2024, Macdonald starred in The Radleys, playing the matriarch of a family of vampires.
Impact
Macdonald has established her career by taking a variety of roles rather than whatever came her way. In interviews, Macdonald credits her humble beginnings as an actor with her ability to avoid becoming entangled in the negative aspects of celebrity. Over the course of her career, Macdonald has worked with a number of major stars and prominent directors.
Personal Life
Macdonald married musician Dougie Payne in 2003. The couple have two sons, Freddie (b. 2008) and Theodore (b. 2012). The family divided their time between Glasgow and New York to accommodate Macdonald’s work schedule. Macdonald and Payne separated in 2017 and later divorced. Macdonald has said that she prefers to stay away from the limelight in order to lead as normal a life as possible.
Bibliography
"Kelly Macdonald." IMDb, 2024, www.imdb.com/name/nm0531808/. Accessed 20 Sept. 2024.
Macdonald, Kelly. “Kelly Macdonald Cover Interview.” Interview by Jane Mulkerrins. Red, 1 Aug. 2012, www.redonline.co.uk/red-women/interviews/a504277/kelly-macdonald-red-cover-interview/. Accessed 20 Sept. 2024.
McLean, Craig. “Boardwalk Empress: Kelly Macdonald on Movies, Marriage, and Martin Scorsese.” Independent (UK), 23 Jan. 2011, www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/boardwalk-empress-kelly-macdonald-on-movies-marriage-and-martin-scorsese-2188856.html. Accessed 20 Sept. 2024.
O’Hagan, Sean. “Kelly Macdonald: ‘I’m So Not a Celebrity.’” Guardian, 14 Jan. 2012, www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2012/jan/15/kelly-macdonald-boardwalk-empire-interview. Accessed 20 Sept. 2024.
“The G8’s No Match for This Girl.” New York Times, 25 June 2005, www.nytimes.com/2005/06/25/arts/television/the-g8s-no-match-for-this-girl.html. Accessed 20 Sept. 2024.
Lopez, John. “Boardwalk Empire’s Kelly Macdonald on Scorsese, the Coens, and Her Future on the Show.” Vanity Fair, 10 Dec. 2010, www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2010/12/boardwalk-empires-kelly-macdonald-on-scorsese-the-coens-and-her-future-on-the-show. Accessed 20 Sept. 2024.