Gina McKee (born 14 April 1964) is an English actress, known for her starring roles in the TV dramas Our Friends in the North (1996) and The Lost Prince (2003) for the BBC and the ITV version of The Forsyte Saga (2002-03).

She may be best known to international audiences for her role in the Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts film Notting Hill, in which she played wheelchair user Bella.

Biography

Career

McKee began her career in TV with several small background roles including a part on the Lenny Henry Show. She made her film debut in 1988 when she had a small role in the Ken Russell film The Lair of the White Worm which co-starred Hugh Grant.

In 1996 she played Mary in the BBC drama Our Friends in the North, a role for which she won three Best Actress awards in 1997: the British Academy Television Award, the Royal Television Society Award and the Broadcasting Press Guild Award. McKee appeared in several episodes of the Chris Morris spoof current affairs show, Brass Eye (1997, 2001), as reporter Libby Shuss.

On stage, McKee's credits include Harold Pinter's The Lover and The Collection at the Comedy Theatre in London.

In 2008 she appears in the BBC drama Fiona's Story and a West End revival of Chekhov's Ivanov.

McKee was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of Sunderland in 2002.

Personal life

McKee was born in Sunderland; her father was a coal miner. A life-long supporter of Sunderland A.F.C., she was asked to narrate the documentary Premier Passions about the team.

She lives in East Dean in East Sussex with her husband Kez Cary to whom she has been married since 1989. McKee has been a vegetarian since 1982.

Filmography

• The Lenny Henry Show (1987) (TV)
• The Lair of the White Worm (1988)
• The Rachel Papers (1989)
• Drop the Dead Donkey (1990)
• An Actor's Life For Me (1991)
• Naked (1993)
• Our Friends in the North (1996)
• The Chest (1997) (TV)
• Croupier (1998)
• Wonderland (1999)
• Women Talking Dirty (1999)
• Notting Hill (1999)
• There's only one Jimmy Grimble (1999)
• The Zookeeper (2001)
• Dice (2001)
• Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002)
• The Forsyte Saga (2002)
• Burning The Bed (2003)
• The Reckoning (2003)
• The Lost Prince (2003) (TV)
• The Blackwater Lightship (2004) (TV)
• MirrorMask (2005)
• The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby (2005)
• The Lavender List (2006)
• Tsunami: The Aftermath (2006) TV Movie
• Lewis (2007)
• Atonement (2007)
• Fiona's Story (2008)
• The Oaks (2008)

References

External links

• Gina McKee at the Internet Movie Database
• http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/story/0,,2039057,00.html
• http://www.filmreference.com/film/95/Gina-Mckee.html
• Who's that girl?: Actress Gina Mckee is nothing like the damaged women she portrays