Gina McKee Movies and Career Information

Georgina "Gina" McKee (born 14 April 1964) is an English actor known for her television roles in Our Friends in the North (1996), The Lost Prince (2003) and The Forsyte Saga (2002); and her portrayal of Bella in the film Notting Hill (1999). The daughter of a coal miner, McKee grew up in Peterlee, County Durham — an "industrial white working-class background… in the shadow of Easington colliery." Her first experience of acting occurred in her final year at primary school as Mrs Hall, her teacher at Dene House Juniors, finished the school week off with improvisations, which she remembers as "the best time for me. Fantastic." Seeing a poster in a shoeshop window for a new youth drama group, McKee and her friends decided to attend for a laugh. The group — set up and run by Ros and Graeme Rigby — managed to engage the sceptical teenagers, who reluctantly became enthusiastic. It led to McKee's first professional appearance, working on Tyne Tees children's series, Quest of Eagles. From the age of 15, McKee spent three summers in London with the National Youth Theatre. A teacher had suggested it to her and she naively performed a speech from Shakespeare for her audition rather than the