Katherine Sinead Kelly (born 19 November 1979) is an English actress and presenter, who made her TV debut in 2003, appearing on ''

Last of the Summer Wine ''Last of the Summer Wine'' is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke and originally broadcast by the BBC from 1973 to 2010. It premiered as an episode of ''Comedy Playhouse'' on 4 January 1973, and the first series of episodes foll ...

''. Kelly rose to prominence after portraying Becky McDonald in the ITV soap opera '' Coronation Street'' between 2006 and 2012. For this role, Kelly won multiple awards including a National Television Award for "Best Serial Drama Performance" in 2012. Since leaving ''Coronation Street'', she has played Lady Mae in the ITV drama series ''

Mr Selfridge ''Mr Selfridge'' is a British period drama television series about Harry Gordon Selfridge and his department store, Selfridge & Co, in London, set from 1908 to 1928. It was co-produced by ITV Studios and Masterpiece/WGBH for broadcast on ITV ...

'' (2013–2014, 2016), Leah Dale in ITV drama ''Cheat'' (2019) and a lead role in the second series of ''

Innocent Innocence is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence is to the lack of legal guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime. In other contexts, it is a lack of experience. In relatio ...

'' as Sally Wright (2021). Kelly is also known for her roles in '' Happy Valley'', ''

Class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differently ...

'', ''The Night Manager'' (2016), '' Criminal: UK'' (2019–present), and as DI Karen Renton in the second series of '' Liar'' (2020).

Early life

Kelly was born in

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

. She grew up in both South Yorkshire and the USA. She has strong links with The Lamproom Theatre in Barnsley, established in 1998 by her father John (who is originally from

Castleisland Castleisland () is a town and commercial centre in County Kerry in south west Ireland. The town is known for the width of its main street. As of the 2016 Census, Castleisland had a population of 2,486. Castleisland was described by one of its ...

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

, Ireland), and has regularly supported fund-raising events held there. She trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art with fellow students

Meredith MacNeill Meredith MacNeill (born 1975) is a Canadian actress and comedian.

Leo Bill Leo Martin Bill (born 31 August 1980) is an English actor, best known for his role as James Brocklebank in the 2006 film '' The Living and the Dead'', as well as '' The Fall'', '' Alice in Wonderland'', and the FX/BBC One drama series ''Taboo'' ...

, Elliot Cowan, Laurence Fox, and actor/novelist, Anna Hope, graduating in 2001.

Career

Kelly starred in ITV soap opera '' Coronation Street'' as Becky McDonald from 2006 until 2012. Antony Cotton and Katherine Kelly

Kelly appeared on the 2010 album, ''Coronation Street: Rogues, Angels, Heroes & Fools''. Kelly, in character as Becky McDonald, sang the lead single from the album, ''If It's Too Late'', which was remixed by former

PWL Pete Waterman Entertainment (PWE) is the production company one-time pop and dance record label owned by British pop mogul Pete Waterman. The label, originally PWL (Pete Waterman Limited), is most famous for being the home of hit record prod ...

and Stock Aitken Waterman "Mixmaster", Pete Hammond. ''Coronation Street''. After she left ''Coronation Street'', she starred as Miss Hardcastle in '' She Stoops to Conquer'' at the National Theatre from 24 January 2012. Kelly's first television role after leaving ''Coronation Street'' was in the 90-minute

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

biopic ''The Best Possible Taste'', in which she played Lee Middleton, wife of

Kenny Everett Kenny Everett (born Maurice James Christopher Cole; 25 December 1944 – 4 April 1995) was an English comedian, radio disc jockey and television presenter. After spells on pirate radio and Radio Luxembourg in the mid-1960s, he was one of the fi ...

. In early 2013 she played socialite Lady Loxley in the ten part ITV drama series ''

'', later signing on to appear in the second series of the show in 2014 and its final series in 2016. Later in 2013 she joined the lead cast of '' The Field of Blood'', based on the novel by

Denise Mina Denise Mina (born 21 August 1966) is a Scottish crime writer and playwright. She has written the ''Garnethill'' trilogy and another three novels featuring the character Patricia "Paddy" Meehan, a Glasgow journalist. Described as an author of T ...

. Kelly played Maloney, an ambitious woman in the "ferociously male-dominated world of 1980s newspaper journalism". Also that year she starred in the three part ITV thriller, ''The Guilty'', as Claire Reid, mother to a missing five-year-old child. In 2014 she played Alaura Kingsley in the critically acclaimed production of City of Angels at the Donmar Warehouse directed by Josie Rourke. In August 2015 it was announced that Kelly would join the cast of '' Happy Valley'', which aired the following year. In the series Kelly portrays DI Jodie Shackleton, a part that was written for her by series creator Sally Wainwright. Kelly enjoyed the opportunity to play a character in her native Yorkshire accent, and prepared for the role by shadowing police detectives in Halifax. Also in 2016 she appeared as the Permanent Secretary in four episodes of ''

The Night Manager ''The Night Manager'' is an espionage novel by British writer John le Carré, published in 1993. It is his first post- Cold War novel, detailing an undercover operation to bring down a major international arms dealer. Plot summary Jonathan Pin ...

''. On 4 April 2016, it was announced that Kelly would appear in the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, cov ...

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

'' spin-off series ''

'' written by

Patrick Ness Patrick Ness (born 17 October 1971) is an American-British author, journalist, lecturer, and screenwriter. Born in the United States, Ness moved to London and holds dual citizenship. He is best known for his books for young adults, including t ...

, airing from October 2016. In October 2016, Kelly appeared as Hannah in ITV drama '' Him''. In 2018, Kelly made her first film appearance since 2009 in '' Dirty God'', playing Lisa, the protagonist Jade's mother. The following year, Kelly appeared in the feature film '' Official Secrets'', based on the real life events of intelligence whistleblower Katharine Gun (portrayed by Keira Knightley). In the film, Kelly plays Jacqueline Jones, an

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

agent who tacitly confirms the legitimacy of Gun's leaked memo to a journalist contact at '' The Observer''. The same year, Kelly appeared in an episode of '' Flack'', as Brooke. Later that year, Kelly portrayed Leah in four part ITV drama ''Cheat''. She plays DI Karen Renton in the second series of ''Liar'' for ITV/Two Brothers Pictures. In September, 2019, Netflix released its mini-series '' Criminal: UK'' with Kelly in the role of the lead investigator. Kelly joined the cast of '' Liar'' for its second series in 2020, playing Detective Karen Renton. A character bio for Renton describes her as an “unconventional” officer, whose “bluntness” often ruffles feathers. Of her role, Kelly stated “It's my belief that Karen Renton is that way because she has to be that, and if she wasn't that, I wouldn't believe that out of all the detectives that they could send from the Met to solve this front-page news story, why would they pick her if she wasn't excellent at her job?," she said. “I think she would have been chosen because she can act very quickly and very swiftly, and she has great instincts."

Personal life

Kelly married Ryan Clark in 2013 in Las Vegas. In 2014, she gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Orla Kelly Clark. On 21 October 2016, she gave birth to a second daughter, Rose Christie Clark. In August 2020 the couple announced their separation when Kelly relocated from her home in North London to her home town of Barnsley.

Filmography

Television

Film

Audio

Awards and nominations

National Television Awards

* Best Serial Drama Performance 2008 – nominated * Best Serial Drama Performance 2010 – nominated * Best Serial Drama Performance 2011 – nominated * Best Serial Drama Performance – 2012 – won

British Soap Awards

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress award ...

2008 – nominated * Best Comedy Performance 2008 – nominated * Best On-Screen Partnership 2008 (shared with

David Neilson David Neilson (born 13 March 1949) is an English actor. He is best known for his role as cafe owner Roy Cropper in the long running ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', which he has played since 1995. Early life Neilson was born in Loughb ...

) – nominated * Best Actress 2009 – won * Best On-Screen Partnership 2009 (shared with Simon Gregson) – nominated * Sexiest Female 2009 – nominated * Best Actress 2010 – nominated * Best On-Screen Partnership 2010 (shared with Simon Gregson) – nominated * Best Actress 2011 – nominated * Best On-Screen Partnership 2011 (shared with Simon Gregson) – nominated * Best Exit 2012 – won

Other

* Royal Television Society North West Awards 2008 – 'Best Performance in a Continuing Drama' – nominated * TV Times Awards 2008 – 'Editors Choice' – won *

TRIC Awards The Television and Radio Industries Club (widely known as TRIC) is a British institution chartered in 1931 to "promote goodwill in the television and radio industries". The Club holds an annual awards ceremony each March honouring achievement in te ...

2009 – 'Best Soap Personality' – won *

TV Now Awards The TV Now Awards (known presently for sponsorship reasons as the Walkers Sensations TV Now Awards) was an annual awards ceremony which took place in Ireland between 2006 and 2010. The awards celebrated television moments from the previous year, ...

2009 – 'Favourite Soap Female' – won * TV Now Awards 2009 – 'Favourite Soap Couple' – (shared with Simon Gregson) – won *

TV Quick ''TV Quick'' was a British weekly television listing magazine published by H Bauer Publishing, the UK subsidiary of family-run German company Bauer Media Group. It featured weekly television listings running from Saturday to Friday, and began pub ...

& TV Choice Awards 2009 – 'Best Soap Actress' – won *

TV Times ''TV Times'' is a British television listings magazine published by Future plc. It was originally published by Independent Television Publications, owned by the participating ITV companies. The magazine was acquired by IPC Media in 1989, which ...

Awards 2009 – 'Favourite Soap Star' – nominated * Royal Television Society North West Awards 2009 – 'Best Performance in a Continuing Drama' – nominated * TV Times Awards 2009 – 'Favourite Double Act' – (shared with Simon Gregson) – nominated * All About Soap Bubble Awards 2010 – 'Bride and Doom' (shared with Simon Gregson) – won * All About Soap Bubble Awards 2010 – 'Celeb Style' – nominated * TV Now Awards 2010 – 'Favourite Soap Female' – won * TV Quick Awards 2010 – 'Best Soap Actress' – shortlisted * TV Times Awards 2010 – 'Favourite Soap Star' – nominated * ''Inside Soap'' Awards 2010 – 'Best Actress' – shortlisted * ''Inside Soap'' Awards 2010 – 'Best Wedding' (shared with Simon Gregson) – shortlisted * All About Soap Bubble Awards 2011 – 'Best Actress' – nominated * TV Quick Awards 2011 – 'Best Soap Actress' – shortlisted * ''Inside Soap'' Awards 2011 – 'Best Actress' – shortlisted * ''Inside Soap'' Awards 2011 – 'Best Dramatic Performance' – nominated * ''Inside Soap'' Awards 2011 – 'Best Wedding' (shared with Simon Gregson) – nominated * Shorty Awards 2012 – 'Best Actress' – nominated

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Katherine Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art English soap opera actresses English television actresses English film actresses English people of Irish descent 1979 births Living people Actors from Barnsley Actresses from Yorkshire