Paula Sage (born 28 November 1980) is a Scottish actress,

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in ...

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

player, and advocate for people with

Down syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...

Early life

Sage was adopted as an infant. Her parents are Alan and Mary Sage. Her father is a university lecturer. She attended primary school and high school in

Cumbernauld Cumbernauld (; gd, Comar nan Allt, meeting of the streams) is a large town in the historic county of Dunbartonshire and council area of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the tenth most-populous locality in Scotland and the most populated t ...

, and attended the Merkland school in Kirkintilloch.

Career

Sage's performance in the 2003 British film '' AfterLife'', playing Roberta Brogan, brought her a BAFTA Scotland award for best first time performance and Best Actress in the Bratislava International Film Festival, 2004. Her character is sister to

Kevin McKidd Kevin McKidd (born 9 August 1973) is a Scottish actor and television director. Before playing the role of Dr. Owen Hunt in '' Grey's Anatomy'', for which he is widely known, McKidd appeared as Tommy Mackenzie in Danny Boyle's '' Trainspotting' ...

's character, and daughter to

Lindsay Duncan Lindsay Vere Duncan (born 7 November 1950) is a Scottish actress. On stage, she has won two Olivier Awards (for ''Les Liaisons Dangereuses'' and ''Private Lives'') and a Tony Award (for ''Private Lives''). She has starred in several plays by Ha ...

's. In review, critic Liz Hoggard found "the most remarkable thing about the film is the purity of Sage's performance." ''AfterLife'' also won the Audience Award at the 2005

Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is a film festival that runs for two weeks in June each year. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all ti ...

. It also won Sage a role as Donna McCabe in BBC Scotland's ''

River City ''River City'' is a Scottish television soap opera that was first broadcast on BBC One Scotland on 24 September 2002. ''River City'' follows the lives of the people who live and work in the fictional district of Shieldinch. In November 2017, a s ...

'' soap. Sage won a silver medal as a member of the British netball team at the Special Olympics. She is an ambassador for Down's Syndrome Scotland and

Mencap The Royal Mencap Society is a charity based in the United Kingdom that works with people with a learning disability. Its Charity Number is 222377. History Established by Judy Fryd in 1946 as The National Association of Parents of Backwards Ch ...

, and a patron of the Ann Craft Trust. She was the first person with Down syndrome to be a Mencap ambassador. She worked part-time at a travel agency and cafe in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

References

External links

*
Paula Sage interview
on ''Woman's Hour'' (13 August 2004).
A 2004 photograph of Paula Sage and Shirley Henderson
at Getty Images. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sage, Paula Actors with Down syndrome Living people 1980 births People from Cumbernauld Scottish netball players Scottish film actresses Special Olympics Scottish soap opera actresses