Rebecca Atkinson (born 22 September 1983) is an English actress, known for portraying

Karen Maguire The following is a list of fictional characters from the English comedy-drama '' Shameless'', created by Paul Abbott, which was on Channel 4 between 2004 and 2013. The programme is set on the fictional Chatsworth Estate in suburban Manchester ...

in '' Shameless'' from 2004 until 2013.

Early life and education

Atkinson studied theatre and dance at

Preston College Preston College is a further education college in the city of Preston, Lancashire, England. The college originally opened as W. R. Tuson College in September 1974 and was renamed Preston College on 1 September 1989. Campus The college had ...

Career

Before her television appearances, Atkinson attended the David Johnson Drama and taught dancing in

Goostrey Goostrey is an old farming village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is located in open countryside, 14 miles NE of Crewe and 12 miles W of Macclesfield. Goostrey Par ...

for the Glenda Ann School of Dancing. In 2004, Atkinson began playing

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's popular comedy drama series, '' Shameless'', and appeared in all 11 series. She has also appeared in ''

Life On Mars The possibility of life on Mars is a subject of interest in astrobiology due to the planet's proximity and similarities to Earth. To date, no proof of past or present life has been found on Mars. Cumulative evidence suggests that during the ...

'', ''

Ideal Ideal may refer to: Philosophy * Ideal (ethics), values that one actively pursues as goals * Platonic ideal, a philosophical idea of trueness of form, associated with Plato Mathematics * Ideal (ring theory), special subsets of a ring considere ...

'' and

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air 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, covering all genres including animation, comedy, curre ...

sitcom '' Trexx and Flipside''. In October 2016, Atkinson joined the cast of

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...

soap opera, ''

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 ...

'', as Belinda Roberts. She has had minor parts in many shows, including playing Asia in four episodes of BBC comedy series ''

'', and two episodes of ''

New Street Law ''New Street Law'' is a British legal drama television series produced by Red Production Company in association with One-Eyed Dog Ltd for BBC One. The series was created by G. F. Newman and Matthew Hall, and starred an ensemble cast headed by ...

'', where she played a character named Susie Hardwick. She appeared in '' Heartbeat'' in 2002 and 2006 playing two different characters. She has also had single appearances in ''Life on Mars'', ''

Holby City ''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama ''Casualty'', and pr ...

'', ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused on ...

'', ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...

'', ''

Doctors Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

'' and ''

The Royal ''The Royal'' is a British period medical drama, produced by Yorkshire Television (later part of ITV Studios), and broadcast on ITV1 from 2003 until its cancellation in 2011. The series is set in the 1960s and focuses on the lives of the st ...

''. She appeared in ''

Children's Ward ''Children's Ward'' (retitled ''The Ward'' from 1995 to 1998) is a British children's television drama series produced by Granada Television and broadcast on the ITV network as part of its '' Children's ITV'' strand on weekday afternoons. The p ...

''. She also appeared in the film adaptation of Kevin Sampson's ''

Awaydays ''Awaydays'' is a 2009 British crime drama film directed by Pat Holden and starring Nicky Bell, Liam Boyle and Stephen Graham. It is based on the novel of the same name by Kevin Sampson that was published in 1998. The film follows Paul Cart ...

'', released in 2009.

Personal life

Her partner is ''Shameless'' co-star,

Ben Batt Ben Batt (born 7 February 1986) is an English actor, best known for his role as the villainous List of Shameless (British TV series) characters#Joe Pritchard, Joe Pritchard in Channel 4's comedy drama ''Shameless (UK TV series), Shameless''. He ...

, who played Joe Pritchard. They met on the set in 2008 and shared numerous storylines together. In 2016, she gave birth to their son.

Filmography

References

External links

* Living people 1983 births English television actresses Actresses from Lancashire Actresses from Salford 21st-century English actresses {{UK-tv-actor-1980s-stub