Catherine McCormack


Catherine Jane McCormack is a British actress of stage and screen. Her film appearances include Braveheart, The Land Girls, Dangerous Beauty, Dancing at Lughnasa, Spy Game, and 28 Weeks Later. Her theatre work includes National Theatre productions of All My Sons and Honour.

Early life

McCormack was born in Epsom, Surrey, England. She is of part Irish ancestry as one of her grandfathers was Irish. Her mother died of lupus when McCormack was six years old and her steelworker father subsequently raised her and her brother Stephen. She was brought up as Roman Catholic and attended the Convent of Our Lady of Providence. She went on to study at the Oxford School of Drama.

Career

Film

McCormack's first important role was as the character Murron MacClannough in the multiple Academy Award-winning film Braveheart. Her screen debut was as the lead in the Anna Campion-directed film Loaded. She has subsequently stated that she had a "miserable time with the director... it was my first film job, I needed to be mollycoddled, I needed to be helped through it, and I wasn't. Mostly, it was a horrible experience."
After Braveheart, McCormack starred alongside Anna Friel and Rachel Weisz in David Leland's The Land Girls and had lead roles in Nils Gaup's Northstar and Marshall Herskovitz's Dangerous Beauty Other films include Spy Game and 28 Weeks Later. Despite being in demand, she does few films, stating that "I read very few scripts I'm passionate about... Maybe one in every twenty or thirty."

Theatre

McCormack has shown a preference in her career for the theatre, saying that "theatre really is an actor's medium: you're on stage with no director anymore, whereas in film very rarely do you get much rehearsal other than running through the scene very quickly. Then everyone comes in and shoots it." McCormack was one of the original 2006 London cast of Patrick Barlow's play of The 39 Steps. In 2008, she performed the role of Nora in A Doll's House, directed by Peter Hall at the Theatre Royal, Bath, and also the role of Isabel Archer in a stage adaptation of The Portrait of a Lady, both of which commenced their runs in July 2008, ending in August, before transferring to the Rose Theatre in Kingston later that year.
In 2009, she appeared in the British tour of Headlong's adaptation of Six Characters in Search of an Author. In 2012, she starred as Juana Inés de la Cruz in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Helen Edmundson's play The Heresy of Love.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1994LoadedRose
1995BraveheartMurron MacClannough
1996North StarSarah
1998'Stella
1998Dangerous BeautyVeronica Franco
1998Dancing at LughnasaChristina 'Chrissy' Mundy
1999This Year's LoveHannah
1999The Debtors
2000Shadow of the VampireGreta Schröder
2000'Mary Neubauer
2000'Jean Janes
2000Born RomanticJocelyn
2001'Francesca Deane
2001Spy GameElizabeth Hadley
2004StringsZita
2005'Sonia Rand
2006RenaissanceBislane Tasuiev
2007'Kristina Baumgarten / Tosca
200728 Weeks LaterAlice
2013'Rebecca AshtonPost-production
2014Magic in the MoonlightOlivia
2016The JourneyKate Elgar
2017La promesse de l'aubeLesley Blanch
2019The Song of NamesHelen
2019CordeliaKate

YearTitleRoleNotes
1994WycliffeAsenath GardnerEpisode: "The Scapegoat"
1997Deacon BrodieAnnie GrantTV film
1999Love in the 21st CenturyFayEpisode: "Reproduction"
2001ArmadilloFlaviaTV film
2004Gunpowder, Treason & PlotQueen Elizabeth ITV film
2005Kenneth Tynan: In Praise of HardcoreKathleen TynanTV film
2006'Elizabeth DavidTV film
2006'Poppaea SabinaEpisode: "Nero"
2008Midnight ManAlice RossTV miniseries
2011Lights OutTheresa Leary13 episodes
2013LucanVeronicaTV miniseries
2016SherlockLady CarmichaelEpisode "The Abominable Bride"
2017GeniusMarija Ružić–Marić
2018Women on the VergeClaireTV Series
2018TempleBeth MiltonTV miniseries- 8 episodes

YearTitleRoleNotes
1999Anna WeissAnna WeissWhitehall Theatre, London
2000All My SonsAnnNational Theatre
2001'BethDonmar Warehouse, London
2001Kiss Me Like You Mean ItRuthSoho Theatre, London
2001White HorsesPaulaGate Theatre, Dublin
2002FreeSophieNational Theatre
2002DinnerSianNational Theatre
2003HonourClaudiaNational Theatre
2003Under the CurseIphigeniaGate Theatre, London
2004Vermillion DreamMiriamSalisbury Playhouse
2006'VariousTricycle Theatre, London
2007'JoTheatre Royal Haymarket, London
2008'NoraTheatre Royal Haymarket, London
2008'Isabel ArcherTheatre Royal Haymarket, London
2009Six Characters in Search of an Author
2012Juana Inés de la CruzRoyal Shakespeare Company

Personal life

As of 2009 McCormack was living with her boyfriend in Richmond.