Keeley Hawes Biography

Clare Julia "Keeley" Hawes is an English actress born in Paddington, London, England. The youngest of four children, Keeley started acting at an early age. She attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School, where she became friends with singer Emma Bunton and actress Kellie Bright.

During her teenage years, Keeley was approached by a modeling scout and eventually signed with Select Model Management. She would appear in numerous features for the teen magazine Shout. Keeley would eventually go on to become a fashion intern at Cosmopolitan, and it was during this period that she was first asked to audition for a film.

Keeley spent the first few years of her acting career on television, starting in 1989. Most of her roles were small, only appearing in a handful of episodes. She made her feature film debut with The Avengers (1998) with Ralph Fiennes, Uma Thurman, and Sean Connery. As her career progressed, Keeley has bounced back and forth between film and television.

On the small screen, Keeley has appeared in Line of Duty as Lindsay Denton. She joined during the series' second season and received critical acclaim for her performance, culminating in a BAFTA TV nomination for Best Leading Actress.

Keeley is a three-time BAFTA TV nominee. The other instance was in 2019, where she was a double nominee for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Dorothy Wick in Mrs. Wilson and Best Lead Actress for her role as Home Secretary Julia Montague on the TV series Bodyguard (2019).

On the big screen, Keeley has appeared in films such as Death at a Funeral (2007) with her husband Matthew Macfadyen and High-Rise (2015) with Tom Hiddleston and Jeremy Irons.

Keeley appeared in Scoop (2024) alongside Gillian Anderson, Billie Piper, and Rufus Sewell. The film was about the story of how BBC Newsnight obtained the bombshell interview with Prince Andrew regarding his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Keeley played Amanda Thirsk, the former private secretary to Prince Andrew. Keeley did not meet Amanda and described the process of playing a real person as tricky.

In addition to on-screen roles, Keeley has also provided her voice as Lara Croft in a number of the Tomb Raider video games.

Keeley has three children, two with her husband Matthew Macfadyen and one with her ex-husband Spencer McCallum.

Filmography:

Scoop (2024)
To Olivia (2021)
Rebecca (2020)
Misbehaviour (2020)
High-Rise (2015)
The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box (2013)
Flashbacks of a Fool (2008)
The Bank Job (2008)
Death at a Funeral (2007)
Tristram Shandy (2005)
Chaos and Cadavers (2003)
Complicity (2000)
The Last September (1999)
The Avengers (1998)