Keely Hawkes

Born in London, England in 1976, Keeley Hawes grew up across the street from the Sylvia Young Theatre School, where she trained as an actress. Hawes was tempted by the world of modeling, but she continued to find work as an actress. She had a breakout year in 1996 when she was cast in the high profile British mini-series "Karaoke" (BBC One, 1996), in addition to playing supporting parts on episodes of three other series. She played a lead role on the mini-series' "Our Mutual Friend" (BBC Two, 1998) based on the book by Charles Dickens, and "Wives and Daughters" (BBC One, 1999). She played the lead character in "The Blonde Bombshell" (ITV, 1999), a 2-episode mini-series based on the life of Diana Dors, a British contemporary of Marilyn Monroe. In 2002, she premiered in what would be her longest running role to date, as a recurring character on the popular British TV series "Spooks" (BBC One, 2002-2011), which was renamed "MI-5" for international audiences. In 2006, Hawes took over as the voice of Lara Croft on the video game "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend" (2006), a role she continued to reprise for over ten years. She played the lead in police procedural "Ashes to Ashes" (BBC One, 2008-10), and the lady of the household in "Upstairs/Downstairs" (BBC One, 2010-12). In 2014, Hawes began a critically praised run as a series regular for two seasons of "Line of Duty" (BBC Two, 2012-16; BBC One 2017-). In 2016m she began her role as matriarch of the title family "The Durrells" (ITV, 2016-). The show follows the true story of the family as they moved from an English manor to the Greek island of Corfu.