Pearl Mackie

1. Early life and education

Pearl Mackie was born on 29 May 1987, in South London, England, and grew up in Brixton. Her heritage includes paternal West Indian and maternal English descent. She is the granddaughter of Philip Mackie, a notable screenwriter known for his work on The Naked Civil Servant.

Mackie received her education at Burntwood School in Tooting, London. She pursued higher education at the University of Bristol, where she earned a degree in Drama. During her university studies, she actively participated in various workshops and numerous extra-curricular theatrical plays, honing her acting skills. In 2010, she graduated from the prestigious Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. In the same year, Mackie was nominated for the BBC Carleton Hobbs Award for her outstanding duologues in the school play Noughts & Crosses, a recognition shared with Roddy Peters. Beyond her native English, Mackie is also proficient in French and Spanish.

2. Career

Pearl Mackie's career spans across television, film, theatre, and audio, showcasing her versatility as an actress.

2.1. Early career

Pearl Mackie's professional acting career began in 2010 after graduating from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Her early mainstream roles included an appearance as a front of house girl in the 2013 music comedy film Svengali. In 2014, she secured her first major television role as Anne-Marie Frasier in the BBC One soap opera Doctors.

The same year, Mackie made her mark in theatre, playing the young computer genius Mia in Crystal Springs at the Park Theatre in London. She also appeared in the political satire Obama-ology at the Finborough Theatre in west London, where she played the roles of Cece and Caits, two young women discovering their voices. In 2015, she performed in the National Theatre's West End production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. Mackie also featured in Date Aid, a 2015 short film produced by Bond, which served as a satirical public service announcement. Additionally, Mackie has contributed to the development of young talent by working as an acting tutor for Troupers, a company dedicated to teaching theatre skills to children and young people.

2.2. Doctor Who

On 23 April 2016, it was officially announced that Pearl Mackie would join the cast of the iconic British television series Doctor Who as Bill Potts, the new companion to The Doctor. Her casting was a significant moment for the series, and in March 2017, it was further revealed that Bill Potts would be the first openly gay main companion in the show's history, a development that garnered considerable media attention and praise for its contribution to LGBTQ+ representation on mainstream television. Mackie appeared in 13 episodes of Series 10 in 2017.

2.3. Television

Following her prominent role in Doctor Who, Mackie continued to expand her television credits. After production on Doctor Who Series 10 wrapped, she appeared in other notable television productions. In 2018, she guest-starred as Sleeping Beauty in the "Celebrity Christmas Special" episode of The Crystal Maze and played Elsa Powers in two episodes of Gods of Medicine. The following year, 2019, saw her in the role of Kay in the "Andy & The Donald" episode of Urban Myths and as the voice of Pops Popowski in the short animated film Pops and Branwell. In 2020, she guest-starred as Lucy One in two episodes of Friday Night Dinner. Her subsequent roles include DS Jen Rafferty in all four episodes of The Long Call in 2021, and voice roles as Gena in 17 episodes of Lloyd of the Flies and Grafifi in 13 episodes of Best & Bester, both in 2022. In 2023, she played Honour Newton in four episodes of Tom Jones. Since 2023, she has held a recurring role as Alysse in the Netflix series The Diplomat, appearing in 12 episodes, with a likely return for future seasons.

2.4. Film

Pearl Mackie has also contributed to various film projects, including both feature films and short films. Her filmography includes:

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	Svengali	Front of House girl
2015	Date Aid	Sarah	Short film
2018	Origami	Heather	Short film
2019	Greed	Cathy
2020	Horizon Line	Pascale
	The Lennox Report	Tarnia	Short film
	Copycats	Lady Isabelle Sausage	Short film
2022	The Deal	Kabira
2023	Your Move	Patricia	Short film
TBA	Tyger	Sarah	Completed

2.5. Theatre

Mackie has an extensive background in theatre, performing in a variety of plays across different venues.

Year	Title	Role	Theatre	Location
2010	The Comedy of Errors	Adriana	Circomedia	Bristol
2010	The Crucible	Tituba	Theatre Royal	Bristol
2012	Only Human	Nina	Theatre503	London
2012	Home	Woman 1 / Pattie Mae	The Last Refuge	London
2014	Crystal Springs	Mia	Park Theatre	London
	Obama-ology	Cece	Finborough Theatre	London
	Disnatured	Regan	RIFT Theatre	London
	Hello Kind World	Unknown	The Drayton Arms	London
2015	The Helen Project	Helen of Troy	The Face to Face Festival	London
2015	A Mad World, My Masters	Truly Kidman	Theatre Royal	Brighton
2015-2016	The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time	Punk Girl / Information Lady / No.40	Gielgud Theatre	London
2018	The Birthday Party	Lulu	Harold Pinter Theatre	London
2020	Bubble	Ashley	Nottingham Playhouse	Nottingham
2024-2025	Ballet Shoes	Sylvia	National Theatre	London

2.6. Radio and Audio

Mackie has also lent her voice to numerous radio dramas and audio projects, showcasing her vocal acting range.

Year	Title	Role	Production	Notes
2013	Great Expectations	Miss Havisham	BBC Radio 4
2013	Romeo and Juliet	Juliet
2017	Adulting	Charlotte	BBC Radio 2	6 episodes
2018	Proposal	Lucy	BBC Radio 2
2019	Prepper	Rachel	BBC Radio 4	4 episodes
2019	Forest 404	Pan	BBC Radio 4	27 episodes
2021	Doctor Faustus	Wagner	BBC Radio 3
2017	The Last Namsara	Asha
2019	The Conception of Terror	Mika Chantry
2020	Ladybird Stories for Rainy Days	Narrator
	Beatrix Potter: The Complete Tales	Narrator
	Paper Thin	Vanessa
	Cold Comfort Farm	Narrator
2021	Sour Hall	Ash		6 episodes
2022	Delphine Jones Takes a Chance	Narrator

2.7. Music videos and commercials

Pearl Mackie has also appeared in music videos and various commercial advertisements.

Year	Title	Artist	Director	Role
2014	"Real"	Years & Years	Robert Francis Müller	Clubber

Year	Brand	Company
2020	Westgate Oxford	VCCP
	Uber	72andSunny
	Barclays	Publicis
	Sainsbury's	Global Radio
	Diet Coke	Wieden+Kennedy

2018: Screen Nation Film & TV Awards - Female Performance in TV for Doctor Who

4.2. Nominations

2010: BBC Carleton Hobbs Awards - Outstanding Duologues for the BOVTS play Noughts & Crosses
2017: TV Times Awards - Favourite Newcomer for Doctor Who
2017: Heat's Unmissables Awards - Best Actress for Doctor Who
2021: Critics' Choice Documentary Awards - Best Narration for The Real Charlie Chaplin
2022: DIVA Awards - Actor of the Year

4.3. Honorable mentions

2020: Screen Nation Film & TV Awards - Female Performance in TV for various roles

5. External links

[https://twitter.com/pearlie_mack Pearl Mackie on Twitter]
[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4929530/ Pearl Mackie on IMDb]