Keeley Hawes (Wendy Leather) attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School with Spice Girl Emma Bunton, before being ‘discovered’ in London’s Oxford Street at the age of 15 and becoming a successful model. A casting agent, who had seen pictures of her in campaigns for Sisley and Benetton, asked her to audition for Dennis Potter’s Karaoke, starring Albert Finney (and co-starring Saffron Burrows). Her film and television roles have included Cynthia in “Wives and Daughters”, the young Diana Dors in “Blonde Bombshell” and Kitty Butler in the controversial “Tipping the Velvet”. She became a household name with her role as Zoë in the hit British TV spy series “Spooks” and then went on to appear in feature films such as Michael Winterbottom’s A Cock and Bull Story and Frank Oz’s Death at a Funeral.
Keeley Hawes, born in London in 1977, was ‘discovered’ at age 15 and became a successful, though reluctant, model. After a couple of years a casting agent, who had seen pictures of her in campaigns for Sisley and Benetton, asked her to come in for an audition. Her career — and life — then changed direction.
Despite her Irish name, she has no Irish links. She comes from Marylebone where her father was a cabbie. She has three siblings and claims to be “a regular Londoner and homebody”. Hawes’ second husband is actor Matthew MacFadyen (Pride & Prejudice) with whom she has a child, and with whom she stars in the BBC intelligence drama Spooks (also known as MI-5).
(Source: The Bank Job production notes, Under the Greenwood Tree bio page in PBS)