How a bit-part Holby City actress conquered HollywoodKelly Marcel has done enough acting
to last a lifetime. She started at the age of three, appearing in Prey, a
horror film directed by her father Terry.
The audience watched as she was covered in raw liver and eaten by a cannibal.
And,
in her view at least, it didn’t get much better. Throughout her 20s,
Kelly had bit-part after bit-part in The Bill, Casualty and one-off TV
dramas.
But it was when she
was lying on her back on the set of Holby City, covered in fake sweat
and with her legs in the air, that she realised something had to change.
‘I was pretending to
give birth,’ she explains. ‘I’d never had a baby, hadn’t a clue what to
do and thought, “This is my worst experience ever.” ’
So,
aged 30, and confident that her professional life was unlikely to
improve, she swapped it all for a £4.50-an-hour job in a South London
video shop. Now, seven years later, she is one of the most sought-after
writing talents in Hollyw…