Justin McDonald

Early life

Justin Mark McDonald was born in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear in North East England. His keen interest in Art and Literature led him into acting at an early age and he was soon awarded a scholarship by the prestigious Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London where he gained a Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree in Acting, trained using the Meisner technique.

Career

McDonald went on to complete his studies early in order to film on the television drama Distant Shores for ITV Granada, playing series regular Ben McCallister. Following this he has appeared in many acclaimed television productions such as Holby City, The Bill, Torchwood, Afterlife, Casualty, Emmerdale, Wolfblood and the crime detective series Inspector George Gently.

McDonald's first major film saw him appearing alongside Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor in the Beatrix Potter biopic Miss Potter as the young William Heelis, who encouraged the young Beatrix Potter to write and illustrate her stories. He then went on to appear in another British biopic playing Steve in And When Did You Last See Your Father? which starred Jim Broadbent and Colin Firth. The film was based on the memoirs of the same title written by Blake Morrison.

McDonald's stage debut came in 2010, playing the role of Klaus Voormann in the original stage adaptation of Backbeat. The untold story of The Beatles during their early Hamburg days.

As well as acting on stage and screen, McDonald is an accomplished voice over artist. He played the voice of Frank Simmons in the critically acclaimed Nintendo Wii Video Game Cursed Mountain. His voice career has also led him to the Monty Python comedy troupe, playing the voice of young David Sherlock in the animated feature film A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman

Personal life

He married actress Kate Hodgson in the Lake District in 2013.