Katie McGrath

Katie McGrath is an Irish actress who is best known for portraying Morgana on the BBC One show Merlin (2008–2012), Lucy Westenra on the British-American series Dracula (2013), Zara Young in the science fiction adventure film Jurassic World (2015), the lead role in the Canadian horror series Slasher (2016) and Lena Luthor, the younger sister of Lex Luthor, in Supergirl (2016–present). Early life McGrath was raised in Ashford, County Wicklow, Ireland by Paul, who works with computers, and Mary, who works for Lainey Keog, an Irish designer. She has two older brothers, Rory, an online media manager, and Sean, who is a post-production producer. She studied the International Baccalaureate at St. Andrew's College before graduating from Trinity College, Dublin with a degree in history with a focus in Russian history. Career McGrath originally wanted to work in fashion journalism and took a job at Image magazine, before becoming a wardrobe assistant on the set of The Tudors. While working on The Tudors, McGrath was advised to try acting, so she sent photographs around to Irish agents. She said: “Being an actress was kind of like when you’re a kid, and you want to run away and join the circus, it's something you really want to do, but then you grew up and got a proper job. It was a dream, but I didn’t think it would ever be reality, and yet here I am!” McGrath was cast in Damage, an Irish TV-movie in 2007. She also starred in Bedrock Productions's play La Marea at the Dublin Theatre Festival in the same year. She appeared in the feature films Eden and Freakdog in 2008, before being cast as Morgana Pendragon in Merlin. In 2009, McGrath starred in a five-part docudrama for Channel 4 exploring the life of Queen Elizabeth II, The Queen, in which she played a young Princess Margaret. Emilia Fox portrayed Elizabeth II in the same episode in which McGrath appeared; the two had previously worked together as sisters Morgause and Morgana in Merlin. In 2010, McGrath was cast in Madonna's directorial debut W.E., an Edward VIII biopic. McGrath played Lady Furness, the king's former mistress who introduces him to Wallis Simpson. 2011 saw McGrath film the comedy-drama A Princess for Christmas in Romania. In September 2011, McGrath voice-acted the lead character in the Irish animated short film Tríd an Stoirm (Through the Storm). Later that month, McGrath was cast as Oriane Congost in Labyrinth. McGrath was reunited with her The Tudors co-star and close friend Jonathan Rhys Meyers in NBC and Sky Living's horror drama TV series Dracula; she portrayed Lucy Westenra. In June 2013, McGrath co-starred in episode four of the Channel 4 show Dates as a young lesbian on the dating scene alongside Gemma Chan. In November 2014, McGrath co-starred in a Hozier music video for the song "From Eden". In 2015, McGrath had a supporting role as Zara in the film Jurassic World and starred in the Crackle original spy-thriller, The Throwaways. McGrath is the lead actress in Chiller’s original series Slasher which premiered on 4 March 2016. In 2016, it was announced that McGrath would play the recurring role of Lena Luthor in season 2 of Supergirl. She appeared in the season 2 premier episode entitled "The Adventures of Supergirl" and was promoted to a series regular in March 2017 for their third season. She co-starred in Guy Ritchie's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword which was released in 2017. In 2017, the movie Buttons in which she plays one of the main characters will premiere on PBS.