Paula Malcomson

Paula Malcomson was born on June 1, 1970, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She left home at the age of 15 to travel around Europe and eventually landed in New York's East Village in 1991. She now lives in Los Angeles with her pets.

After starting her career in theater, Paula Malcomson landed her first movie role in 1992 in ‘Another Girl Another Planet’. While working as a bartender in New York, she was discovered by the director of the film, Michael Almereyda, who cast her as a bartender in the film. The following year, she was cast as Allie Earp in ‘Tombstone,’ an American Western film directed by George P. Cosmatos. In 1996, she was cast in ‘Dunston Checks In’, a comedy film directed by Ken Kwapis. She played the role of a bartender in ‘Trance’, a 1998 horror film directed by Michael Almereyda.

She portrayed the role of Marjorie Detterick in the 1999 film ‘The Green Mile’, a fantasy crime drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont. The film was a box office success, and was nominated for four Academy Awards. The next year, she was cast as Marcella in ‘Hamlet’, a drama film written and directed by Michael Almereyda. In the same year, she was seen in the television series ‘The Practice’ and ‘Strong Medicine’, and the television film ‘Baby’. She appeared in one episode of ‘The Practice’, a legal drama series, created by David E. Kelley. The show won the Emmy in 1998 and 1999 for the Best Drama Series.

In 2001, she was cast in the blockbuster film ‘A.I. Artificial Intelligence’, a science fiction drama film directed by Steven Spielberg. Her most notable role was as Trixie in ‘Deadwood’, an American western television series written, created, and produced by David Milch. The series premiered on HBO in 2004. Paula did 36 episodes of the series which won eight Emmy Awards and several nominations. She received wide critical acclaim for her performance. In 2007, she, along with the rest of the cast, earned the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.

She is also known for her role in the television series ‘Ray Donovan.’ She played Abby, the wife of the titular Ray Donovan, in the hit drama. During the fifth season, her character died in the episode, ‘Horses’, after suffering from breast cancer.

In 2017, the actress was featured in two films and a series—‘Grass Stains’, a drama thriller film directed and written by Kyle Wilamowski; ‘We Have Always Lived in the Castle’, a mystery thriller film directed by Stacie Passon; and ‘Broken,’ a six-part British television drama series, created by Jimmy McGovern.