Ruth Gemmell

Ruth Katrin Gemmell (born October 1967) is an English actress. She starred in the film Fever Pitch in 1997 which was followed by supporting roles in television series EastEnders, Casualty, Home Fires and Penny Dreadful. She has played Carly Beaker, the mother of title character in the Tracy Beaker franchise since 2004. In 2020, she began playing Lady Violet Bridgerton in the Netflix series Bridgerton. Ruth Katrin Gemmell was born in October 1967 in Bristol and grew up in County Durham, first in Barnard Castle before moving to Darlington with her mother upon her parents' divorce. She has three brothers. She attended Polam Hall School. Gemmell later moved to London, where her father lived, to pursue acting. She trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. Gemmell has played roles in both theatre and TV dramas. She played the leading female role Fever Pitch, based on Nick Hornby's novel of the same name, starring opposite Colin Firth and had another leading role in the comedy/drama 2 January (2006). She played the recurring character of Detective Constable Kerry Cox in the first series of the BBC police procedural Silent Witness, which premiered in 1996. She returned to the series as different characters in 2006 and 2014.