Pearl Mackie

Pearl Mackie (born 29 May 1987) is a British actress. She is best known for playing Bill Potts in the long-running television series Doctor Who. Mackie is a graduate of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Her first major television role came in 2014, when she played Anne-Marie Frasier in BBC One soap opera Doctors. Early life Mackie grew up in Brixton in south London and is of paternal West Indian and maternal English descent. She is the granddaughter of Philip Mackie, who wrote the screenplay for The Naked Civil Servant. She was educated at Burntwood School in Tooting. She earned a degree in Drama from the University of Bristol, and speaks English, French and Spanish. During her studies she went to workshops and took part in many extra-curricular plays. In 2010 she graduated from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. In the same year Mackie was nominated for the BBC Carleton Hobbs Award for outstanding duologues in the school play Noughts & Crosses. Career Mackie appeared in an early mainstream role as a front of house girl in the 2013 music comedy Svengali. In 2014, Mackie played Anne-Marie Frasier in Doctors and the young computer genius Mia in Crystal Springs at the Park Theatre in London. She could also be seen in the political satire Obama-ology at the Finborough theatre in west London, playing Cece and Caits, two young women finding their voice.