Gina Bellman

{{Infobox person

| name = Gina Bellman

| image = Gina Bellman on Sidewalks Entertainment.jpg

| caption = Bellman in 2023

| birthname =

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1966}}

| birth_place = Auckland, New Zealand

| death_date =

| death_place =

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Lucho Brieva|2005|2007|end=divorced}}
{{marriage|Zaab Sethna
|2013}}

}}

| children = 1

| occupation = Actress

| years_active = 1982–present

}}

Gina Bellman (born 10 July 1966){{cite book|last=McFarlane|first=Brian|title=The Encyclopedia of British Film|year=2005|publisher=Methuen Publishing|isbn=978-0-413-77526-9|page=58}} is a New Zealand-born British actress. She played grifter Sophie Devereaux in the TNT television series Leverage (2008-2012) and its Amazon Freevee revival Leverage: Redemption (2021-), as well as Jane Christie in the BBC sitcom Coupling (2000-2004).

Early life

Bellman was born in Auckland, New Zealand, to Jewish parents of Russian and Polish descent{{cite news|last=Cavendish|first=Lucy|title=Gina Genie|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=31 March 2007|url=http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG3359830/Gina-Genie.html|access-date=25 August 2012|archive-date=12 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912234531/http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG3359830/Gina-Genie.html|url-status=dead}} who emigrated to New Zealand from the United Kingdom in the 1950s. Her family returned to Britain when she was 11 years old. She was educated at Rosh Pinah Primary School and JFS in London.[https://www.thejc.com/culture/interviews/interview-gina-bellman-1.52051 Interview: Gina Bellman], The Jewish Chronicle, 17 January 2014

Career

After making her television acting debut in an episode of Into the Labyrinth in 1982, and a two-episode stint in Grange Hill in 1984, she became a household name for her performance in the title role in Dennis Potter's drama Blackeyes. She is also well known for playing Jane in the sitcom

Coupling. Her other TV roles include Waking the Dead, Jonathan Creek, Little Napoleons, and one-off appearances in Only Fools and Horses and Hotel Babylon.

She has also appeared in several feature films including King David (1985), which starred Richard Gere and Edward Woodward, Secret Friends (1991), Leon the Pig Farmer (1992), and Silent Trigger (1996) opposite Dolph Lundgren.

She co-starred alongside James Nesbitt in the 2007 BBC One drama serial Jekyll, a modern-day sequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, written by Coupling author Steven Moffat.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/08_august/29/jekyll.shtml|title=An all-star cast to appear in BBC ONE's Jekyll|publisher=BBC Press Office|date=29 August 2006|access-date=30 August 2006}}

In 2008, she began appearing on the TNT channel's serial drama Leverage, starring Timothy Hutton, for which she was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress in Television, but lost to Lucy Lawless.{{cite web |url=http://www.electricentertainment.com/news/electric-entertainment%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cleverage%E2%80%9D-has-been-nominated-for-three-saturn-awards/ |title=Electric Entertainment's Leverage has been nominated for three Saturn Awards and two Prism Awards |date=19 February 2010 |publisher=electricentertainment.com |access-date=25 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110915171604/http://www.electricentertainment.com/news/electric-entertainment%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cleverage%E2%80%9D-has-been-nominated-for-three-saturn-awards/ |archive-date=15 September 2011 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |publisher=ComingSoon.net |title=TNT Orders 13 Episodes of Leverage |url=http://www.comingsoon.net/news/tvnews.php?id=41935 |access-date=1 July 2008 |date=13 February 2008 |archive-date=25 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925214409/http://www.comingsoon.net/news/tvnews.php?id=41935 |url-status=dead }}

In 2013, Bellman narrated poetry for The Love Book App, an interactive anthology of love literature developed by Allie Byrne Esiri.{{cite web|url=http://www.iliterature.net/thelovebook/#the-actors|title=The Love Book|access-date=3 October 2015|archive-date=23 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923094407/http://www.iliterature.net/thelovebook/#the-actors|url-status=dead}} In late 2013, she played the role of "The Italian Woman" in the National Theatre's production of the Georg Kaiser play From Morning to Midnight.{{cite web |url =http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/from-morning-to-midnight?cast |access-date =15 December 2013 |publisher =The National Theatre |title =From Morning to Midnight |url-status =dead |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20140111050435/http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/from-morning-to-midnight?cast |archive-date =11 January 2014 }}

Since 2021, Bellman has reprised the role of Sophie Deveraux in Leverage: Redemption, a revival of Leverage.

Personal life

From 2005 to 2007, Bellman was married to Lucho Brieva.{{cn|date=March 2024}}

In 2009, she had a daughter with Zaab Sethna, whom she met just after shooting the Leverage pilot.{{Cite web|last=Nathan|first=John|date=24 November 2013|title=Gina Bellman 'I was never comfortable with the whole sex symbol thing'|url=https://www.thejc.com/culture/features/gina-bellman-i-was-never-comfortable-with-the-sex-symbol-thing-1.51137|access-date=17 July 2020|website=www.thejc.com}} She and Sethna married in 2013.