Ruth Connell

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Born in Falkirk and raised outside Bonnybridge, she is the only child of football manager and coach David Connell and teacher Fiona Murray. Connell was sent to dancing lessons at an early age to keep her cousin company; she showed promise and was accepted onto the Scottish Ballets Vocational Dance Education Scheme. She performed many child roles with Scottish Ballet including the lead role of Clara in their Nutcracker. She won the titles of Scottish Junior Ballet Champion and Scottish Senior Ballet champion at Stage Festivals in Scotland as a teenager.

After working as a professional dancer with companies The Curve Foundation, Jazz Art UK, and with Leah Stein at Dancebase Edinburgh, Connell attended the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in London where she gained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Acting. She was picked as the "Critics Choice" by the adjudicator from The Stage newspaper for her graduation showcase. After leaving drama college, she performed the lead role of Grusha in Bertolt Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle, which toured for The Palace Theatre, Watford in 2004.{{cite web|title=The Caucasian Chalk Circle – The Bull Arts Centre, High Barnet, London|url=http://www.culturewars.org.uk/2003-02/caucasian.htm|publisher=Culture Wars|access-date=6 October 2014}}

Connell toured the UK in 2005 with the Oxford Stage Company's revival of Men Should Weep in the role of Isa.{{cite web|title=Tours: National Hero, Earnest & Men Should Weep|url=http://www.whatsonstage.com/west-end-theatre/news/08-2005/tours-national-hero-earnest-and-men-should-weep_23501.html|publisher=What's On Stage|access-date=6 October 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209134720/http://www.whatsonstage.com/west-end-theatre/news/08-2005/tours-national-hero-earnest-and-men-should-weep_23501.html|archive-date=9 December 2014|df=dmy-all}} In 2006 she played the lead female roles of Gretchen and Helen of Troy in Faust at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. The production was CATS-nominated Critics Awards for theatre in Scotland.{{cite web|title=Faust parts 1&2|url=http://www.theskinny.co.uk/theatre/features/42269-faust_parts_12|publisher=The Skinny|access-date=6 October 2014}} In 2007 Connell played ballroom dancer Lily at the Citizens Theater's sell out production of Alex Norton's No Mean City and in 2008, Connell played the dual roles of Mrs. Beaver/Mrs. Mcready to glowing reviews The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at The Royal Lyceum Edinburgh.{{cite web|title=The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Lyceum, Review|url=http://www.edinburghguide.com/reviews/theatre/thelionthewitchandthewardrobelyceumreview-2748|publisher=Edinburgh Guide|access-date=6 October 2014}}

Connell was cast as a series regular in the ITV sitcom pilot Above Their Stations in 2009, which also starred Denis Lawson, Ashley Madekwe, Andrew Brooke and Simon Dudley shown on BBC Three. Connell is also credited with producing A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hansel and Gretel at the Avenue Theatre Company based in Greenwich during this time period as well as the short film Sapphire Strange and web series John and Jane.

Since moving to the United States in 2011, Connell has had lead roles in the award-winning independent film Folklore as well as in the feature films The Cursed Man, based on the cult novel by Keith Rommel, and Hara Kiri, a punk infused love story of two street skaters, directed by Aitch Alberto. She has replaced Kelly Macdonald as the voice of Merida in several productions, such as the video game Disney Infinity 3.0, Disney Dreamlight Valley{{Cite video game |title=Disney Infinity 3.0 |year=2015 |scene=Closing credits, 5:39 in, Featuring the Voice Talents of |developer=Avalanche Software}} and the Sofia the First episode "The Secret Library". From 2014 to 2020 Connell played Rowena, a powerful witch and also the mother of the King of Hell, Crowley (Mark A. Sheppard), on the TV series Supernatural starting in season 10 up until its fifteenth and final season and has been one of the longest running female characters on the show.

Connell is in a relationship with her Supernatural co-star, Rob Benedict. They have a daughter, who was born in January 2024.{{Cite web |title=Instagram |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/C3JkhLlrhqg/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== |access-date=2024-03-12 |website=Instagram}}

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Category:1979 births

Category:Living people

Category:Alumni of Rose Bruford College

Category:Broadway theatre people

Category:People educated at Graeme High School

Category:People from Bonnybridge

Category:People from Falkirk

Category:Scottish ballerinas

Category:Scottish film actresses

Category:Scottish stage actresses

Category:Scottish television actresses