Background
Waddell was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. Her father, Gordon Waddell (1937–2012), was a Scottish rugby union player who captained the Scottish national team and played for the British and Irish Lions.
Waddell was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. Her father, Gordon Waddell (1937–2012), was a Scottish rugby union player who captained the Scottish national team and played for the British and Irish Lions.
Emmanuel College.
He later became a Progressive Party Member of Parliament in South Africa, and a director of Anglo American Public Limited Company. Her grandfather, Herbert Waddell (1902–1988), also played rugby for Scotland and the Lions. Waddell moved with her family to Scotland when she was eleven. Four years later they moved to London.
She read Social and Political Science at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, which allowed her to take time off from her studies to pursue her career.
Waddell has divided her work between stage and screen. She played Mary Heller in the American film, Dracula 2000.
During the same year, she co-starred with Lee Pace in Tarsem Singh’s The Fall. In 2011 Waddell had a starring role in Mishen, which is a Russian science fiction film directed by Alexander Zeldovich and written by Vladimir Sorokin.
Mishen had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival and then a gala premiere at the Moscow International Film Festival.
In 2014, Waddell was on the jury of the Festival of European Film "Voices" in Vologda, Russia. In 2015, she was on the jury of the Eurasia International Film Festival in Kazakhstan alongside jury chairman Abderrahmane Sissako and South Korean film director Kim Dong-house She also took part in the British Broadcasting Corporation New Year film programme to discuss women in film with Francine Stock, Elizabeth Karlson and Carol Morley.
Waddell is the only member of her family to take up a career in acting.