In her latest role, Natascha McElhone plays the owner of Hotel Portofino, which is beset with problems from the start.
And actress Natascha has had her fair share of hardship and heartache off camera.
The British star was pregnant with her third child when her husband tragically collapsed and died.
She kept a diary of her loss and later decided to publish it.
Here’s everything you need to know about Natascha, her new role, and her family.
Natascha McElrone plays Bella Ainsworth in Hotel Portofino
Actress Natascha plays Bella Ainsworth in Hotel Portofino on ITV.
She’s the daughter of a wealthy industrialist who travels from the UK to the titular Italian village to set up a hotel in the 1920s.
Hotel Portofino has been open for only a few weeks, but already the problems are mounting for its owner Bella Ainsworth.
Her high-class guests are demanding and hard to please…
On top of all those pressures, she’s being targeted by a scheming and corrupt local politician.
He threatens to drag her into the red-hot cauldron of Mussolini’s Italy…
To make matters worse, her marriage is in trouble, and her children are still struggling to recover from the repercussions of the Great War.
All eyes are on the arrival of a potential love match for her son Lucian.
But events don’t go to plan, which will have far reaching consequences for the whole family.
Where have you seen Hotel Portofino star Natascha McElhone before?
Hotel Portofino actress Natascha is known for her extensive work across TV, film and theatre.
Natascha has found huge success in the States and has starred in films including The Devil’s Own, Ronin, and Solaris.
Of course, playing Lauren/Sylvia in 1998’s The Truman Show is considered her breakthrough role.
Before The Truman Show launched her to international fame, she also made appearances in Absolutely Fabulous, Bergerac and Minder.
On television, she starred in Californication from 2007 to 2014.
She went on to portray the First Lady Alex Kirkman in the political drama Designated Survivor.
Most recently, she played Laz Ingram in The First.
Most recently, she played Penny Knatchbull in The Crown, and
How old is Natascha McElrone, and where is she from?
Natascha Abigail Taylor is believed to have been born on December 14, 1969, in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.
That makes her currently 53 years of age.
Her parents Noreen McElhone and Michael Taylor were both journalists.
Natascha chose to take her mother’s maiden name as her stage name.
She has a brother called Damon, who is a scriptwriter in Los Angeles.
The actress also has two half-brothers after her parents separated when she was two.
Her Irish mother moved the family to Brighton and later married journalist and columnist Roy Greenslade, who is Natascha’s stepdad.
Who was Natascha McElrone’s husband?
Natascha married the love of her Martin Hirigoyen Kelly on May 19 1998.
They were married for 10 years until his tragic death in 2008.
The couple lived in Fulham, South-West London, with their sons Theodore (born 2000) and Otis (born May 2003).
She was pregnant with their third son when Martin suddenly died.
Rex was subsequently born in October 2008, five months after Kelly’s death.
How did Natascha McElrone’s husband die?
Martin died from heart failure, when he was just 43 years old.
He was discovered by his best friend, a doctor, slumped in the doorway of his family home on May 20 2008.
Despite being rushed to the very hospital where he worked, Martin could not be revived and died one day after his 10th wedding anniversary.
A postmortem exam revealed the cause of death to have been dilated cardiomyopathy.
At the time, Natascha was pregnant with their third son and filming in Los Angeles.
Overnight, the actress became sole parent of their children, and endured child birth without him by her side.
As a release and to contain her grief out of sight of her children, Natascha began writing letters to Martin.
These letters later became the basis for a book, published in 2010, called After You.
After You is an extremely moving account of loss, grief, and loneliness.
An extract from the book describes how she deleted his last ever message to her, because she thought “there would always be more messages like that from you”.
She also recalls telling her two sons that their dad had died.
She wrote: “I hold it together for that statement, then the walls of my eyes come tumbling down again.
“He wails; the little one watches him like a hawk, scanning his big brother’s reaction before deciding what his own should be.”
Read more: Is Hotel Portofino star Oliver Dench related to Dame Judi? Yes, here’s how!
Hotel Portofino lands on ITV at 9pm on Friday, February 3, 2023.
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