Catriona MacColl was born on October 3, 1954 in London, England. MacColl was initially a ballerina who trained at a top ballet school in England before suffering an injury that abruptly curtailed her burgeoning career as a dancer. In the wake of said injury Catriona joined a repertory company which eventually led to her moving to Paris, France where she acted in French television shows and played her first lead role as the titular character in Lady Oscar (1979). MacColl acquired her greatest enduring cult cinema popularity by playing the female leads in three gruesome and atmospheric Italian horror films directed by Lucio Fulci: City of the Living Dead (1980), The Beyond (1981), and The House by the Cemetery (1981). Catriona still continues to act in both movies and TV shows alike with pleasing regularity.