SHE is the privileged Scots public schoolgirl whose handful of Hollywood credits failed to make her a household name at home or in Tinseltown.
But this week Louise Linton was cast in a starring role in the unfolding Donald Trump drama, holding the Bible in the Oval Office as her fiancé was sworn in as the new President’s finance chief.
And with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announcing his plans to wed Ms Linton on the White House lawn, the Edinburgh-born actress is guaranteed to be centre stage as the real life West Wing plays out in the months ahead.
Watched by millions as she stood alongside former banker turned-film producer Mr Mnuchin earlier this week, the 36-year-old has come a long way from her comfortable childhood in the Murrayfield area of the capital.
Educated at St George’s School for Girls and Fettes College before being privately trained by a coach from The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, Ms Linton landed some minor acting roles in 2006 before her big break the following year when Robert Redford cast her in Lions for Lambs, alongside himself, Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep.
Since then she has appeared in a number of horror and comedy films and television dramas, her last role being Deputy Winston in director Travis Z’s low-budget remake of Cabin Fever in 2016. But she achieved her highest profile with the publication of her book based on her gap year experiences “In Congo’s Shadow: One Girl’s Perilous Journey to the Heart of Africa”.
Billed as the “inspiring memoir of an intrepid teenager” who abandoned her privileged life in Scotland to travel to Africa as an 18-year-old volunteer, it came under fire over apparent factual errors in the story and her “clichéd” depictions of poverty and danger.
A Washington Post editor called the book “the defining work of the White-Savior-in-Africa genre for the digital age”, with Los Angeles-based Ms Linton forced to apologise for causing offence. Earlier this week, after appearing at the confirmation hearing of Mr Mnuchin as Treasury Secretary, she sparked frenzied social media attention as to her identity, with some observers quickly linking her to her teenage memoir.
The live broadcast even had its near comedic moments as the actress crowded President Trump out of the scene.
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