Jessica Hynes

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox person Jessica Hynes (née Stevenson) is a British actress, director and writer. Best known as a comedy actress, she has played Cheryl in The Royle Family (1998–2010), Siobhan Sharpe in Twenty Twelve (2011–2012) and W1A (2014–2017) and Emily Yates in There She Goes (2018–2023). She was also one of the stars, creators and writers of Spaced (1999–2001). She has also had starring roles in television film Tomorrow La Scala! and BBC dramas Years and Years (2019) and Miss Austen (2025). In film, Hynes has appeared in the Bridget Jones (2004–2016), Nativity (2012–2018) and Paddington (2017–2024) film series.

Hynes has been nominated for two International Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, five BAFTAs (winning two), three Royal Television Society Awards (winning two) and three British Comedy Awards (winning two).

Early life

Hynes was born in Lewisham, London, and grew up in Brighton, where she attended St Luke's Infant and Junior Schools and Dorothy Stringer High School.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After her parents split up, she was raised by her mother. She moved back to London as a young adult.<ref name="independent.co.uk">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Her maternal grandmother came from the village of Llanelian, north Wales, where her uncle also ran a farm. Her mother is a fluent Welsh speaker who later moved back to north Wales. In 2023, Hynes took part in the S4C series Iaith ar Daith where she began to learn the Welsh language; she cited being able to speak Welsh to her mother as a reason why she wanted to take part in the programme.<ref>[1] Yr actores Jessica Hynes 'am wneud ei mam yn hapus' drwy siarad Cymraeg</ref>

Career

As a teenager, Hynes was a member of the National Youth Theatre company, and made her stage début with the company in Lionel Bart's Blitz! in 1990.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1991 she appeared in Disney's Swing Kids (1993 film) alongside Frank Whaley and Robert Sean-Leonard. In the same year she appeared in Peter Greenaway's film The Baby of Macon playing 'The first Midwife'. Between 1992–1993, she played a season at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds. In 1994, Hynes appeared as an uncredited extra in the first episode of The Day Today in the Attitudes Night segment, a parody of the UK's changing attitudes.

Early in her career, Hynes teamed up with future Spaced co-star Katy Carmichael in a comedy double-act called the Liz Hurleys, appeared in two productions at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre, and acted for television shows including Staying Alive, Six Pairs of Pants, (Un)natural Acts, and Asylum (on which the Spaced team of Hynes, Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright first assembled). From 1998 to 2000, she played the supporting role of Cheryl in the hit sitcom The Royle Family; she reprised the role for special episodes in 2006, 2009 and 2010. In 1999, she co-wrote and starred in Spaced, for which she won two comedy awards and was nominated for an International Emmy and a Bafta for writing and creating the show alongside Simon Pegg.

Hynes' London theatre début was in April 2002, playing the tough ex-prisoner "Bolla" in Jez Butterworth's The Night Heron at the Royal Court for which she was nominated for a Lawrence Olivier Award <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2004, she played a minor part as Yvonne in horror comedy Shaun of the Dead, again working with Pegg and Wright. In the same year, she was also cast as Magda, friend of the titular character, in the Hollywood sequel Bridget Jones' Diary 2, also called Bridget Jones' Diary: The Edge of Reason.

In early 2007, Hynes took a lead role in the film Magicians, starring alongside comic duo David Mitchell and Robert Webb. She provided the voice of Mafalda Hopkirk in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. She played Joan Redfern in the 2007 Doctor Who episodes "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood". She then appeared in part two of the story "The End of Time", playing a character named Verity Newman, who is Joan's great-granddaughter.<ref name="verity">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Hynes appeared in Big Finish's Eighth Doctor audio adventure "Invaders from Mars", with her Spaced colleague Simon Pegg. She starred in Son of Rambow (credited as Jessica Stevenson), playing Mary Proudfoot opposite the star of the film, Bill Milner. In November 2007, BBC One released Learners, a comedy drama television movie which Hynes starred in and wrote.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2008 she appeared in a revival of Alan Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests at the Old Vic. In 2009 she made her Broadway début in the play's transfer<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance. The show itself won a Tony for best revival that year.

Hynes appeared as a "right-on" PR person, Siobhan Sharpe, in the London Olympics centred satire Twenty Twelve, of which the first series screened on BBC Four in 2011, moving to BBC Two in spring 2012. A further series was screened in July 2012. She reprised the role in the 2014 series W1A for which she won a BAFTA.

In 2017 , she directed her first feature film, The Fight, produced by Jamie Adams and Unstoppable media. In 2018, she played the role of a mother in the BBC Four programme There She Goes. She stars alongside David Tennant, raising a daughter with a severe learning disability. It is based on the real life of writer Shaun Pye and his wife Sarah Crawford whose daughter was born with a chromosomal disorder. She won a Bafta for her role in the series and was nominated for an International Emmy for her role in '414' the special made in 2023. <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2019, she starred in the BBC and HBO production Years and Years for which she won a Royal Television Society award.

Personal life

Hynes is married to Adam Hynes, a sculptor. The couple have been together since they were 18 years old, but only married in 2002, when she officially changed her surname from her birth name of Stevenson, including for screen credits.<ref name="guardian">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="independent.co.uk"/> They have three children together, and live in Folkestone, Kent.<ref name="independent.co.uk"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	The House of Eliott	Charlotte Parker	Guest role, series 3, episode 1
1995	Six Pairs of Pants	Various characters
	Tears Before Bedtime	Maggie
	Crown Prosecutor	Jackie South
1996	Mash and Peas	Various roles
	Asylum	Martha & Nurse McFadden
1996–1997	Staying Alive	Alice Timpson
1997	Midsomer Murders	Judith Lessiter	Episode: "The Killings at Badger's Drift"
	Armstrong and Miller	Various roles	Series 2, episode 1
	Harry Enfield and Chums		Episode: "Harry Enfield and His Yule Log Chums"
1998	Unnatural Acts	Various roles	Main cast
	Alexei Sayle’s Merry-Go-Round	Alice, the Ayatollah's Assistant	Episode 1
Template:No wrap	The Royle Family	Cheryl Carroll	Recurring role
1999	People Like Us	Sarah	Episode: "The Estate Agent"
1999–2001	Spaced	Daisy Steiner	Also co-wrote with Simon Pegg
2001	Randall & Hopkirk	Felia Siderova	Episodes: "Mental Apparition Disorder", "Drop Dead"
	Bob & Rose	Holly Vance
	Comedy Lab	Wife	Episode: "Knife & Wife"
2002	Dick Whittington	The Good Fairy	Television film
	Black Books	Eva	Episode: "Hello Sun"
2005	According to Bex	Rebecca 'Bex' Atwell
2006	Pinochet in Suburbia	Police Guard	Television film
	The Secret Policeman's Ball	Mrs. Peacock	Recording of staged show
	QI	Herself	Episode: "Domesticity"
	Agatha Christie's Marple	Aimee Griffith	Episode: "The Moving Finger"
2007	Doctor Who	Nurse Joan Redfern	Episodes: "Human Nature", "The Family of Blood"
	Learners	Beverly	Television film
	Never Mind the Buzzcocks	Herself	Series 21, episode 1
2010	Doctor Who	Verity Newman	Episode: "The End of Time, Part Two"
	Lizzie and Sarah	Various roles	Television pilot
2011–2012	Twenty Twelve	Siobhan Sharpe	Main cast, won RTS Best Comedy Performance award
2011	Skins	Crystal	Episode: "Everyone"
	The Hour	Jane Kish	Episode 4
2012	One Night	Carol
	World's Most Dangerous Roads	Herself	Episode 2
2013	Blandings	Daphne Littlewood
	Up the Women	Margaret	Also writer
	Crackanory	Storyteller	Read "My Former Self" by Holly Walsh
2014	Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled	Herself	Episode 2
2014–2017	W1A	Siobhan Sharpe
2015	Celebrity Squares	Herself	Series 2, episode 2
	8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown	Herself
2016	The Keith Lemon Sketch Show	Manager	Series 2: "The Cartoon Job Centre" sketch
	Jack and Dean of All Trades	Marv	Web series
	Hooten & the Lady	Ella Bond
2017	The Crystal Maze	The Knight
2018–2020, 2023	There She Goes	Emily Yates	Main cast
2019	Years and Years	Edith Lyons
2022	Mood	Laura
	The Witchfinder<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Old Myers
	Inside No. 9	Helen	Episode: “A Random Act of Kindness”
	Life After Life	Mrs. Glover	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
	Am I Being Unreasonable?	Becca
	Outsiders	Herself	Main cast (Series 2)
2023	The Great Stand Up to Cancer Bake Off	Herself / Contestant	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2024	The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin	The Reddlehag
	The Franchise	Steph	Main cast
2025	Miss Austen	Mary	Main Cast

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Swing Kids	Helga	Credited as Jessica Stevenson
	The Baby of Mâcon	The First Midwife	Credited as Jessica Stevenson
2000	Born Romantic	Libby	Credited as Jessica Stevenson
2002	Tomorrow La Scala!	Victoria	Credited as Jessica Stevenson
	Pure	Paramedic	Credited as Jessica Stevenson
2004	Shaun of the Dead	Yvonne	Credited as Jessica Stevenson
	Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason	Magda	Credited as Jessica Stevenson
2006	Confetti	Sam	Credited as Jessica Stevenson
2007	Four Last Songs	Miranda	Credited as Jessica Stevenson
	Son of Rambow	Mary	Credited as Jessica Stevenson
	Magicians	Linda	Credited as Jessica Stevenson
	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	Mafalda Hopkirk	Voice only Credited as Jessica Stevenson
2008	Faintheart	Cathy
2010	Burke and Hare	Lucky
2012	Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger	Angel Matthews
2014	Pudsey: The Movie	Gail
2016	Swallows and Amazons	Mrs Jackson
	Bridget Jones's Baby	Magda
2017	The Fight	Tina	Also writer/director
	Paddington 2	Miss Kitts
2018	Alright Now	Sara
	Nativity Rocks!	Angel Matthews
2020	Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse	Sofie Dahl	TV film
2024	Seize Them!	Leofwine	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
	Paddington in Peru	Miss Kitts	Cameo
2025	Death of a Unicorn	Shaw	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Awards

Year	Award	Work	Result
1999	British Comedy Award for Best Female Comedy Newcomer	Spaced and The Royle Family	Template:Won<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2001	British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actress	Spaced	Template:Won<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2002	British Academy Television Award for Best Situation Comedy	Spaced	Template:Nominated<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2002	RTS Television Award for Best Actor – Female	Tomorrow La Scala!	Template:Nominated<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref>
2003	British Academy Television Award for Best Actress	Tomorrow La Scala!	Template:Nominated<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2003	Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role	The Night Heron	Template:Nominated<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2009	Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play	The Norman Conquests	Template:Nominated<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2012	British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actress	Twenty Twelve	Template:Nominated<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
2013	RTS Television Award for Best Comedy Performance	Twenty Twelve	Template:Won<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2013	British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance	Twenty Twelve	Template:Nominated<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2015	British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance	W1A	Template:Won<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2019	British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance	There She Goes	Template:Won

External links

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