# Jessica Hynes

Jessica Hynes (née Stevenson) (born 30 October 1972) 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. After her parents split up, she was raised by her mother. She moved back to London as a young adult. 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.

## 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. In 1991 she appeared in Disneys 'Swing Kids' 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 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. 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.
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 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. 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. They have three children together, and live in Folkestone, Kent.
She has six siblings and her sister Zoe runs her own fashion label Tallulah and Hope.

## 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 | |
| 1995 | Tears Before Bedtime | Maggie | |
| 1995 | Crown Prosecutor | Jackie South | |
| 1996 | Mash and Peas | Various roles | |
| 1996 | Asylum | Martha & Nurse McFadden | |
| 1996–1997 | Staying Alive | Alice Timpson | |
| 1997 | Midsomer Murders | Judith Lessiter | Episode: "The Killings at Badger's Drift" |
| 1997 | Armstrong and Miller | Various roles | Series 2, episode 1 |
| 1997 | Harry Enfield and Chums | | Episode: "Harry Enfield and His Yule Log Chums" |
| 1998 | Unnatural Acts | Various roles | Main cast |
| 1998 | Alexei Sayle’s Merry-Go-Round | Alice, the Ayatollah's Assistant | Episode 1 |
| 1998–2010 | 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" |
| 2001 | Bob & Rose | Holly Vance | |
| 2001 | Comedy Lab | Wife | Episode: "Knife & Wife" |
| 2002 | Dick Whittington | The Good Fairy | Television film |
| 2002 | Black Books | Eva | Episode: "Hello Sun" |
| 2005 | According to Bex | Rebecca 'Bex' Atwell | |
| 2006 | Pinochet in Suburbia | Police Guard | Television film |
| 2006 | The Secret Policeman's Ball | Mrs. Peacock | Recording of staged show |
| 2006 | QI | Herself | Episode: "Domesticity" |
| 2006 | Agatha Christie's Marple | Aimee Griffith | Episode: "The Moving Finger" |
| 2007 | Doctor Who | Nurse Joan Redfern | Episodes: "Human Nature", "The Family of Blood" |
| 2007 | Learners | Beverly | Television film |
| 2007 | Never Mind the Buzzcocks | Herself | Series 21, episode 1 |
| 2010 | Doctor Who | Verity Newman | Episode: "The End of Time, Part Two" |
| 2010 | 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" |
| 2011 | The Hour | Jane Kish | Episode 4 |
| 2012 | One Night | Carol | |
| 2012 | World's Most Dangerous Roads | Herself | Episode 2 |
| 2013 | Blandings | Daphne Littlewood | |
| 2013 | Up the Women | Margaret | Also writer |
| 2013 | 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 |
| 2015 | 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown | Herself | |
| 2016 | The Keith Lemon Sketch Show | Manager | Series 2: "The Cartoon Job Centre" sketch |
| 2016 | Jack and Dean of All Trades | Marv | Web series |
| 2016 | 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 | |
| 2022 | The Witchfinder | Old Myers | |
| 2022 | Inside No. 9 | Helen | Episode: “A Random Act of Kindness” |
| 2022 | Life After Life | Mrs. Glover | |
| 2022 | Am I Being Unreasonable? | Becca | |
| 2022 | Outsiders | Herself | Main cast (Series 2) |
| 2023 | The Great Stand Up to Cancer Bake Off | Herself / Contestant | Star Baker |
| 2024 | The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin | The Reddlehag | |
| 2024 | The Franchise | Steph | Main cast |
| TBA | Miss Austen | Mary | In-production |

### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1993 | Swing Kids | Helga | Credited as Jessica Stevenson |
| 1993 | 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 |
| 2002 | Pure | Paramedic | Credited as Jessica Stevenson |
| 2004 | Shaun of the Dead | Yvonne | Credited as Jessica Stevenson |
| 2004 | 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 |
| 2007 | Son of Rambow | Mary | Credited as Jessica Stevenson |
| 2007 | Magicians | Linda | Credited as Jessica Stevenson |
| 2007 | 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 | |
| 2016 | Bridget Jones's Baby | Magda | |
| 2017 | The Fight | Tina | Also writer/director |
| 2017 | Paddington 2 | Miss Kitts | |
| 2018 | Alright Now | Sara | |
| 2018 | Nativity Rocks! | Angel Matthews | |
| 2020 | Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse | Sofie Dahl | TV film |
| 2024 | Seize Them! | Leofwine | |
| 2024 | Paddington in Peru | Miss Kitts | Cameo |
| 2025 | Death of a Unicorn | Shaw | |

## Awards

| Year | Award | Work | Result |
| 1999 | British Comedy Award for Best Female Comedy Newcomer | Spaced and The Royle Family | Won |
| 2001 | British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actress | Spaced | Won |
| 2002 | British Academy Television Award for Best Situation Comedy | Spaced | Nominated |
| 2002 | RTS Television Award for Best Actor – Female | Tomorrow La Scala! | Nominated |
| 2003 | British Academy Television Award for Best Actress | Tomorrow La Scala! | Nominated |
| 2003 | Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role | The Night Heron | Nominated |
| 2009 | Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play | The Norman Conquests | Nominated |
| 2012 | British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actress | Twenty Twelve | Nominated |
| 2013 | RTS Television Award for Best Comedy Performance | Twenty Twelve | Won |
| 2013 | British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance | Twenty Twelve | Nominated |
| 2015 | British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance | W1A | Won |
| 2019 | British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance | There She Goes | Won |