Jessica Hynes

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Jessica Hynes
Hynes at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	Jessica Stevenson 15 November 1972 (1972-11-15) (age 37) London, England, UK
Occupation	Actress/Writer
Years active	1993—present
Spouse(s)	Adam Hynes

Jessica Hynes (née Stevenson; born 15 November 1972) is an English actress and writer. She was known professionally as Jessica Stevenson until 2007.^[1]

She is perhaps best known as one of the creators and writers of the British sitcom Spaced, in which she played Daisy. In 2009 she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play.

She lives in London with her husband Adam Hynes, whom she met when she was 18, and married in 2002. They have three children.

[edit] Biography

Hynes was born in Lewisham, London, on 15 November 1972, but grew up in Brighton, where she attended Dorothy Stringer High School. As a teenager Hynes was part of the National Youth Theatre company, and made her professional début in Peter Greenaway's 1993 film The Baby of Mâcon, playing the first midwife. For the first fourteen years of her career, she used her maiden name as a stage name. Early in her career she 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 played parts on television in the nursing drama Staying Alive (1995-1997) and short-lived sketch shows Six Pairs of Pants, (Un)natural Acts and Asylum - where the Spaced team (Stevenson, Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright) first assembled. She also guest starred in the first ever episode of Midsomer Murders in 1997.

In 1998 she was cast in the supporting role of Cheryl in the surprise hit sitcom The Royle Family and then in 1999 co-wrote and starred in Spaced. 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 2005 Hynes took the lead role in the BBC One sitcom According to Bex (which she thought was so bad that she sacked her agent for putting her up to it)^[1], and had a starring role in British comedy Confetti alongside Jimmy Carr, Martin Freeman, and Mark Heap.

In early 2007 she took the lead female role in the film Magicians, starring alongside comic duo David Mitchell and Robert Webb. Later that year she starred in Learners, a comedy drama television movie which she also wrote, on BBC One in November 2007.^[2] She also provided the voice of Mafalda Hopkirk in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

As well as appearing as Joan Redfern in the 2007 Doctor Who episodes "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood", Hynes has appeared in Big Finish's Eighth Doctor audio adventure Invaders from Mars, with her Spaced colleague Simon Pegg. She will return to Doctor Who in a two-part special, due to be broadcast over the 2009 Christmas period, playing a character named Verity Newman.^[3]

In 2007 she starred in Son of Rambow, as Jessica Stevenson, and played the part of Mary Proudfoot. Brethren Mother to the star of the film, Bill Milner.

Hynes cowrote the pilot Phoo Action, based on the cartoons of Jamie Hewlett, which was transmitted on BBC 3 in early 2008.^[4]

In the same year Hynes appeared in the film Faintheart and in a revival of Alan Ayckbourne's The Norman Conquests at the Old Vic. In 2009 she made her Broadway debut in the play's transfer^[5] and was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance.

In 2009 she will return to the Royal Court in The Priory, a new play by Michael Wynne^[6].

She plans to pursue a solo career as a standup comedian^[7] as well as publishing a children's book Ants in the Marmalade^[8].

[edit] Awards

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Hynes has won two British Comedy Awards, both for her performances in Spaced: Best Female Comedy Newcomer in 1999 and Best TV Comedy Actress in 2001. She was nominated for a TV BAFTA for her performance in the largely improvised TV feature Tomorrow La Scala (2000), and for an Olivier Award for her work in the play The Night Heron in 2003. In 2009 she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play, but lost out to Angela Lansbury.

[edit] Credits

[edit] Television

2009 | Doctor Who || Verity Newman || The End of Time

[edit] Film

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Jessica Hynes at the Internet Movie Database
• Jessica Hynes at the Internet Broadway Database
• JessicaHynes.co.uk