Jenna Coleman

Born in Blackpool, Lancashire, Jenna-Louise Coleman started acting at an early age when, at Arnold School, she joined the theatre group In Yer Space, with during which she performed in the play Crystal Clear at the Edinburgh Festival, winning an award for her performance.

It was when auditioning for drama schools that she first entered the public eye, as she landed the role of Jasmine Thomas in long-running soap Emmerdale. This led to her being nominated for the Most Popular Newcomer award at the 2006 National Television Awards, and in 2009 she was nominated for the Best Actress, Sexiest Female, and Best Dramatic Performance awards at the British Soap Awards, and also a nomination for the Best Actress award in the TV Choice Awards.

In 2009 she joined the cast of the Waterloo Road, playing the role of school-girl Lindsay James, and then played Susan Brown in a BBC Four television adaptation of the John Braine novel Room at the Top. Other roles prior to Doctor Who included Annie Desmond in Julian Fellowes' four part mini-series Titanic, and Rosie in Stephen Poliakoff's original drama series Dancing on the Edge. She also provided the voice for the character Melia in the English dub of the 2011 video game Xenoblade Chronicles, and made her feature film debut in Captain America: The First Avenger.

On 21 March 2012, producer Steven Moffat confirmed at a press conference that Jenna Coleman would be the next regular in Doctor Who, saying he chose her for the role because she worked the best alongside Matt Smith and could talk faster than him! As with previous casting, auditions had been shrouded in secrecy, with the series being referred to as Men on Waves (an anagram for "Woman Seven").

Although announced to be joining in that year's Christmas Special, Coleman made a surprise first appearance in Series Seven's opener Asylum of the Daleks as Oswin Oswald, thus creating a thread about "The Impossible Girl" that would be taken up with her first full story The Snowmen through to the series finale The Name of the Doctor.

She continued in the role of Clara as new Doctor Peter Capaldi arrived, and remained the series for a further two years before bowing out in the Series Nine finale Hell Bent.

In 2013 she altered her Equity-registered name to be simply Jenna Coleman (her first credit under this name being on Doctor Who Live which introduced Capaldi to the nation as the new Doctor. In 2014 her role as Clara saw her win the Glamour Award for UK TV Actress.

During her stint in Doctor Who she also appeared as Lydia Wickham in the BBC drama Death Comes to Pemberley, and upon leaving the show she took on the role as the young queen Victoria for the 2016 ITV series of that name. She has also provided the voice of Baines in animated series Thunderbirds Are Go.

Outside of television, Coleman has been involved with charity work in South Africa raising awareness of HIV, and is ambassador to the One To One Children's Fund.

She has been in a relationship with Richard Madden since late 2011.

 

Adapted from the wikipedia article, licensed under CC-BY-SA