Jessica Hynes

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 19982010 Siobhan Sharpe in Twenty Twelve 20112012 and W1A 20142017 and Emily Yates in There She Goes 20182023 She was also one of the stars creators and writers of Spaced 19992001 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 20042016 Nativity 20122018 and Paddington 20172024 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 Hynes was born in Lewisham London and grew up in Brighton where she attended St Lukes 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 Early in her career Hynes teamed up with future Spaced costar Katy Carmichael in a comedy doubleact called the Liz Hurleys appeared in two productions at Sheffields Crucible Theatre and acted for television shows including Staying Alive Six Pairs of Pants Unnatural 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 cowrote 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 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