Joanna Scanlan

BAFTA award-winning, Joanna Scanlan is one of Britain’s most versatile actresses. Seamlessly moving from comedy to drama in both television and feature films, Joanna carves some of the best character roles in the industry.

In June 2021, Joanna was seen in English-Pakistani filmmaker Aleem Khan’s debut feature film After Love, as ‘Mary Hussain’. Her extraordinary performance won her the ‘Best Actress’ award at the BIFA Awards, and at the BAFTA Film Awards for ‘Leading Actress’. In the same year, Joanna was seen as ‘Ma Larkin’ in ITV’s much- anticipated adaptation of ‘The Darling Buds of May’, The Larkins, which returns for a second series. Series two of BBC One’s hugely popular Gentleman Jack released in May this year, which saw Joanna as Isabella ‘Tib’ Norcliffe alongside Suranne Jones. On the horizon is the Welsh/English psychological thriller The Light in the Hall with Alexandra Roach.

Prior to this, she was seen in How To Build a Girl, adapted from Caitlin Moran’s novel of the same name. A coming-of-age story that grapples with the trials and tribulations of becoming an adult, the film also featured Beanie Feldstein, Emma Thompson, and Paddy Considine.

Joanna was seen as ‘Janice’ in the taut psychological BBC One and Netflix co-production Requiem in 2018. A bold BBC One adaptation of Wilkie Collins’ classic gothic novel The Woman in White followed, with Jessie Buckley and Charles Dance. Before this, she joined Lily Newmark in the all-gothic fairytale Pin Cushion in 2017.

2016 saw Joanna return to series two of Paul Abbott’s BAFTA nominated and RTS award-winning primetime drama No Offence, playing lead character DI inspector ‘Viv Deering’. The series featured a strong female cast that included Elaine Cassidy, Alexandra Roach, and Sarah Solemani. Series one was awarded Best Drama Series at The Royal Television Society Awards earlier in the year.

Joanna returned to the big screen in 2016 in the beloved comedy series Bridget Jones’s Baby. Based on Helen Fielding’s 2006 columns, the film fills in the gap between the last film and her subsequent book ‘Mad About the Boy.’ Joanna appeared in John Cameron Mitchell’s How To Talk To Girls At Parties in 2017, starring alongside Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning.

Other film credits include Joanna’s hugely celebrated performance as Charles Dicken’s wife in Ralph Fiennes directed The Invisible Women, Get Santa, The Testament of Youth, In The Loop, Bad Education The Movie, The Other Boleyn Girl, Stardust, Notes on a Scandal and The Girl With A Pearl Earring and Kinky Boots.

Joanna is known for appearing in some of the best television series of the past decade, including the BBC’s award- winning satirical comedy The Thick of It, Little Britain, and Rev. Among her successes is Joanna’s critically acclaimed dark satirical NHS dramaGetting On, which she starred and co-wrote withJo Brand and Vicki Pepperdine, earning her a BAFTA nomination for ‘Best Female Performance in a Comedy’ and a BAFTA Television Craft nomination for screenwriting in both 2011 and 2013. Joanna and Vicki teamed up again to write and star in their BBC Four comedy series Puppy Love.

Additional television credits include Death Comes To Pemberley, Fungus The Bogeyman, Mapp and Lucia, Heading Out, Stella, Doc Martin and Spaced.

On stage, Joanna has worked with Thea Sharrock in her production of Cloud 9 at the Almeida Theatre and Top Girls, with Rufus Norris in Vernon God Little at The Young Vic and featured in Polly Teale’s Madame Bovery.

Joanna was born on the Wirral, brought up in North Wales and studied history and law at Cambridge University where she joined Footlights. After Cambridge, Joanna lectured performing arts at Leicester Polytechnic/De Montfort University and worked at the Arts Council of Great Britain. Joanna also shares a production company – George and George Co. – with Vicki Pepperdine.

Headshot by Hugo Glendinning