Jessica Hynes

As both a writer and performer, Jessica Hynes has worked prolifically in television, film and theatre. Born in Lewisham, South London in 1972, she was brought up in Brighton, Sussex. At school, she would write bizarre sci-fi stories. At age 15, she joined the National Youth Theatre and left home at age 18. She then moved to London and took bit parts as an actress and comedienne. She worked on stage with Katy Carmichael, who would later appear as "Twist" on Les allumés (1999), they both joined Simon Pegg on the sketch show, Six Pairs of Pants (1995). Simon Pegg recommended Jessica for a part on another sketch show, Asylum (1996), which was directed by Edgar Wright. Simon and Jessica became friends, immediately, and decided that they wanted to write comedy together. They came up with Les allumés (1999), a sitcom about dysfunction among a group of strange twenty-somethings. Edgar Wright was brought in to direct and the show was filmed in 1998 in North London, during Jessica's first pregnancy. An instant success, "Spaced" was commissioned for a second series and Jessica moved on to work in films, winning two British Comedy Awards. She was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for her work in the play, "The Night Heron", in 2001, during filming of series 2. She was also nominated for a Best Actress BAFTA Award for the film, Tomorrow La Scala! (2002). Jessica, Simon and Edgar was reunited for the film, Shaun of the Dead (2004), in which Jessica played Simon's school-friend, "Yvonne". Her second child was born in 2002. She is now working mainly in film, and is still writing comedy.