Jo Hartley
Born (1972-03-12) 12 March 1972 (age 50)
Oldham, Lancashire, England
OccupationActress
Years active2004–present

Joanne Victoria Hartley (born 12 March 1972) is an English actress born in Oldham, Lancashire who has appeared in the films The Young Victoria, Eddie the Eagle, Slaughterhouse Rulez and Torvill & Dean and in British television series This is England, Not Safe For Work, After Life, Bliss, and In My Skin.

Early life[edit]

Hartley was brought up in a working-class family, attending North Chadderton School in Chadderton,[1] in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. She started acting at the age of 11 in her school production of The Sound of Music as Gretel Von Trappe.[1] She then joined Oldham Theatre Workshop, developing her acting skills until the age of 17, when she stopped acting to work at British Aerospace (BAe) on a Youth Training Scheme where she worked as a secretary in the office for two years until leaving BAe to join Japan Airlines as a flight attendant.[2]

In her mid-twenties, Hartley left the aviation industry to pursue a career as an actor.[3][4] Hartley returned to England, in London studying at the Questors Theatre in Ealing, where she studied method acting and Stanislavski's system until landing her first film role in the 2004 Shane Meadows directed Crime Drama Thriller film Dead Man's Shoes as 'Marie'.[3]

Career[edit]

Hartley has made appearances in many British productions, including films such as Northern Soul and Me and Her both in 2004; Terra Firma and Flushed in 2008; and The Crossing, Janet and Bernard and I Don't Care in 2014. Hartley has been a character actor in many TV films and TV series since 2004, with her most notable roles in This Is England '86, This Is England '88 and This Is England '90, the follow-on TV mini-series to the film. In movies Hartley has appeared in This Is England (2006) as Cynthia,[2][3] and the feature film The Young Victoria in 2009, with Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend.[2][3]

In 2016 Hartley appeared as Janette, Eddie's mother in the film Eddie the Eagle appearing alongside Taron Egerton and Hugh Jackman.[5] She co-starred in the David Cross series Bliss opposite Heather Graham as one of two partners of a fraudulent travel writer.[6] [7] Hartley also appeared in the comedy horror film Slaughterhouse Rulez, alongside Asa Butterfield and Simon Pegg.[8]

After a successful pilot episode, Hartley played the role of Bethan's mum `Katrina' who suffers from bipolar disorder in the BBC series In My Skin which aired on BBC1 in 2020.[9] In April 2020, Hartley returned as June in the second series of Ricky Gervais's After Life.[10]

In January 2021, Hartley joined the Rising Star Award jury of the EE British Academy Film Awards to select the shortlist for the 2021 award, alongside Alicia Vikander, Naomi Ackie and several other prominent figures of the industry.[11] In September 2021, Hartley plays the lead character in the upcoming British comedy film Swede Caroline, the first for Deadbeat Studios.[12] In November 2021, Hartley was nominated for the BIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Tina in the Marley Morrison directed British drama film Sweetheart.[13][14]

In December 2021, Hartley had a guest-role appearance in the BBC TV special — We Wish You A Mandy Christmas alongside Diane Morgan and Johnny Vegas.[15]

Filmography[edit]

Film[edit]

Year Title Role
2004 Dead Man's Shoes [16] Marie
Northern Soul (short film)[1] Jo Sherbert
Me and Her (Short film) Coleen
2006 This Is England Cynthia
2007 Bigboy_74(Short film) Woman
2008 Terra Firma (Short film) Debbie [17]
Flushed (Short film) Mrs Mop
2009 The Young Victoria Landlady
2010 Soulboy Monica
2011 Inbred [1] Kate
At Dusk (Short film) Woman
2012 Up There Margaret
When the Lights Went Out Jeanette
Ill Manors Carol
2014 The Crossing (Short film) Juliet
Janet and Bernard (Short film) Janet
I Don't Care (Short film) Mandy
2015 Sea Change (Short film) See awards [18]
2016 Eddie the Eagle Janette Edwards [2]
David Brent: Life on the Road Pauline Gray
Prevenge Midwife
Gibberish (Short film) Mother
Access All Areas Libby
2018 Slaughterhouse Rulez Babs Wallace
Torvill & Dean [19] Betty Torvill
2021 Sweetheart Tina
2021 Swede Caroline [12] Caroline

Television[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
2007 Recovery Vicky Nathan Television film
2009 Crying with Laughter Karen
Casualty 1900s Anna Baker 2 episodes
2010 Pulse Loz Westmoor Television film
This Is England '86 Cynthia 4 episodes
Moving On Natalie 1 episode
2011 Waterloo Road Laura Taylor 1 episode
Stolen[1] April Harris Television film
The Jury Ann Skailes 5 episodes
This Is England '88 Cynthia Fields 3 episodes
2012 Coming Up Mandy Slade 1 episode: "Postcode Lottery"
2013 Law & Order: UK Lindsey Donovan 1 episode
Privado Sally 3 episodes
2013–2014 The Mimic Jean 11 episodes [4]
2015 Not Safe for Work Angela 6 episodes [2][20]
This Is England '90 Cynthia Fields 4 episodes [3]
2016 Vera Grace 1 episode: "Tuesday's Child"
2018 Bliss Denise Larkspur 6 episodes
2018–2021 In My Skin Katrina Gwyndaf Main role[21]
2019 Don’t Forget The Driver Mel Episode 4
Temple Professor Kirby Episode 5
2020 Sick of It Lillie 1 episode [22]
2019–2022 After Life June Main role series 2-3; Recurring series 1
2021 The Cleaner Maggie 1 episode 1.6
2021 Das Boot Daisy Swinburne Season 3

4 Episodes

2021 We Wish You a Mandy Christmas Guest role Christmas Special

Awards[edit]

Year Award Category Work Result Ref
2015 International Christian Film Festival Best Actress - Short film Sea Change Won [23] [18]
2017 Underwire Film Festival Best Actor Gibberish Nominated [23]
2021 British Independent Film Awards Best Supporting Actress Sweetheart Nominated [23][13][14]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e "30 minutes with 'This is England' actress Jo Hartley". manchestersfinest.com. 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Not Safe For Work – Jo Hartley Interview". comedy.co.uk. 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Interview: Jo Hartley, star of This Is England '90". themetropolist.com. 2015.
  4. ^ a b "An interview with Jo Hartley – The Mimic S2". Channel 4. 2014.
  5. ^ "Jo Hartley interview". scotsman.com. 2018.
  6. ^ "Jo Hartley Is a Brilliantly British Actress – But Her Cultural Influences Span from Italy to Japan". phoenixmag.co.uk. 2018.
  7. ^ "Bliss Review". LA Times. 2018.
  8. ^ "Slaughterhouse Rulez review: A wildly scattergun British horror comedy". independent.co.uk. 2018. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022.
  9. ^ "BBC orders a dark comedy about a teen and her mentally ill mum". Chortle. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  10. ^ "Exclusive: Tony Way and Jo Hartley on the genius of Ricky Gervais and After Life: Series 2". heyuguys.com. 2020.
  11. ^ "Alicia Vikander, Naomi Ackie & Jo Hartley join 2021 BAFTA EE Rising Star Award Panel". heyuguys.com. 20 January 2021.
  12. ^ a b "Jo Hartley searching for her stolen marrows in Swede Caroline". avingagiraffe.com. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  13. ^ a b "BIFA 2021 Winners and Nominations". bifa.film. 2021.
  14. ^ a b "British Independent Film Awards: 'Belfast,' 'Boiling Point' Lead Nominations". hollywoodreporter.com. 3 November 2021.
  15. ^ "We Wish You A Mandy Christmas". bbc.co.uk/mediacentre. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  16. ^ "Dead Man's Shoes". BBFC. 2018.
  17. ^ Jo Hartley & Michael Smiley Independent, 19 September 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2017
  18. ^ a b "ICFF 2015 Winners". internationalcff.org. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  19. ^ "Torvill and Dean ITV Drama Biopic cast confirmed". Radio times. 2018.
  20. ^ "Jo Hartley interview for Not Safe for Work". Channel 4. 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  21. ^ "In my skin series". comedy.co.uk. 2018.
  22. ^ "Sick of It season 2 review: Karl Pilkington's superb series finds the profound in the mundane". radiotimes.com. 2020.
  23. ^ a b c "Jo Hartley Awards". IMDB (Index source only). Retrieved 15 March 2022.

External links[edit]