
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 (1998–2010), Siobhan Sharpe in Twenty Twelve (2011–2012) and W1A (2014–2017) and Emily Yates in There She Goes (2018–2023). She was also one of the stars, creators and writers of Spaced (1999–2001). 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 (2004–2016), Nativity (2012–2018) and Paddington (2017–2024) 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 Luke's 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 co-star Katy Carmichael in a comedy double-act called the Liz Hurleys, appeared in two productions at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre, and acted for television shows including Staying Alive, Six Pairs of Pants, (Un)natural 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 co-wrote 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.

Jack and Dean of All Trades

Catching the Bus

Tomorrow La Scala!

The Royle Family: Behind the Sofa

Dara O Briain's Science Club

There She Goes

Doctor Who Confidential

Skins-スキンズ

ブラック・ブックス

Inside No. 9

A Brush With Comedy

Roald Dahl's Most Marvellous Book

The Golden Egg Cup

QI

People Like Us

スペースド

One Night

Friday Night Dinner: 10 Years and a Lovely Bit of Squirrel

W1A

Would I Lie to You?

ハリー・ポッターと不死鳥の騎士団

The Royle Family

ドクター・フー

Years and Years

ショーン・オブ・ザ・デッド

バーナビー警部

パディントン2

Lizzie and Sarah

The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer

World's Most Dangerous Roads

ロンドン2012 オリンピック準備委員会大作戦の巻

Unnatural Acts

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown

Patience

Blandings

The Royle Family: Joe's Crackers

Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled

グレアム・ノートン・ショー

8 Out of 10 Cats

Hooten & The Lady

Life After Life

Never Mind the Buzzcocks

Shelter

Gadget Man

The Baby of Mâcon

パディントン 消えた黄金郷の秘密

The Ranganation

Crackanory

リトル・ランボーズ

Winter

Insert Name Here

スウィング・キッズ

The Witchfinder

ザ・フランチャイズ

David Mitchell's Outsiders

ディック・ターピンのデタラメ大冒険

Death of a Unicorn

ブリジット・ジョーンズの日記 ダメな私の最後のモテ期

The House of Eliott

Hang Ups

ルーキー・ハウス・ガール

Room 101

Faintheart

Swallows and Amazons

Miranda: My Such Fun Celebration

Travel Man: 48 Hours in...

Up the Women

Miss Austen

ブリジット・ジョーンズの日記 きれそうなわたしの12か月

PURE ピュア

バークアンドヘアー

Spaced: Skip to the End

Pinochet in Suburbia

Learners

Dick Whittington: The ITV Pantomime

Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse

Friday Night with Jonathan Ross

Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round

Magicians

Born Romantic

Asylum

Bob & Rose

The Fight

Duck Quacks Don't Echo

The Last Leg

Seize Them!

British Film Forever

Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger!

Confetti

Cider with Rosie

Pudsey the Dog: The Movie

Extraordinary Escapes with Sandi Toksvig

Four Last Songs

Songbird

Mood

Nativity Rocks!

Monty Python's Best Bits (Mostly)

Hollywood's Dark Secret

Rapture

The Lost Explorer

Seagull

Justin Lee Collins: Good Times