Bio
Jessica Hynes is an English actress and writer best known as one of the creators, writers and stars of the British sitcom Spaced; and for her roles in According to Bex (2005) and The Royle Family, from 1998-2009.
As both a writer and performer, 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.
Aged 15, she joined the National Youth Theatre and left home aged 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 in Spaced; they both joined Simon Pegg on the sketch show Six Pairs of Pants.
Simon Pegg recommended Jessica for a part on another sketch show, Asylum, 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 Spaced, 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 season and Jessica moved on to work in films, winning two British Comedy Awards.
She was nominated for an Olivier Award for her work in the play The Night Heron in 2001, during filming of Season 2. She was also nominated for a Best Actress BAFTA Award for the film Tomorrow La Scala.
Jessica, Simon and Edgar reunited for the film Shaun of the Dead in which Jessica played Simon's school-friend Yvonne.
She appeared in the mini-series One Night (2012) and starred as Siobhan Sharpe in the mockumentary comedy series Twenty Twelve, from 2011-2012.