Jessica Hynes
- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
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 Spaced (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
Spaced (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.