Life and career

Hynes was born in Lewisham, London and grew up in Brighton, where she attended Dorothy Stringer High School. As a teenager Hynes was a member of the National Youth Theatre company, and made her stage début with the company in Lionel Bart's Blitz in 1990. In 1992-3 she played a season at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds. In the same year she appeared in Peter Greenaway's 1993 film The Baby of Mâcon, playing the first midwife. For the first fourteen years of her career, Hynes used her maiden name as a stage name. Early in her career she 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 played parts on television in the nursing drama Staying Alive (1995-97) and short-lived sketch shows Six Pairs of Pants, (Un)natural Acts and Asylum—where the Spaced team (Stevenson, Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright) first assembled. She also guest starred in the first episode of Midsomer Murders in 1997.

From 1998-2000 Hynes played the supporting role of Cheryl in the hit sitcom The Royle Family and reprised the role for special episodes in 2006, 2009 and 2010. Also in 1999, she co-wrote and starred in Spaced. Her London theatre début was in April 2002, playing the tough ex-prisoner "Bolla" in Jez Butterworth's The Night Heron at the Royal Court. In 2004 she played a minor part as Yvonne in horror comedy Shaun of the Dead, again working with Pegg and Wright. In the same year she was also cast as Magda, friend of the titular character, in the Hollywood sequel Bridget Jones' Diary 2 also called Bridget Jones' Diary: The Edge of Reason. In 2005 Hynes took the lead role in the BBC One sitcom According to Bex (which she thought was so bad that she sacked her agent for putting her up for it), and had a starring role in British comedy Confetti alongside Jimmy Carr, Martin Freeman and Mark Heap.

In early 2007, Hynes took a lead role in the film Magicians, starring alongside comic duo David Mitchell and Robert Webb. Later that year she starred in Learners, a comedy drama television movie which she also wrote, on BBC One in November 2007. She also provided the voice of Mafalda Hopkirk in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Hynes played Joan Redfern in the 2007 Doctor Who episodes "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood". She then appeared in part two of the story "The End of Time", playing a character named Verity Newman, who is Joan's great granddaughter. Hynes has appeared in Big Finish's Eighth Doctor audio adventure "Invaders from Mars", with her Spaced colleague Simon Pegg.

In 2007 she starred in Son of Rambow (credited as Jessica Stevenson), playing Mary Proudfoot opposite the star of the film, Bill Milner.

Hynes co-wrote the pilot Phoo Action, based on the cartoons of Jamie Hewlett, which was transmitted on BBC Three in early 2008.

In the same year Hynes appeared in the film Faintheart and in a revival of Alan Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests at the Old Vic. In 2009 she made her Broadway début in the play's transfer and was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance.

In 2009 she returned to the Royal Court in The Priory, a new play by Michael Wynne.

In 2008 Hynes stated that she planned to pursue a solo career as a standup comedian and was working on a children's book Ants in the Marmalade.

Hynes appeared as a "right-on" PR person Siobhan Sharpe in the London Olympic centred satire Twenty Twelve, of which the first series screened on BBC Four in 2011, moving to BBC Two in spring 2012. A further series was screened in July 2012. She reprised the role in the 2014 series W1A for which she won a Bafta.

In December 2012 she appeared with co-star Hugh Bonneville in World's Most Dangerous Roads, travelling through Georgia.

Hynes was in the film Nativity 2: The Second Coming, in which she plays competition host Angel Matthews. The film was released in November 2012.

In October 2012 she released a duet with singer Anthony Strong of Slim Gaillard's "Laughing in Rhythm".

Credits

Television

Year	Title	Role	Format	Notes
1994	The House of Eliott	Charlotte Parker	TV series	Series 3, episode 1
1995	Six Pairs of Pants	Various characters	TV series
	Tears Before Bedtime	Maggie	TV series
	Crown Prosecutor	Jackie South	TV series
1996	Mash and Peas	Various roles	TV series
	Asylum	Martha & Nurse McFadden	TV series
	Staying Alive	Alice Timpson	TV series
1997	Midsomer Murders	Judith Lessiter	TV series	Episode: "The Killings at Badger's Drift"
	Armstrong and Miller	Various roles	TV series	Series 1-2
	Harry Enfield and Chums		TV series	Episode: "Harry Enfield and His Yule Log Chums"
1998	Unnatural Acts	Various roles	TV series	Episodes 1, 2, 4, 5
	Merry-Go-Round	Alice, the Ayatollah's Assistant	TV series	Episode 1
	The Royle Family	Cheryl Carroll	TV series	Episodes: "Bills, Bills, Bills", "Sunday Afternoon", "Dad's Birthday", "Wedding Day", "Pregnancy", "Antony's Birthday", "Decorating", "Funeral", "The Christening", "The Queen of Sheba", "The Golden Egg Cup", "Joe's Crackers"
1999	People Like Us	Sarah	TV series	Episode: "The Estate Agent"
	Spaced	Daisy Steiner	TV series	Co-wrote with Simon Pegg
2001	Randall & Hopkirk	Felia Siderova	TV series	Episodes: "Mental Apparition Disorder", "Drop Dead"
	Bob & Rose	Holly Vance	TV series
	Comedy Lab	Wife	TV series	Episode: "Knife & Wife"
2002	Dick Whittington	The Good Fairy	TV film
	Black Books	Eva	TV series	Episode: "Hello Sun"
2005	According to Bex	Rebecca 'Bex' Atwell	TV series
2006	Pinochet in Suburbia	Police Guard	TV film
	The Secret Policeman's Ball	Mrs. Peacock	Staged show
	QI	Herself	TV series	Episode: "Domesticity"
	Agatha Christie's Marple	Amy Griffith	TV series	Episode: "The Moving Finger"
2007	Doctor Who	Joan Redfern	TV series	Episodes: "Human Nature", "The Family of Blood"
	Learners	Bev	TV film
	Never Mind the Buzzcocks	Herself	TV series	Series 21, episode 1
2010	Doctor Who	Verity Newman	TV series	Episode: "The End of Time, Part Two"
2010	Lizzie and Sarah	Various roles	TV pilot
2011-12	Twenty Twelve	Siobhan Sharpe	TV series	Won RTS Best Comedy Performance award
2011	Skins	Crystal	TV series	Episode: "Everyone"
	The Hour	Jane Kish	TV series	Episode 4
2012	One Night	Carol	TV series
	World's Most Dangerous Roads	Herself	TV series	Episode 2
2013	Blandings	Daphne Littlewood	TV series
	Up the Women	Margaret	TV series	Writer
2014—	W1A	Siobhan Sharpe	TV series
2014	Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled	Herself	TV series	Episode 2
2015	Celebrity Squares	Herself	TV series	Series 2, Episode 2
2015	8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown	Herself	TV series
2016	The Keith Lemon Sketch Show	Manager	TV series	Series 2: "The Cartoon Job Centre" sketch

Film

Year	Title	Role
1993	Swing Kids	Helga
	The Baby of Mâcon	The First Midwife
2000	Born Romantic	Libby
2002	Tomorrow La Scala!	Victoria
	Pure	Paramedic
2004	Shaun of the Dead	Yvonne
	Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason	Magda
2006	Confetti	Sam
2007	Four Last Songs	Miranda
	Son of Rambow	Mary
	Magicians	Linda
	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	Mafalda Hopkirk (voice)
2008	Faintheart	Cathy
2010	Burke and Hare	Lucky
2012	Nativity 2: The Second Coming	Angelica Matthews
2014	Pudsey: The Movie	Gail
2016	Swallows and Amazons	Mrs Jackson
2016	Bridget Jones's Baby	Magda

Awards

Year	Award	Work	Result
1999	British Comedy Award for Best Female Comedy Newcomer	Spaced and The Royle Family	Won
2001	British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actress	Spaced	Won
2002	British Academy Television Award for Best Situation Comedy	Spaced	Nominated
2002	RTS Television Award for Best Actor - Female	Tomorrow La Scala!	Nominated
2003	British Academy Television Award for Best Actress	Tomorrow La Scala!	Nominated
2003	Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role	The Night Heron	Nominated
2009	Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play	The Norman Conquests	Nominated
2012	British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actress	Twenty Twelve	Nominated
2013	RTS Television Award for Best Comedy Performance	Twenty Twelve	Won
2013	British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance	Twenty Twelve	Nominated
2015	British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance	W1A	Won

[ Source: Wikipedia ]