Jenna-Louise Coleman (born 27 April 1986) is an English actress, whose roles include Jasmine Thomas in Emmerdale (2005–2009), Clara Oswald in Doctor Who (2012–2015, 2017) and Queen Victoria in Victoria (2016–2019). She has received accolades including nominations for an International Emmy Award, as well as for the BAFTA Cymru and BAFTA Scotland Awards.
She made her film debut with a small role in the American superhero film Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), and made appearances on diverse British period miniseries, including Titanic (2012) and Death Comes to Pemberley (2013). Coleman led the crime miniseries The Cry (2018), The Serpent (2021) and The Jetty (2024). She portrayed Johanna Constantine in the Netflix fantasy drama series The Sandman (2022–2025). Coleman's other film appearances include Neil Maskell's dark comedy Klokkenluider (2022), and Jamie Childs' thriller Jackdaw (2023).
On stage, Coleman appeared as Ann Deever in the 2019 revival of Arthur Miller's All My Sons. She made her West End debut starring in the 2023's revival of Sam Steiner's Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, alongside Aidan Turner. Coleman has voiced video game characters, including Melia Antiqua in the Xenoblade franchise.
Early life and education
Jenna-Louise Coleman was born in Blackpool on 27 April 1986, the daughter of Karen and Keith Coleman. Her father is a joiner and fitter of bar and restaurant interiors. She has an older brother, also a joiner. Coleman is of English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish ancestry. Her grandmother named her after the character of Jenna Wade from the American TV series Dallas.
She attended Arnold School in Blackpool, where she was head girl. At age 10, she performed in a professional production of Summer Holiday at the Blackpool Opera House. At age 13, she performed in a production of Snow White at the Blackpool Opera House with the Sue Turner Fylde Theatre Group. While at school, she was a member of the theatre company In Yer Space, with whom she performed in the play Crystal Clear at the Edinburgh Festival. She won an award for her performance, and the play was received favourably. She was offered a place to study English at the University of York, but turned it down in order to accept the role of Jasmine Thomas in the soap opera Emmerdale.
Career
2005–2012: Early career
Coleman landed the part of Jasmine Thomas in Emmerdale in 2005. At the British Soap Awards 2007, she was nominated for the "Best Newcomer" award, and at the National Television Awards 2006, she was nominated for the "Most Popular Newcomer" award. At the 2009 British Soap Awards, she was nominated for the "Best Actress", "Sexiest Female", and "Best Dramatic Performance" awards. She received a nomination for the "Best Actress" award from the TV Choice Awards. In May 2009, it was announced that Coleman would be joining BBC school-based drama series Waterloo Road, as "hard girl" Lindsay James. As she was 23 at the time of her casting, Coleman found the experience of playing a schoolgirl "surreal".
After the show ended, Coleman went six months without acting work, and at one point applied to RADA, which was unsuccessful. She moved to Los Angeles, to try her luck, and spent her days going to auditions. In 2011, she made her feature film debut with a small role in Captain America: The First Avenger. Coleman went back to England after being called for the role of Annie Desmond, in Julian Fellowes' four part mini-series Titanic. She described her character as a "cheeky little Cockney" and "the Eliza Doolittle of the ship".
In December 2010, it was announced that Coleman would be playing Susan Brown in a BBC Four television adaptation of the John Braine novel Room at the Top. The adaptation was originally intended to air in April 2011, but this was cancelled due to a rights dispute between the production company and Braine's estate. The dispute was resolved by 2012, and the show aired in two parts on 26 and 27 September 2012. That same year, Coleman was cast as Rosie in Stephen Poliakoff's original drama series Dancing on the Edge, which follows the fortunes of a black jazz band in the 1930s. The show aired on BBC Two in February 2013. She also starred as Lydia Wickham in the adaptation of Death Comes to Pemberley. The three episodes were shown on BBC One during Christmas 2013.
2012–2017: Doctor Who
On 21 March 2012, Doctor Who producer Steven Moffat confirmed at a press conference that Coleman would play the companion of the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith). Moffat chose her for the role because she worked the best alongside Smith and could talk faster than he could. She auditioned for the role in secret, under the pretence of auditioning for Men on Waves (an anagram for "Woman Seven": she would first appear in the show's seventh series).
Although originally announced as beginning her run as companion in the Christmas special in 2012, Coleman made a surprise appearance on 1 September 2012 in the first episode of the seventh series as Oswin Oswald, a guest character. Coleman subsequently debuted as a series regular in the Christmas special episode "The Snowmen" as Victorian governess and barmaid Clara Oswin Oswald. In that episode, Coleman also played a third version of the character, a resident of twenty-first-century London simply named Clara Oswald. Beginning in "The Bells of Saint John", this version begins her travels as the Doctor's regular companion, She was first credited on screen as Jenna Coleman in Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor, which aired on 4 August 2013. She continued after the Eleventh Doctor's regeneration into the Twelfth Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi, in the 2013 Christmas special episode "The Time of the Doctor." In the 2014 Christmas special episode "Last Christmas", it was revealed that Coleman would remain in the role of Clara for Series 9. However, the ninth series was her last, as Coleman had decided to leave the show to take on a role as Queen Victoria in an ITV production.
She returned to the show for Twelfth Doctor's last episode "Twice Upon a Time" where she made a cameo appearance; that episode, Doctor Who's 2017 Christmas special, aired the same evening as the first Christmas special for Victoria.
2015–2021: Victoria and other work
In 2015, Coleman was cast in ITV's eight-part drama following the reign of the British monarch and Empress of India, Victoria. She confessed that she was not fully informed about Victorian history, but researched the role. When interviewed for BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour, Coleman expressed her admiration for the monarch. She argued that this role meant she was able to break out of her supposed "box" as a northern working-class character that Emmerdale put her in. Victoria premiered on 28 August 2016 on ITV, and in September 2016, ITV renewed Victoria for a second series. A Christmas special for 2017 was also commissioned and a third series was announced in December 2017.
In 2017, Coleman became the narrator for a Royal Caribbean UK advertising campaign. On 8 January 2018, Coleman was confirmed to play Joanna in the four-part BBC drama The Cry, an adaptation of the 2013 novel by Helen FitzGerald.
In 2019, Coleman starred as Annie in the Old Vic Theatre's production of All My Sons, which ran from 13 April to 8 June and included a cinema screening via National Theatre Live on 14 May. In February 2019, it was announced that Coleman would make a guest appearance in an episode from series five of the dark comedy series Inside No. 9, with an expected broadcast date later in the year. Series five returned to the screen on 3 February 2020.
On 11 May 2019, in an interview with Graham Norton on his BBC Radio 2 program, Coleman indicated her intent to return to Victoria for a fourth series should it be renewed by ITV, but stated that the show will be taking "a bit of a breather" before production resumes. In the same year 2019, Coleman was selected for the role of Marie-Andrée Leclerc in the Netflix and…