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Actor

1976-09-21 · Barnet, London, England, UK · Female

29 series in the catalog

Shelley Deborah Conn (born 21 September 1976) is an English actress. On television, she is known for her roles in the BBC series Mistresses (2008–2010) and By Any Means (2013), the Sky One series Strike Back (2010), the Fox series Terra Nova (2011), the Netflix series Bridgerton (2022), and the Amazon Prime series Good Omens and Gen V (both 2023). Her films include Love Sarah (2020).

Early life and education

Shelley Deborah Conn was born in London, England. The family moved around military bases, so growing up, she lived in Germany and Gibraltar with her parents and two older sisters, before settling back in London. Conn acted in school plays. She attended the sixth form college Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke and later the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. She is of Anglo-Indian origin.

Career

After drama school, Conn had a series of small roles in various British films, before coming to prominence when she starred as Ashika Chandiramani in the BBC series Party Animals. In 2001, she picked up the role of PC Miriam Da Silva in BBC1's Mersey Beat and an irregularly recurring role in Casualty. The following year, Conn made her West End theatre stage debut in three plays after transferring from Stratford-upon-Avon in the Royal Shakespeare Company's Jacobean Season at the Gielgud Theatre – The Island Princess, Eastward Ho! and The Roman Actor.

Conn has appeared television, film and theatre, with a series of leading roles in various small budget European as well as British films namely BBC character dramas such as The Innocence Project, and occasional returns to the RSC. Conn joined Series Five of the popular BBC One series Down to Earth in 2004. In early 2008, she starred as Miranda Hill in The Palace, as Jessica in Mistresses and as Neela Sahjani in Trial & Retribution. That same year, Conn appeared as Claire in Dead Set. In 2010, she played Danni Prendiville in the TV series Strike Back.

Conn was chosen by Steven Spielberg to be one of the leads in the $150 million TV series Terra Nova, which premiered on 26 September 2011. In 2014, she appeared in a US TV series called The Lottery.

Conn starred as Mary Sharma in the second series of the Netflix romance period drama Bridgerton based on Julia Quinn's second novel in her Bridgerton series, The Viscount Who Loved Me. The series was released in March 2022.

Conn starred as Beelzebub in the second series of Good Omens, and Indira Shetty (a stand-in for Billy Butcher in-adaptation of We Gotta Go Now and The Bloody Doors Off) in the first season of The Boys spin-off series Gen V, both for Amazon Prime Video.

Personal life

Conn married British actor Jonathan Kerrigan in 2011; together the couple have a son, Oscar (b. 2012).

Conn ran in the 2006 London Marathon.