Joanna Louise Page (born 23 March 1977) is a Welsh actress and presenter. She appeared as Stacey Shipman in the BAFTA-winning television series ''

Gavin & Stacey ''Gavin & Stacey'' is a British sitcom written by James Corden and Ruth Jones about two families: one in Billericay, Essex; one in Barry, South Wales. Mathew Horne and Joanna Page play the titular characters Gavin and Stacey and the writers ...

''. She played

Dora Spenlow Dora Spenlow is a character in the 1850 novel '' David Copperfield'' by Charles Dickens. She is portrayed as beautiful yet childish. David, who is employed by her father, the lawyer Mr Spenlow, falls in love with Dora at first sight and marries he ...

in the 1999 adaptation of ''

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield'' Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work, see is a novel in the bildungsroman genre by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from inf ...

'', and featured as Just Judy in the 2003 romantic comedy ''

Love Actually ''Love Actually'' is a 2003 Christmas romantic comedy film written and directed by Richard Curtis. It features an ensemble cast, composed predominantly of British actors, many of whom had worked with Curtis in previous film and television p ...

''. She currently co-presents (with

Melanie Sykes Melanie Ann Sykes (born 7 August 1970) is an English television and radio presenter. She is best known for co-hosting '' Today with Des and Mel'' with Des O'Connor and '' Let's Do Lunch'' with Gino D'Acampo. She also co-hosted ''Going Out with A ...

) the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

consumer series ''Shop Well for Less.

Early life

Page was born in

Treboeth Treboeth is a suburb and historical village in the Mynydd-Bach ward of Swansea, Wales. Gwyrosydd Primary School and Welsh language primary school Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Tirdeunaw are located in Treboeth. Gwyrosydd was the Bardic name of Treboeth- ...

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the C ...

, Wales. She attended Mynyddbach Comprehensive School, where she was

head girl Head boy and head girl are student leadership roles in schools, representing the school's entire student body. They are normally the most senior prefects in the school. The terms are commonly used in the British education system as well as in Aus ...

. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 1998.

Career

On graduation from RADA, Page spent ten years in stage-based roles, mainly

costume drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swa ...

s for the

Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

and

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...

. This led to appearances in film productions, including '' From Hell'', '' Mine All Mine'', ''

'' and ''

Miss Julie ''Miss Julie'' ( sv, Fröken Julie) is a naturalistic play written in 1888 by August Strindberg. It is set on Midsummer's Eve and the following morning, which is Midsummer and the Feast Day of St. John the Baptist. The setting is an estate of ...

''. Page came to wider public attention after taking a leading role in the BBC comedy ''

'', playing the main part of Stacey Shipman. On 23 November 2007, she turned on the Christmas lights in

Barry Island Barry Island ( cy, Ynys y Barri) is a district, peninsula and seaside resort, forming part of the town of Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. It is named after the 6th century Saint Baruc. Barry's stretch of coast, on the Bristol Chan ...

,
the town where ''Gavin & Stacey'' is partly set and filmed. Page had a leading role in the 2001 BBC drama production ''

The Cazalets ''The Cazalets'' is a 2001 television drama series in six episodes (five episodes when broadcast in the US) about the life of a large privileged family in the years 1937 to 1947. Most of the action takes place in London, and at the family's large ...

'', about a disparate, well-to-do English family during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. In 2009, Page provided the voice-overs for a series of Kingsmill bread TV and radio advertisements and the Christmas TV advertising campaign for the

Carphone Warehouse The Carphone Warehouse Limited was a mobile phone retailer based in London, United Kingdom. In August 2014 the company became a subsidiary of Currys plc (previously named "Dixons Carphone"), which was formed by the merger of its former parent Ca ...

. In December 2009, she was the cover star of ''

FHM ''FHM'' (For Him Magazine) is a British multinational men's lifestyle magazine that was published in several countries. Its master edition contained features such as the ''FHM'' 100 Sexiest Women in the World, which has featured models, actres ...

''. During Christmas 2009, Page played the role of Cinderella in pantomime in

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

, a role she played a year earlier in Wimbledon. The following year, she played the role of Alice Fitzwarren in Dick Whittington at the

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

Theatre. In 2010, she hosted

Sky 1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

show ''My Pet Shame''. In October of the same year, she became the new face of Superdrug. From May 2011, Page provided the voice of the lead character in the first season of Nick Jr. UK's pre-school animation ''

Poppy Cat Poppy Cat is a series of books created by British illustrator and writer Lara Jones. The books are published by Campbell Books (a division of Macmillan Publishers), and include ''Poppy Cat's Play House'', ''Poppy Cat's Christmas'', ''Poppy Cat ...

'', later replaced by

Jessica Ransom Jessica Ransom (born 1 December 1981) is a British actress and writer, best known for her role as medical receptionist Morwenna Newcross in the ITV drama ''Doc Martin'' (2011–2022). She won a Children's BAFTA Award in 2015. Early life an ...

from BBC's '' Doc Martin''. In 2012, Page played Leanne Powell in the

drama series '' The Syndicate'', Helen Pearson in the

Sky Living Sky Living was a British pay television channel owned and operated by Sky. The channel's programming was aimed mainly at women and young adults. It originally launched as UK Living in 1993 and closed 25 years later, being replaced by Sky Witnes ...

comedy '' Gates'', and Mrs Peterson in '' Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger''. In November 2013, Page starred as

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

in "

The Day of the Doctor ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

", the 50th Anniversary episode of ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

''. In 2021, Page began presenting

's consumer series ''Shop Well for Less''. At the end of 2021 she began co-hosting the show ''The Pet Show'' on ITV with

Dermot O'Leary Seán Dermot Fintan O'Leary Jr. (born 24 May 1973) is an English broadcaster who currently works for ITV and BBC Radio 2. His radio career began when he worked as a disc jockey at Essex Radio, but he is best known for being the presenter of ' ...

. In 2022, she appeared on the second series of The Masked Dancer as Pig.

Personal life

Page is married to English actor James Thornton. They both appeared in the 1999 TV serial ''

'' (Page as

and Thornton as Ham Peggotty). They were introduced a year later by Page's friend

Maxine Peake Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her roles as Twinkle in the BBC One sitcom '' dinnerladies'' (1998–2000), Veronica Ball in the hit Channel 4 comedy drama '' Shameless'' (2004–2007), Mart ...

, who was appearing alongside Thornton in the

's stage adaptation of ''

The Cherry Orchard ''The Cherry Orchard'' (russian: Вишнёвый сад, translit=Vishnyovyi sad) is the last play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Written in 1903, it was first published by '' Znaniye'' (Book Two, 1904), and came out as a separate editio ...

''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

Radio advertisements

Recognition and awards

Page was nominated for ''Best Female Comedy Newcomer'' at the 2007

British Comedy Awards The National Comedy Awards (known as the British Comedy Awards from 1990 to 2014) is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom, celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year. The British Comedy Awards ( ...

References

External links

*
''Sunday Morning with Joanna Page''
(BBC Radio Wales) {{DEFAULTSORT:Page, Joanna 1977 births Living people Actresses from Swansea Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Welsh stage actresses Welsh film actresses Welsh television actresses Royal Shakespeare Company members 20th-century Welsh actresses 21st-century Welsh actresses