Jan Anderson (born Janina Anderson; 17 June 1974 in

Porthcawl Porthcawl () is a town and community in the Bridgend County Borough of Wales. It is located on the south coast, west of Cardiff and south-east of Swansea. Historically part of Glamorgan and situated on a low limestone headland on the South ...

Bridgend Bridgend (; or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in the Bridgend County Borough of Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge over the River Og ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

) is a Welsh

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. Her late mother was a Welsh horse riding teacher; her late father, an Italian

lumberjack Lumberjack is a mostly North American term for workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees. The term usually refers to loggers in the era before 1945 in the United States, when trees were felled us ...

. She had an older sister, Ruth, who died in 1998. Anderson joined Pyle-based children's Vagabond Theatre at age seven, with the teacher Trevor Harris. Another influence in her life was drama teacher Roger Burnell at Porthcawl comprehensive school performing with them at The Grand Pavilion until age 13 in productions including starring as Annie in '' Annie,'' Juliet in ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

,'' Cecily in ''

The Importance of Being Earnest ''The Importance of Being Earnest, a Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde, the last of his four drawing-room plays, following ''Lady Windermere's Fan'' (1892), ''A Woman of No Importance'' (1893) and ''An Ideal Husban ...

'', and Lily in ''

Under Milk Wood ''Under Milk Wood'' is a 1954 radio drama by Welsh people, Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. The BBC commissioned the play, which was later adapted for the stage. The first public reading was in New York City in 1953. A Under Milk Wood (1972 film), f ...

''. She also played in ''Oklahoma'', ''Damn Yankees'' and in the role of Baby Jane in ''Gypsy''. After leaving school at the age of 15, she joined the

Welsh National Opera Welsh National Opera (WNO) () is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales. WNO gave its first performances in 1946. The company began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its early days, the ...

, where she toured with the production of ''Carmen'' and studied at the

Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama () is a conservatoire located in Cardiff, Wales. It has three theatres: the Richard Burton Theatre, the Bute Theatre, and the Caird Studio. It also includes one concert hall, the Dora Stoutzker Hall, and ...

. She was the lead presenter on the HTV Wales programme ''The Gen''. Her other television credits include '' Is Harry on the Boat'', ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...

'', ''

Doctors Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

'' and '' London's Burning''. She had a role in the 1999 British film ''

Human Traffic ''Human Traffic'' is a 1999 British independent coming of age comedy-drama film written and directed by Justin Kerrigan. A cult film of the Cool Cymru era of arts in Wales, it stars John Simm, Lorraine Pilkington, Shaun Parkes, Danny Dyer, an ...

'', but Jan is mostly known for her role of Chloe Hill in BBC's ''Casualty'' from 1998 to 2002. In the early 2000s, she studied acting in Hollywood, and broke into the US film and TV arena. There, she worked on films including Sony Pictures' ''Detention'', ''Portal'', ''Three Days Blind'', ''Float'', ''Big Top'' and ''Halloween Night''. She played Marie in the ''

Torchwood ''Torchwood'' is a British-American science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. A spin-off of the 2005 revival of ''Doctor Who'', it aired from 2006 to 2011. The show shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect i ...

'' episode "

Reset Reset may refer to: Film and television * Reset (2015 film), ''Reset'' (2015 film), a 2015 French documentary film * Reset (2017 film), ''Reset'' (2017 film), a 2017 Chinese film * Reset (2024 film), ''Reset'' (2024 film), a 2024 Sri Lankan sh ...

", and had a small role on ''Prison Break''. In July 2011, Anderson featured in the second episode of the eighth season of ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', playing the role of Richard Lewis' new girlfriend, Stella. In 2012, she relocated back to the UK, and has since worked on Sky's comedy ''

Trollied ''Trollied'' is a British television sitcom about employees in a fictional supermarket named "Valco", which debuted on Sky One on 4 August 2011 and ended on 23 December 2018. The series was filmed in a purpose-built replica supermarket in the B ...

''. She has also played the role of Katherine in the 2025 video game Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.

References

External links

*
Jan Anderson @ Holby.tv
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Jan 1974 births Living people Actors from Porthcawl Welsh people of Italian descent Welsh Buddhists Welsh child actresses Alumni of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama Welsh television actresses Welsh soap opera actresses Actresses from Bridgend County Borough