Jayd Johnson (born 18 December 1990) is a Scottish

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. ...

best known for her portrayal of Nicki Cullen in ''

River City ''River City'' is a Scottish television soap opera created by Stephen Greenhorn which has been broadcast on BBC One Scotland since September 2002. Since 2019, the show has aired episodes a day earlier on the new BBC Scotland channel. Set in ...

'' and her BAFTA-winning role as Paddy Meehan in '' The Field of Blood''.

Career

Johnson began attending drama classes aged eight and landed her first professional acting job at 11 in the film ''

Dear Frankie ''Dear Frankie'' is a 2004 British drama film directed by Shona Auerbach and starring Emily Mortimer, Gerard Butler, Jack McElhone, and Sharon Small. The screenplay by Andrea Gibb focuses on a young single mother whose love for her son prom ...

'', starring

Emily Mortimer Emily Kathleen Anne Mortimer (born 6 October 1971) is a British and American actress and filmmaker. She began acting in stage productions and has since appeared in several film and television roles. In 2003, she won an Independent Spirit Award ...

and

Gerard Butler Gerard James Butler (born 13 November 1969) is a Scottish actor and film producer. After studying law, he turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as '' Mrs Brown'' (1997), the James Bond film ''Tomorrow Never ...

. From the age of 13, Johnson played Nicki Cullen in the

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

-set soap opera ''River City''. She left in 2009, after six years, to train at the

American Academy of Dramatic Arts The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) is a Private college, private drama school with two locations, one in New York City and one in Los Angeles. The academy offers an associate degree in occupational studies and teaches drama and related ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

before returning to Scotland after being hand-picked for the lead role of Paddy Meehan in

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

's adaptation of ''The Field of Blood'' for which she won the 2011

BAFTA Scotland BAFTA in Scotland is the Scottish branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Formed in 1986, the branch holds two annual awards ceremonies recognising the achievement by performers and production staff in Scottish film, televis ...

Award for Best Television Actor/Actress ahead of co-stars

Peter Capaldi Peter Dougan Capaldi (; born 14 April 1958) is a Scottish actor, director, singer and guitarist. He portrayed the Twelfth Doctor, twelfth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction series ''Doctor Who'' (2013–2017) and Malcolm Tucker i ...

and

Ford Kiernan Ford John Kiernan (born 10 January 1962) is a Scottish actor, comedian and writer. He is best known for his work with Greg Hemphill on the BBC Scotland sketch comedy series ''Chewin' the Fat'' (1999–2005) and the sitcom ''Still Game'' (2002� ...

. Johnson reprised the role of Paddy Meehan for ''The Field of Blood: The Dead Hour'' which began filming in Glasgow in November 2012 and was broadcast on

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

in August 2013.

Personal life

The youngest of three children, Johnson grew up in

Rutherglen Rutherglen (; , ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having previously existed as a separate Lanarkshire burgh, in 1975 Rutherglen lo ...

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark (; ), is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and registration county in the Central Lowlands and Southern Uplands of Scotland. The county is no l ...

and was educated at the local Stonelaw High School. Her parents Connie and Johnny own and run a café in the Forge Market in the east end of Glasgow. She has a sister and brother. She is married and lives in

British Columbia, Canada British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beach ...

Theatre

Other theatre credits include ''This Wide Night'' and ''

Cooking with Elvis ''Cooking with Elvis'' is a dark comedy by playwright Lee Hall which was performed in 1999 in Edinburgh. The farce was adapted from a play written for the award-winning BBC Radio ''God's Country'' series and premiered in 1999 in Edinburgh. It wa ...

'' (

Tron Theatre The Tron Theatre is located in Glasgow, Scotland. The theatre was formerly known as the Tron Kirk. It began as the Collegiate Church of Our Lady and St. Anne. The Tron Theatre building is home to the Tron Theatre Company and serves as a prod ...

, Glasgow).

Filmography

2004 ''

'' as Catriona 2004-2009 ''

'' (TV series) as Nicki Cullen 2011- '' The Field of Blood'' as Paddy Meehan

References

External links

*
Jayd Johnson at Creative Artists Management
Scottish television actresses Scottish soap opera actresses Living people Actresses from Edinburgh 1991 births People educated at Stonelaw High School Actors from Rutherglen 21st-century Scottish actresses Actresses from Glasgow Actresses from South Lanarkshire {{Scotland-actor-stub