Joanne Victoria Hartley (born 12 March 1972) is an English actress born in
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, w ...
,
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...
who has appeared in the films ''
The Young Victoria'',
''Eddie the Eagle'', ''
Slaughterhouse Rulez'' and ''
Torvill & Dean'' and in British television series ''
This is England
''This Is England'' is a 2006 British drama film written and directed by Shane Meadows. The story centres on young skinheads in England in 1983. The film illustrates how their subculture
A subculture is a group of people within a culture ...
'', ''
Not Safe For Work
Not safe for work (NSFW) is Internet slang or shorthand used to mark links to content, videos, or website pages the viewer may not wish to be seen looking at in a public, formal or controlled environment. The marked content may contain nudity, p ...
'',
''After Life'', ''
Bliss
BLISS is a system programming language developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) by W. A. Wulf, D. B. Russell, and A. N. Habermann around 1970. It was perhaps the best known system language until C debuted a few years later. Since then, C bec ...
'', ''
In My Skin'', ''
Sweetheart'' (2021), and ''
Bank of Dave'' in 2023.
Early life
Hartley was brought up in a working-class family, attending
North Chadderton School
North Chadderton School is a mixed gender secondary school and sixth form, located in Chadderton, in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England.
Admissions
The range of academic years correspond to ages from 11 to 18. The s ...
in
Chadderton
Chadderton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irk and Rochdale Canal. It is located in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Oldham, south of Rochdale and north-east of Manchester.
His ...
,
in the
Metropolitan Borough
A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts within metropoli ...
of
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, w ...
, Greater Manchester, England. She started acting at the age of 11 in her school production of ''
The Sound of Music
''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, ''The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. ...
'' as Gretel Von Trappe.
She then joined
Oldham Theatre Workshop, developing her acting skills until the age of 17, when she stopped acting to work at
British Aerospace
British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...
(BAe) on a
Youth Training Scheme where she worked as a secretary in the office for two years until leaving BAe to join
Japan Airlines
, also known as JAL (''Jaru'') or , is an international airline and Japan's flag carrier and largest airline as of 2021 and 2022, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, ...
as a
flight attendant
A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are pri ...
.
In her mid-twenties, Hartley left the aviation industry to pursue a career as an actor.
Hartley returned to England, in London studying at
the Questors Theatre in
Ealing
Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan.
Ealing was hi ...
, where she studied
method acting
Method acting, informally known as The Method, is a range of training and rehearsal techniques, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners, that seeks to encourage sincere and expressive performances through identifying with, u ...
and
Stanislavski's system
Stanislavski's system is a systematic approach to training actors that the Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski developed in the first half of the twentieth century. His system cultivates what he calls the "art of experiencing" ...
until landing her first film role in the 2004
Shane Meadows directed Crime Drama Thriller film ''
Dead Man's Shoes'' as 'Marie'.
Career
Hartley has made appearances in many British productions, including films such as ''
Northern Soul'' and ''
Me and Her'' both in 2004; ''Terra Firma'' and ''Flushed'' in 2008; and ''The Crossing'', ''Janet and Bernard'' and ''I Don't Care'' in 2014. Hartley has been a character actor in many TV films and TV series since 2004, with her most notable roles in ''
This Is England '86'', ''
This Is England '88
''This Is England '88'' is a 2011 British drama miniseries written by Shane Meadows and Jack Thorne as a spin-off from the 2006 film ''This Is England''. It is also a sequel to the 2010 television sequel-series ''This Is England '86'', set two ...
'' and ''
This Is England '90'', the follow-on TV mini-series to the film.
In movies Hartley has appeared in ''
This Is England
''This Is England'' is a 2006 British drama film written and directed by Shane Meadows. The story centres on young skinheads in England in 1983. The film illustrates how their subculture
A subculture is a group of people within a culture ...
'' (2006) as Cynthia,
and the feature film ''
The Young Victoria'' in 2009, with
Emily Blunt
Emily Olivia Leah Blunt (born 23 February 1983) is a British actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three British Academy Film Awards ...
and
Rupert Friend
Rupert William Anthony Friend (born 9 October 1981) is an English actor. He first gained recognition for his roles in '' The Libertine'' (2004) and ''Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont'' (2005), both of which won him awards for best newcomer. He portr ...
.
In 2016 Hartley appeared as Janette, Eddie's mother in the film ''
Eddie the Eagle'' appearing alongside
Taron Egerton and
Hugh Jackman
Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian actor. Beginning in theatre and television, he landed his breakthrough role as James "Logan" Howlett / Wolverine in the 20th Century Fox ''X-Men'' film series (2000–2017), a role ...
.
She co-starred in the
David Cross
David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series '' Mr. Show'' (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/Netflix sitc ...
series ''
Bliss
BLISS is a system programming language developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) by W. A. Wulf, D. B. Russell, and A. N. Habermann around 1970. It was perhaps the best known system language until C debuted a few years later. Since then, C bec ...
'' opposite
Heather Graham as one of two partners of a fraudulent
travel writer
The genre of travel literature encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs.
One early travel memoirist in Western literature was Pausanias, a Greek geographer of the 2nd century CE. In the early modern pe ...
. Hartley also appeared in the comedy horror film ''
Slaughterhouse Rulez'', alongside
Asa Butterfield
Asa Bopp Farr Butterfield (; born Asa Maxwell Thornton Farr Butterfield on 1 April 1997) is an English actor. He has received nominations for three British Independent Film Awards, two Critics' Choice Awards, two Saturn Awards, and three Young ...
and
Simon Pegg
Simon John Pegg (né Beckingham; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom '' Spaced'' (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. ...
.
After a successful pilot episode, Hartley played the role of Bethan's mum `Katrina' who suffers from
bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...
in the BBC series ''
In My Skin'' which aired on BBC1 in 2020. In April 2020, Hartley returned as June in the second series of
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms '' The Office'' (2001–2003), '' Extras'' (2005–2007), and '' An Idiot Abroad ...
's ''
After Life
The afterlife (also referred to as life after death) is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's identity or their stream of consciousness continues to live after the death of their physical body. The surviving esse ...
''.
In January 2021, Hartley joined the Rising Star Award jury of the EE
British Academy Film Awards to select the shortlist for the 2021 award, alongside
Alicia Vikander
Alicia Amanda Vikander (, ; born 3 October 1988) is a Swedish actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Critics' Choice Movie Award, as well as receiving nominations for ...
,
Naomi Ackie and several other prominent figures of the industry.
In September 2021, Hartley plays the lead character in the British comedy film ''Swede Caroline'', the first for Deadbeat Studios.
In November 2021, Hartley was nominated for the
BIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Tina in the Marley Morrison directed British drama film ''
Sweetheart''.
In December 2021, Hartley had a guest-role appearance in the
BBC's ''
Mandy'' Christams special — ''We Wish You A Mandy Christmas'' alongside
Diane Morgan and
Johnny Vegas
Michael Joseph Pennington (born 5 September 1970), better known as Johnny Vegas, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He is known for his thick Lancashire accent, husky voice, overweight appearance, angry comedic rants, and us ...
.
In 2023, Hartley starred as 'Nicola', wife of Burnley banker Dave Fishwick (played by
Rory Kinnear
Rory Michael Kinnear (born 17 February 1978) is an English actor and playwright who has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre. In 2014, he won the Olivier Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of William Sh ...
) in the film ''
Bank of Dave'', released on
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
in January 2023.
Filmography
Film
Television
Awards
References
External links
Jo Hartleyat Contactmusic
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartley, Jo
1972 births
Living people
Actresses from Oldham
People educated at North Chadderton School
21st-century English actresses
English film actresses
English television actresses
Actresses from Lancashire