Jenna Coleman - biography

Coleman was born in Blackpool, Lancashire. She attended Arnold School in Blackpool, where she was head girl and gained straight As in her A-levels. Discussing her role on Emmerdale, Coleman said that she regrets not having a conventional university experience. While at school, Coleman was a member of a theatre company called "In Yer Space", with whom she performed at the Edinburgh Festival in the play Crystal Clear. She won an award for her performance, while the play was also received favourably. Whilst auditioning for drama schools, Coleman landed the part of Jasmine Thomas in Emmerdale in 2005. In 2007 Coleman was nominated for two awards. At the British Soap Awards she was nominated as "Best Newcomer", and at the National Television Awards she was nominated as "Most Popular Newcomer". At the 2009 British Soap Awards she was nominated in the "Best Actress", "Sexiest Female" and "Best Dramatic Performance" categories. Coleman received a nomination for "Best Actress" from the TV Choice Awards. In May 2009 it was announced that Coleman would be joining BBC drama Waterloo Road, as "hard girl" Lindsay James. As she was 23 at the time of her casting, Coleman found the experience of playing a schoolgirl again "surreal". In December 2010, it was announced that Coleman would be appearing in a new BBC Four television adaptation of the John Braine novel Room at the Top playing the role of Susan Brown. The adaptation was originally intended to air in April 2011, however this was cancelled due to a rights dispute between the production company and Braine's Estate. The dispute was resolved by 2012 and the show aired in two parts on 26th and 27th September 2012. In 2011, she made her big screen debut in Captain America: The First Avenger. She also landed the part of Annie Desmond in Julian Fellowes' four part mini-series Titanic. Coleman described the character of Annie as a "cheeky little cockney" and the "Eliza Doolittle" of the ship. She provided the voice acting for the character Melia in the English dub of the 2011 video game, Xenoblade Chronicles. In 2012 she was cast as in Stephen Poliakoff's original drama series Dancing on the Edge, which follows the fortunes of a Black Jazz band in the 1930's. The show is scheduled to air on BBC Two in early 2013. On 21 March 2012, Doctor Who producer Steven Moffat confirmed at a press conference that Coleman would play the Doctor's companion alongside Matt Smith after Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill have left the show. Moffat chose her for the role because she worked the best alongside Smith and could talk faster than him. She auditioned for the role in secrecy, pretending it was for something called Men on Waves, an anagram for "Woman Seven" as she would first appear in the programme's seventh series. Although originally announced as beginning her run as companion in the Christmas 2012 episode, Coleman made a surprise Doctor Who appearance in the first episode of the seventh season, "Asylum of the Daleks", on 1 September 2012 playing Oswin Oswald. She subsequently made her debut as a series regular in the Christmas special episode, "The Snowmen", as Clara.