Jenna Coleman by Alexander Beer for The Laterals #6 Spring/Summer 2021

Jenna-Louise Coleman (born 27 April 1986), professionally known as Jenna Coleman, is an English actress. Notable for her work in British television, she is best known for her roles as Jasmine Thomas in the soap opera Emmerdale (2005–2009), Clara Oswald, companion to the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors in the science fiction series Doctor Who (2012–2015, 2017), Queen Victoria in the ITV biographical drama series Victoria (2016–present), and for her leading role in The Cry.

Coleman was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, and began her acting career at an early age as a member of a theatre company called In Yer Space. While auditioning for drama schools in 2005, she was chosen to play Jasmine Thomas in Emmerdale. She received critical acclaim for her performance and was nominated for the Most Popular Newcomer award at the 2006 National Television Awards.

Coleman went on to play "hard girl" Lindsay James in the BBC school-based drama series Waterloo Road (2009), Susan Brown in a BBC Four television adaptation of the John Braine novel Room at the Top (2012), Annie Desmond in Julian Fellowes' four part mini-series Titanic (2012) and Rosie in Stephen Poliakoff's original drama series Dancing on the Edge (2013).[6] She appeared as Lydia Wickham in the BBC drama miniseries Death Comes to Pemberley (2013) and as Katrina Clark in the romance film Me Before You (2016).