Jill Halfpenny Biography
Jill Halfpenny is an English actress. She was born on 15 July 1975 in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, UK, to Maureen and Colin Halfpenny.
Jill Halfpenny attended St Edmund Campion Roman Catholic School in Gateshead. She is a former student of the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art (1994–96) and she also went to drama school First Act Theatre in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne and to the Reavley Theatre School in Felling, Gateshead, despite claiming on Strictly Come Dancing that she had received no previous training.
She began her acting career at age 14 in the BBC television children’s drama series Byker Grove, filmed in the Benwell area of Newcastle upon Tyne. Her other work has included appearances in Dalziel and Pascoe, Barbara and Coronation Street for television and theatre with the acclaimed Hull Truck Theatre Company. She took the major role of Kate Mitchell in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders in 2002. The character was introduced as a police officer sent to spy on Phil Mitchell, but after her cover was blown she quit the police force, married Phil and opened a nail salon. Her final scenes were broadcast in January 2005 after her character was axed.
In 2004, Halfpenny participated in the BBC One pro-celebrity ballroom dancing competition Strictly Come Dancing, dancing with professional Darren Bennett. In December, it was announced that she would take the role of Roxie Hart in the West End musical, Chicago, starting in January 2005.
In 2005, Halfpenny appeared in The Bodies, a new play adapted from an Émile Zola novel by Peter Flannery at the Live Theatre, Newcastle, opposite her real-life husband, actor Craig Conway. In 2005 and 2006, Halfpenny appeared in hit pantomimes at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle. Halfpenny was the guest presenter for and performed in the first show of the BBC four-part series The Sound of Musicals in January 2006 and played Roxy Ball in Shameless in an episode broadcast on 31 January 2006. In 2006, Halfpenny made a guest appearance in an episode of The Catherine Tate Show.
From spring 2006, Halfpenny appeared in the BBC One series Waterloo Road as teacher Izzie Redpath, a role for which she won the TV Quick Award for Best Actress. In 2007 Halfpenny appeared as the narrator of Freaky Eaters for BBC Three and Fat Man’s Warning for Channel 4.
In 2008, Halfpenny played Spike Milligan’s long-suffering manager, Norma Farnes, alongside Michael Barrymore in Surviving Spike at the Theatre Royal, Windsor. Halfpenny starred in the West End production of Calendar Girls from 28 July to 31 October 2009 and then played the part of Paulette Bonafonté in the West End company of Legally Blonde, which opened January 2010 with previews beginning December 2009.
Halfpenny made a guest appearance in the Canadian series, Murdoch Mysteries, in episode one of the fifth series, first broadcast in 2012. In March 2012 she starred in a revival of Mike Leigh’s 1977 play Abigail’s Party at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London. In April the show played at the Theatre Royal, Bath before transferring to the West End at the Wyndham’s Theatre where it ran from May to September. In 2014 she starred in BBC drama In the Club, which returned for a second series in 2016, and Channel 4’s Babylon.
In 2015 she starred in Way Upstream by Alan Ayckbourn at Chichester Festival Theatre. In September 2014, along with Tim Healy, Halfpenny narrated the history of the North East of England as part of the ceremony for the Great North Run.
Jill Halfpenny Age
Jill Halfpenny was born on 15 July 1975 in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, UK, to Maureen and Colin Halfpenny.
Jill Halfpenny
Jill Halfpenny Sister
Jill Halfpenny has two elder sisters, Nicola and Paula. Paula is the mother of actress Chelsea Halfpenny, Jill’s niece.
Jill Halfpenny Husband
Jill Halfpenny married fellow actor Craig Conway in 2007. The couple divorced in 2010. Together they have one child.
Jill Halfpenny Partner
Since the split from her husband of four years, Jill Halfpenny has found love with a mystery man who has not only captured her heart but changed her style.
The former EastEnders’ actress said: ‘I’ve downsized my whole wardrobe by about half, which was hugely cathartic.
‘I have a new partner who is very complimentary of both my tomboy look and my glamorous look.’
Jill Halfpenny Daughter
Jill Halfpenny has one child a son called Harvey with former husband, actor Craig Conway. Jill Halfpenny does not have a daughter. Chelsea Halfpenny, Jill Halfpenny’s niece.
Jill Halfpenny Movies and TV Shows
Jill Halfpenny Movies
2018: Walk Like a Panther:
2017: Ghost Stories
2016: Maisie
2013: Turn Your Bloody Phone Off: The Second Batch
Segment: “Shush Mummy”
2011: How to Stop Being a Loser:
2000: Command Approved
Jill Halfpenny TV Shows
2017: Liar
2016: Death in Paradise
2016: Ordinary Lies
2015: Humans
2014–present: In the Club
2014: Babylon
2014: Beautality
2013: Lightfields
2013: Vera
2012: Murdoch Mysteries
2012: Wild at Heart
2011: Mount Pleasant
2011: Walk Like a Panther
2009: Inspector George Gently
2007: Blue Murder
2006-07: Waterloo Road
2006: Shameless
2005: The Catherine Tate Show
2003: Barbara
2002-05: EastEnders
2002: Breeze Block
2001: Dalziel and Pascoe
1999-2000: Coronation Street
1999: Dangerfield
1999: Peak Practice
1998: The Round Tower
1998: Heartbeat
1998: Touching Evil
1997: The Bill
1997: Birds of a Feather
1997: The Lakes
1989-1992: Byker Grove