Born: 27th April 1986 (as Jenna-Louise Coleman)
Episodes Broadcast: 2012-2015, 2017

Born in Blackpool, Lancashire, Jenna-Louise Coleman was named for Jenna Wade, the character played by Priscilla Presley in the popular American soap opera Dallas. While still a toddler, Coleman demonstrated an aptitude for performance; by age ten, she was appearing at the Blackpool Opera House. As a teenager, her talent was nurtured by her drama teacher, who encouraged her to join the In Yer Space repertory company. Academically gifted, Coleman was contemplating both an English degree at the University of York and drama school when she won a regular role in Emmerdale. Debuting in 2005, she spent four acclaimed years on the show before departing in early 2009, after which she joined the cast of Waterloo Road for its fifth season.

Work then became sparse. Coleman tended bar for a spell, spent some time in Hollywood, and even reconsidered drama school. Soon, however, roles arrived in the mini-series Room At The Top and Titanic, as did her movie debut in 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger. Coleman also auditioned to play Mels in the 2011 Doctor Who story Let's Kill Hitler. Although the part instead went to Nina Toussaint-White, Coleman was seen again in early 2012 as a candidate to play the Doctor's next companion. This time she was successful, and her casting was publicly announced on March 21st. During Coleman's first season, she played no fewer than three different versions of the “Impossible Girl”: Oswin Oswald, victim of the Daleks, in 2012's Asylum Of The Daleks, Victorian governess Clara Oswald in that year's Christmas special, The Snowmen, and finally a modern-day Clara who would accompany Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor for the remainder of his tenure.

Early plans for Coleman to leave Doctor Who in 2014 were abandoned

Now professionally credited as simply “Jenna Coleman”, the actress remained on Doctor Who alongside the Twelfth Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi. Clara continued to be a key part of the stories, as her relationship with fellow schoolteacher Danny Pink loomed large in the season's arc. Coleman began to consider moving on from the programme, but early plans to leave in the 2014 finale, Death In Heaven, and then that year's holiday special, Last Christmas, were abandoned. Instead, Coleman stayed until the end of the 2015 season, with Clara leaving the TARDIS under heartbreaking circumstances in Hell Bent.

A cameo appearance followed in Capaldi's last adventure, Twice Upon A Time. By this point, however, Coleman had appeared in her second movie -- the 2016 romance Me Before You starring Emilia Clarke -- and found her next major television project, playing the titular monarch in Victoria. During the Twenties, Coleman took a lead role in The Serpent and made recurring appearances in the supernatural drama The Sandman, based on the acclaimed Neil Gaiman comic book series.