Jessica Stevenson

Jessica Hynes
Hynes at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	Tallulah Jessica Elina Stevenson (1972-10-30) 30 October 1972 (age 44) Lewisham, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Actress, writer
Years active	1993–present
Spouse(s)	Adam Hynes (m. 2002)
Children	3

Tallulah Jessica Elina Hynes (née Stevenson; born 30 October 1972) is an English actress and writer. Known professionally as Jessica Stevenson until 2007, she was one of the creators, writers and stars of the British sitcom Spaced and has worked as a writer and actress for over two decades.

Hynes has been nominated for a Tony, a Laurence Olivier Award, four BAFTAs (of which she has won one), and three British Comedy Awards (of which she has won two). She is a celebrity ambassador for the charity Action for Children and organised a fundraising concert for Haiti Kids Kino project with her friend and sometime collaborator Julia Davis which raised £4,000 for the charity.

Hynes was born in Lewisham, London, and grew up in Brighton, where she attended Dorothy Stringer High School. As a teenager Hynes was a member of the National Youth Theatre company, and made her stage début with the company in Lionel Bart's Blitz in 1990. In 1992–93 she played a season at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds. In the same year she appeared in Peter Greenaway's 1993 film The Baby of Mâcon, playing the first midwife. For the first fourteen years of her career, Hynes used her maiden name as a stage name. Early in her career she teamed up with future Spaced co-star Katy Carmichael in a comedy double-act called the Liz Hurleys, appeared in two productions at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre, and played parts on television in the nursing drama Staying Alive (1995–97) and short-lived sketch shows Six Pairs of Pants, (Un)natural Acts and Asylum—where the Spaced team (Stevenson, Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright) first assembled. She also guest starred in the first episode of Midsomer Murders in 1997.