Jodie Whittaker

Born: 1982
Where: Huddersfield, Yorkshire, UK

The actress first attracted attention with the role of obnoxious teenager Jessie opposite Peter O'Toole in Venus.

O'Toole, who was nominated for an Oscar, described his co-star as "a brave, very self-assured tough little girl."

She claims she intended to be an actress from the age of 14 and took up a series of menial jobs in a residential home for the elderly as well as pub work.

At 20, she trained at London's Guildhall School of Music & Drama and made her stage debut at Shakespeare's Globe playing one of two northern prostitutes in Tim Carroll's knockabout production of the Peter Oswald play, The Storm.

Whittaker subsequently made her small screen debut in 2006 in The Afternoon Play followed by a role in Doctors.

In 2006, she was cast by director Roger Michell in Venus and returned to TV to star in two episodes of Dalziel & Pascoe and This Life +10.

The following year she landed the role of Beverly in the non-PC remake of St Trinian's alongside Rupert Everett and Colin Firth.