Joanna Scanlan

Acting

Joanna Scanlan

Born 1961-10-27 · West Kirby, Merseyside, England, UK

Joanna Marion Scanlan (born 27 October 1961) is a British actress and writer. On television, she is known for her roles in The Thick of It (2005–2012), Big School (2013–2014), Puppy Love (2014), No Offence (2015–2018), Requiem (2018), and The Larkins (2021). She was nominated for three BAFTA TV Awards for Getting On (2009–2012), including two for Best Writing. Scanlan's film appearances include Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003), Notes on a Scandal (2006), The Invisible Woman (2013), and Bridget Jones's Baby (2016). She won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in the 2020 film After Love. She was the first person since 2003 to win the award without being nominated for the corresponding Oscar. Description above from the Wikipedia article Joanna Scanlan, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Stardust poster
7.3

In a countryside town bordering on a magical land, a young man makes a promise to his beloved that he'll retrieve a fallen star by venturing into the magical realm. His journey takes him into a world beyond his wildest dreams and reveals his true identity.

Stardust

2007

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy poster
6.4

Bridget Jones navigates life as a widow and single mum with the help of her family, friends, and former lover, Daniel. Back to work and on the apps, she's pursued by a younger man and maybe – just maybe – her son's science teacher.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy

2025

Notes on a Scandal poster
7.1

A veteran high school teacher befriends a younger art teacher, who is having an affair with one of her 15-year-old students. However, her intentions with this new "friend" also go well beyond platonic friendship.

Notes on a Scandal

2006

The Other Boleyn Girl poster
6.7

A sumptuous and sensual tale of intrigue, romance and betrayal set against the backdrop of a defining moment in European history: two beautiful sisters, Anne and Mary Boleyn, driven by their family's blind ambition, compete for the love of the handsome and passionate King Henry VIII.

The Other Boleyn Girl

2008

Bridget Jones's Baby poster
6.4

After breaking up, Bridget Jones' happily-ever-after hasn't quite gone according to plan. Fortysomething and single again, she decides to focus on her job and surround herself with old friends and new. For once, Bridget has everything completely under control. Then her love life takes a turn when she meets Jack. A week later, she runs into Mark before she finds herself pregnant, but with one hitch - she's not sure of the identity of her baby's father - Mark or Jack.

Bridget Jones's Baby

2016

Girl with a Pearl Earring poster
6.6

This film, adapted from a work of fiction by author Tracy Chevalier, tells a story about the events surrounding the creation of the painting "Girl With A Pearl Earring" by 17th century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer. A young peasant maid working in the house of painter Johannes Vermeer becomes his talented assistant and the model for one of his most famous works.

Girl with a Pearl Earring

2003

Tulip Fever poster
6.5

An artist falls for a married young woman while he's commissioned to paint her portrait. The two invest in the risky tulip market in hopes to build a future together.

Tulip Fever

2017

Kinky Boots poster
6.7

Charles Price may have grown up with his father in the family shoe business in Northampton, central England, but he never thought that he would take his father's place. Charles has a chance encounter with the flamboyant drag queen cabaret singer Lola and everything changes.

Kinky Boots

2005

Wicked Little Letters poster
6.9

When the denizens of Littlehampton – including conservative Edith – begin receiving letters full of hilarious profanities, rowdy Irish migrant Rose is charged with the crime. Suspecting something amiss, the town's women band together to investigate.

Wicked Little Letters

2024

How to Talk to Girls at Parties poster
6.0

In 1970s London, a teenage outsider named Enn falls in love with a rebellious alien girl named Zan, who has come to Earth for a party. Together, they navigate the complexities of intergalactic culture and the trials of first love.

How to Talk to Girls at Parties

2017

Get Santa poster
6.1

A father and son must team up to save Christmas when they discover Santa Claus sleeping in their garage, having crashed his sleigh and found himself on the run from the police.

Get Santa

2014

Testament of Youth poster
7.2

Testament of Youth is a powerful story of love, war and remembrance, based on the First World War memoir by Vera Brittain, which has become the classic testimony of that war from a woman’s point of view. A searing journey from youthful hopes and dreams to the edge of despair and back again, it’s a film about young love, the futility of war and how to make sense of the darkest times.

Testament of Youth

2015

This Is Christmas poster
7.1

Follow Adam and Emma on their daily commute from the village of Langton to London, where they meet the same passengers every day. One morning, Adam breaks the unspoken taboo of talking to strangers on a train and invites the entire carriage to hold their own Christmas party together.

This Is Christmas

2022

The Invisible Woman poster
5.9

In 1857, at the height of his fame and fortune, novelist and social critic Charles Dickens meets and falls in love with teenage stage actress Nelly Ternan. As she becomes the focus of his heart and mind, as well as his muse, painful secrecy is the price both must pay.

The Invisible Woman

2013

Joy poster
6.9

A young nurse, a visionary scientist and an innovative surgeon face opposition from the church, state, media and medical establishment, in their pursuit of the world’s first ‘test tube baby’, Louise Joy Brown.

Joy

2024

In the Loop poster
7.0

The US President and the UK Prime Minister are planning on launching a war in the Middle East, but—behind the scenes—government officials and advisers are either promoting the war or are trying to prevent it.

In the Loop

2009

Don vs Lightning poster
6.7

When Don, an elderly Scottish grump, finds himself the victim of multiple lightning strikes he begins to worry that his quiet, orderly life may never be the same again.

Don vs Lightning

2021

How to Build a Girl poster
5.8

The journey of Midlands teenager Johanna Morrigan, who reinvents herself as Dolly Wilde: fast-talking, lady sex-adventurer, moves to London, and gets a job as music critic in the hope of saving her poverty stricken family in Wolverhampton. Based on Caitlin Moran's bestselling semi-autobiographical novel.

How to Build a Girl

2020

After Love poster
7.1

Set in the port town of Dover in the South-East of England, Mary Hussain suddenly finds herself a widow following the unexpected death of her husband. A day after the burial, she discovers he has a secret just twenty-one miles across the English Channel in Calais.

After Love

2021

Jane Eyre poster
7.1

After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meets the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Edward Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?

Jane Eyre

1997

A Little Trip to Heaven poster
5.4

Insurance investigator Abraham Holt travels to a tiny town in rural Minnesota to look into a particularly unusual insurance claim stemming from a horrific car accident. As Holt examines the scene of the wreck, it all seems a bit too perfect. And when he interviews Isold Mcbride and her shifty husband, Fred -- the impoverished beneficiaries of the massive, recently initiated life-insurance policy -- he begins to suspect that something is amiss.

A Little Trip to Heaven

2005

Spinners and Losers poster
8.7

Peter Mannion's speech on immigration, leaking the PM's policy, did not have the effect Tucker desired and now the PM is resigning, leaving the way clear for the Nutters and their leader Tom. Ollie has been promised a job by young Nutter Ben Swain, Tucker's assistant has encouraged Hugh's predecessor Cliff to stand as a stalking horse and Glenn is keen to keep Hugh in the frame whilst his boss is in Australia. Fortunately Tom has a dark secret which is just what Tucker is looking for but will it be enough?

Spinners and Losers

2007

The Bad Education Movie poster
5.7

Mr Wickers takes his class on a final trip to Cornwall, which descends into chaos as they encounter a local separatist group.

The Bad Education Movie

2015

The Deal poster
6.8

It is approaching an election in the UK when the leader of the Labour party, John Smith, suffers another in a line of heart attacks and dies. With the leadership campaign about to start the clear choice appears to be Gordon Brown, a stanch Scotsman. However Tony Blair is also beginning to appear more likely as he will appeal to Southern voters who would be turned off by Brown. Blair rings Brown to arrange a meeting to discuss which will go for the job. The film flashbacks to the start of their relationship, sharing an office in Westminster on their first seats.

The Deal

2003