Julie Hesmondhalgh

Acting

Julie Hesmondhalgh

Born 1970-02-25 · Accrington, Lancashire, England, UK

Julie was born in Accrington, Lancashire in February 1970. A woman with a strong social conscience, she originally wanted to be a social worker. She was an amateur actress with the Oswaldtwistle Players and studied A-level Theatre Studies at Accrington and Rossendale College. Fate took a turn when she took an audition for drama school to be with her friends. It landed her a place at LAMDA, where she studied from 1988-1991. After graduating she set up her own theatre company, Arts Threshold, with a group of friends in Paddington, taking time out for TV roles in The Bill, the Catherine Cookson drama The Dwelling Place, a care home worker in Victoria Wood's comedy film Pat and Margaret and, just prior to Coronation Street, as an animal rights protestor in Dalziel & Pascoe. She was spotted by the casting crew for "Coronation Street" whilst playing in "Much Ado About Nothing" in the Royal Exchange theatre in Manchester, playing the dual roles of a maid and a night watchman!

Acting credits

The Best of So Graham Norton poster
NR

Part talk-show host, part comedian, and all-out extrovert, the very Irish and very gay Graham Norton is one of the few people who deserves all the adjectives that are thrown at him: "bawdy," "saucy," "outrageous," and "hilarious" are a few of them. His BBC talk show, So Graham Norton, is something that you just couldn't find in America: a rampant exercise in audience titillation that wallows gloriously in bizarre human behavior. It's like an audience-interactive NC-17 Saturday Night Live, with occasional breaks for celebrity chit-chat. If you ever wanted to see Gillian Anderson, Cher, Sophia Loren, or Dolly Parton break the talk-show mold with bawdy sex talk, then your dreams have come true. And Norton's cringe-inducing yet compulsively watchable audience polls, which ask common folk to relate embarrassing, adult-oriented tales, reveal a European openness (and sense of humor) that just wouldn't fly in the U.S.

The Best of So Graham Norton

2004

La Couchette poster
NR

On board the sleeper from Paris to Bourg St Maurice, a motley collection of passengers try to get a quiet night's sleep as the train makes its way across France. But as the sleeping compartment fills up, the chances of that begin to look highly unlikely. In deuxième classe, everyone can hear you scream.

La Couchette

2015

Peterloo poster
6.7

An epic portrayal of the events surrounding the infamous 1819 Peterloo Massacre, where a peaceful pro-democracy rally at St Peter’s Field in Manchester turned into one of the bloodiest and most notorious episodes in British history. The massacre saw British government forces charge into a crowd of over 60,000 that had gathered to demand political reforms and protest against rising levels of poverty.

Peterloo

2018

The National Television Awards Celebrate 25 Years poster
NR

This one-hour special documentary celebrates 25 star-studded years of the National Television Awards, with contributions from stars including Graham Norton and Simon Cowell.

The National Television Awards Celebrate 25 Years

2020

Pond Life poster
6.3

A group of young friends and neighbours come together for a fishing expedition after rumours spread of a giant carp in the area. In a world of broken families, cassette tapes and rumbling political fever, these friends, each with their own struggles to bear, share a moment of harmony.

Pond Life

2019

East Street poster
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EastEnders hit the cobbles of Coronation Street and Rovers regulars turn up on Albert Square to discuss and celebrate the concept of twinning the boroughs of Walford in East London and Weatherfield in Greater Manchester.

East Street

2010

Pat and Margaret poster
7.7

Unexpected events occur when Pat, a glamorous British-born star of American soaps, returns home to plug her auto-biography on television and meets, for the first time since they were teenagers, Margaret her plain and frumpy younger sister. The meeting is painful for both women highlighting the vast differences in their lives and resurrecting painful memories of their unhappy childhood with an uncaring, errant mother. The tabloid press smell a juicy story and a race ensues to trace the whereabouts of the long lost parent.

Pat and Margaret

1994

Boys On Film 15: Time & Tied poster
7.4

Embark on a magical journey through time with Boys On Film 15: Time & Tied — featuring a brand new selection of sensational gay British short films that showcase some of the UK's best emerging talent. This compilation features nine complete films: Lloyd Eyre-Morgan's "Closets" starring Tommy Knight and Ceallach Spellman; Brian Fairbairn & Karl Eccleston's "Putting On The Dish" starring Steve Wickenden and Neil Chinneck; Mitchell Marion's "G O'Clock" starring Marc Rovira Cenar and Phillip Weddell; Charlie Parham's "Nightstand" starring Nicholas Gleaves and Amrou Al-Kadhi; Simon Anderson's "Morning Is Broken" starring Matthew Tennyson, Nigel Allen and Jack Hawkins; Tom Frederic's "Sauna The Dead: A Fairy Tale" starring himself and Kumar Muniandy; Leon Lopez's "CrossRoad" starring Marc Rovira Cenar, Ashley Campbell, and Calum Ewan Cameron; Jake Graf's "Dawn" starring Nicole Gibson and Harry Rundle; and Kristen Bjorn's "Trouser Bar" starring Denholm Spurr, Scott Hunter, and Zac Renfree.

Boys On Film 15: Time & Tied

2016

I Told My Mum I Was Going On An RE Trip poster
NR

With 1 in 3 women having had an abortion "I told my Mum I was going on an R.E. trip…" explores what seems to be one of society's last taboos using verbatim voices, music, beats and rhyme.

I Told My Mum I Was Going On An RE Trip

2018

Closets poster
5.8

It's 1986, tormented teenager Henry is struggling with his sexuality and abusive home life. Henry sits in his closet contemplating suicide. In a flash of light he is transported to 2016 where he meets teenager Ben — now occupying his room 30 years later.

Closets

2015

What Would Julie Do? poster
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An actress prepares for an audition

What Would Julie Do?

The Outing poster
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1970's: A lonely divorcee, Nellie, meets widower Frank on a trip to the seaside. Nellie lets herself be swept away by the hope of connection. But as the seagulls circle overhead and Frank begins to ask too many questions, Nellie realises she will never be able to escape a monstrous family secret ...

The Outing

2022

No artwork available
NR

We mark 60 glorious years of Coronation Street, the world’s longest-running soap, with a celebration of the women who have ruled the roost in Weatherfield since the very first episode in December 1960.

Coronation Street: Queens of the Street

2020

Coronation Street: Romanian Holiday poster
5.8

What could be better? A footballer's wedding, a week in the sun, a luxury villa in historic Transylvania. It’s the trip of a lifetime for Coronation Street's favourite café owners Roy and Hayley Cropper, until the brash Glen and Verity appear... Opposites don't attract in this chaotic comic caper as the unlikely foursome embark on an adventure neither couple will ever forget. And when Weatherfield hell-raiser Becky McDonald jets in from her honeymoon, the stage is set for mountain mayhem deep in the heart of Dracula Country.

Coronation Street: Romanian Holiday

2009

Help poster
9.0

She needs help now, and only the young are listening.

Help

2022

Operation Magpie poster
NR

Two Detectives are staking out the property of a notorious criminal mastermind but all is not as it seems.

Operation Magpie

2023

Black Roses: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster poster
NR

In 2007, Sophie Lancaster was beaten to death because of her appearance. Her story is told through a sequence of poems by Simon Armitage and through the interviews made by her mother in the wake of the tragedy. Adapted for television from the poetry anthology/stage production and radio adaptation.

Black Roses: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster

2015