Jessica Henwick
Jessica Yu-Li Henwick (born 30 August 1992) is a British actress, writer and director. She began her career in 2010 and is best known for her roles in Game of Thrones, Iron Fist, Love and Monsters, The Defenders, Silk, The Matrix Resurrections, The Gray Man, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery and The Royal Hotel. Her directorial debut Bus Girl was nominated for a BAFTA.[1]
Jessica Henwick
Early life[edit]
Henwick is from Surrey,[2] the daughter of a Singaporean-Chinese mother of Teochew descent and a Zambian-born English father.[3][4][5] Her father, Mark, became an author in 2012 who wrote the urban fantasy series Bite Back.[6] She has two brothers, one older and one younger.[5]
Henwick attended Collingwood College in Camberley.[7] She trained briefly at Redroofs Theatre School before dropping out.[8] She also trained with the National Youth Theatre under the tutelage of Rikki Beadle-Blair.[9]
Career[edit]
Early career[edit]
Henwick happened upon a casting call in Chinatown, London and her mother encouraged her to pursue the opportunity.[10] In June 2009, it was announced Henwick had been cast in the lead role of Bo in the CBBC series Spirit Warriors,[11] making her the first actress of East Asian descent to play the lead role in a British television series.[12][13][14][15]
In early 2013, Henwick made her professional theatre debut in the international premiere of Running on the Cracks, based on the book by Julia Donaldson. The Guardian wrote, "with tremendous physical presence, Henwick captures the sense of adolescent righteousness, passion and confusion of a girl trying to create order in an unfair universe."[16] Theatre critic Joyce McMillan wrote that Henwick was "outstanding as Leo".[17]
Later that year, Henwick was cast as Jane Jeong Trenka in the drama Obsession: Dark Desires about Trenka's stalking in Minnesota, 1991, which she details in her book The Language of Blood.[18] Henwick joined the cast of Silk as new barrister pupil Amy. She reprised her role for the spin-off radio series Silk: The Clerks' Room.[19]
International breakthrough[edit]
In 2015, Henwick joined the cast of the HBO series Game of Thrones in Season 5 as Nymeria Sand. She continued performing the role until Season 7.[20] Henwick originally auditioned for the role of Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens before losing out to Daisy Ridley for the role.[21] Nevertheless, she still had a role in the film as the X-wing pilot Jess Pava. The character became a fan favourite.[22][23]
In 2017, Henwick appeared as Colleen Wing in the Netflix television series Iron Fist. Although critical reception of Iron Fist was generally negative, Henwick's performance in the series was well received.[24] She reprised the role for the series The Defenders, as well as the second season of Luke Cage.[25] At the end of 2017, Henwick was listed as one of Variety's Top Breakout Stars.[26]
In 2018, Henwick was cast in Godzilla vs. Kong,[27][28] though her part as well as Zhang Ziyi's role did not make the released theatrical cut.[29]
In 2020, Henwick co-starred in the Fox science fiction thriller Underwater,[30] and the films Love and Monsters and Sofia Coppola's On the Rocks.[31] That same year she was listed as one of The Hollywood Reporter's Rising Stars[32] and won the Brit to Watch award at the Newport Beach Film Festival.[33] The following year she starred in The Matrix Resurrections. IGN called Henwick the "best part of Resurrections",[34] while Deadline Hollywood said she was "what makes the movie worth watching".[35] She was nominated and won Best Supporting Actress on the Gold list Honors for the most outstanding Asian achievements in the film industry.[36]
In 2022, Henwick was in two of the most highly viewed Netflix films of all time, The Gray Man and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.[37] She directed her short film Bus Girl, shot entirely on a smartphone during a break from filming Glass Onion. It was nominated for a BAFTA award for Best Short Film.[38]
In 2023, Henwick joined the cast of The Royal Hotel directed by Kitty Green.[39][40] Her performance was well reviewed[41][42] with The Hollywood Reporter calling her 'superb'.[43] The film received an 89% score on Rotten Tomatoes.[44]
In 2024, Henwick appeared in Cuckoo opposite Hunter Schafer[45] and reprised her role in the second season of animated series Blood of Zeus.[46]
Writing[edit]
In 2020, it was announced Amazon had picked up Nancy Wu Done It, a young adult series that Henwick co-wrote.[47] She has a miniseries in development with Emu Films.[48]
In 2022, Henwick wrote an episode for the animated series Moley.[49] Henwick won the Mary Pickford prize for female filmmaker, for the Xiaomi short film ‘Bus Girl’ that she wrote, starred in and directed.[50] The short was nominated for the BAFTA awards in 2023.[51] She wrote and directed the sequel ‘Sandwich Man’ the following year.