Jenna Russell

Jenna Russell is an English actress and singer born on 5 October 1967 in London, who grew up in Dundee and trained at the Sylvia Young Theatre School. She made her Broadway debut in 2008, earning a Theatre World Award as well as nominations for the Drama Desk Award and Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

Russell began her professional career as an understudy for the roles of Éponine and Fantine in Les Misérables before taking over the role of Fantine. Early in her career she also worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in The Beggar's Opera as Lucy Lockit at the Barbican Centre in April 1992 and again in April 1993, and in Alan Ayckbourn's Wildest Dreams at the Barbican in December 1993. Additional stage credits from this period include Young Sally in Follies at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 1987 and Three Sisters at the Royal Court.

Her stage work continued to expand through the 1990s and into the 2000s. She played Bertrande in Martin Guerre at the Prince Edward Theatre in the West End in 1998, and that same year appeared as Cinderella in the Donmar Warehouse production of Into the Woods. She later returned to that show in 2010, playing the Baker's Wife at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. She performed in three productions at The Bridewell Theatre: On a Clear Day You Can See Forever as Daisy in January 2000, a concert called The Cutting Edge in June 2000, and Hello Again in March 2001. Other credits include Samantha Lord in High Society at Sheffield Crucible and Felicity in Landslide at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. In 2005, she played the lead role of Sarah Brown in the West End production of Guys and Dolls, a production that featured Ewan McGregor, Nigel Harman, Sarah Lancashire, Jane Krakowski, and Nigel Lindsay at various times, earning her a nomination for the 2006 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

Russell's most prominent stage role came when she took over from Anna-Jane Casey as Dot/Marie in the London revival of Sunday in the Park with George by Stephen Sondheim in 2006, winning the 2007 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She reprised the role for the Broadway transfer, which opened on 21 February 2008 and ran until 29 June 2008 at Studio 54. Russell was pregnant during the Broadway run. The production brought her the Theatre World Award in 2008 and nominations for both the Drama Desk Award and the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Also in 2006, she appeared alongside Felicity Kendal in the West End revival of Amy's View, playing the role of Amy.

Russell's subsequent West End work includes the role of Mary in Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, which transferred from the Menier Chocolate Factory to the Harold Pinter Theatre, and Penelope Pennywise in Urinetown: The Musical, which she played first at the St. James Theatre from February 2014 and then at the Apollo Theatre from September 2014. In January 2016 she starred alongside Sheila Hancock in the first UK production of Grey Gardens at The Southwark Playhouse. In September 2022, she led the cast of Alan Ayckbourn's Woman in Mind at Chichester Festival Theatre.

Russell's television career has run alongside her stage work. From 1990 to 1992 she played Maggie Lomax in the BBC comedy On the Up. She left the cast of Songs for a New World during rehearsal to take the role of Deborah Gilder in the BBC series Born and Bred, in which she appeared from 2002 to 2005. In 2005 she appeared as the Floor Manager in the Doctor Who episodes "Bad Wolf" and "The Parting of the Ways." In 2009 she appeared in the inaugural episode of the revived television series Minder as Petra. In December 2016 she joined the cast of the BBC soap opera EastEnders in the role of Michelle Fowler, departing the show in April 2018. Russell also sang the theme tune to the BBC sitcom Red Dwarf, with her version used across all series of the show. She is the partner of actor Ray Coulthard, and the two are parents to a daughter.