Jo Hartley — Acting | Biography, Movies & Career

Biography

Jo Hartley is an English actress. She is known for her roles in the films Dead Man's Shoes (2004), This Is England (2006), The Young Victoria (2009), Torvill & Dean (2018), Slaughterhouse Rulez (2018), Eddie the Eagle (2016), Sweetheart (2021), and Bank of Dave (2023). Television credits include This Is England '86 (2010), Not Safe For Work (2015), In My Skin (2018), After Life (2019-2022), Mandy (2021), Das Boot (2022), Death In Paradise (2023), Passenger (2024), and Adolescence (2025).

Hartley was born in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, and brought up in a working-class family, attending North Chadderton School in Chadderton, in Oldham. She started acting at the age of 11 in her school production of The Sound of Music as Gretel Von Trappe.

She joined Oldham Theatre Workshop, developing her acting skills until the age of 17, when she stopped acting to work at British Aerospace on a Youth Training Scheme. She worked as a secretary there for two years before leaving to join Japan Airlines as a flight attendant.

Hartley had her debut film role in the 2004 Shane Meadows directed Crime Drama Thriller film Dead Man's Shoes as 'Marie'. She went on to appear in many British productions, including films such as Northern Soul and Me and Her both in 2004; Terra Firma and Flushed in 2008; and The Crossing, Janet and Bernard and I Don't Care in 2014. Hartley has been a character actor in many TV films and TV series since 2004, with her most notable roles in This Is England '86, This Is England '88 and This Is England '90, the follow-on TV mini-series to the film. In movies Hartley has appeared in This Is England (2006) as Cynthia, and the feature film The Young Victoria in 2009, with Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend.

In 2016 Hartley appeared as Janette, Eddie's mother in the film Eddie the Eagle appearing alongside Taron Egerton and Hugh Jackman. She co-starred in the David Cross series Bliss opposite Heather Graham as one of two partners of a fraudulent travel writer. Hartley also appeared in the comedy horror film Slaughterhouse Rulez, alongside Asa Butterfield and Simon Pegg.

After a successful pilot episode, Hartley played the role of Bethan's mum, Katrina, who suffers from bipolar disorder in the BBC series In My Skin which aired on BBC1 in 2020. In April 2020, Hartley returned as June in the second series of Ricky Gervais's After Life.

In January 2021, Hartley joined the Rising Star Award jury of the EE British Academy Film Awards to select the shortlist for the 2021 award, alongside Alicia Vikander, Naomi Ackie and several other prominent figures of the industry. In November 2021, Hartley was nominated for the BIFA for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Tina in the Marley Morrison directed British drama film Sweetheart.

In December 2021, Hartley had a guest-role appearance in the BBC's Mandy Christmas special—We Wish You A Mandy Christmas alongside Diane Morgan and Johnny Vegas. In 2022, Hartley landed a recurring role in four episodes of series 3, of the Sky One German U-boat series Das Boot, alongside Tom Wlaschiha.

In 2023, Hartley starred as 'Nicola', wife of Burnley banker Dave Fishwick (played by Rory Kinnear) in the film Bank of Dave, released on Netflix in January 2023.

In April 2024, Hartley played the lead character in the British comedy film Swede Caroline.