Jessica Knappett

Jessica Knappett is an English comedy writer and actress.

Early life

Knappett was born in Bingley, West Yorkshire in 1984 and studied at Woodhouse Grove School before going on to read drama and English at the University of Manchester. She was a founder member of Lady Garden, a sketch group who met in Manchester in 2005 and performed their first show at the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, returning in 2009 and 2010. During this period, the group toured throughout England, and performed at Sheffield, Manchester, Brighton, Comedy Festivals in 2008, had a three-month residency at Jesterlarf in Cambridge, were 2009 Hackney New Act & Laughing Horse Finalists, and won an Argus Angel for their show in the Brighton Fringe in May 2009.

Career

Knappett played Lisa in The Inbetweeners Movie, released in the UK on 17 August 2011.

She played WPC Ruth in the Alan Partridge movie Alpha Papa, released in 2013.

As a writer, she co-wrote Drifters, a sitcom pilot, with Inbetweeners writers Iain Morris and Damon Beesley. She also plays the sitcom's main character, Meg. Episode 1 of Drifters was first shown on E4 on 31 October 2013.

She is an admirer of the American comic actresses Tina Fey, Kristen Schaal, Kristen Wiig and UK television stars Miranda Hart, Rebecca Front and Katherine Parkinson.

Other work

As well as playing a supporting role in The Inbetweeners Movie, Knappett has made a number of television and radio appearances.

She has appeared as "the Sister" in E4's Meet the Parents, "Harriet" in series 3 of How Not to Live Your Life and "Becky" in series 2 of Lunch Monkeys for BBC Three.

She played the role of Carly in the BBC Radio 4 comedy series Shedtown, starring Johnny Vegas and Kevin Eldon.