Jessica Raine

Jessica Raine (born Jessica Helen Lloyd; 1982) is an English actress. She is best known for playing midwife Jenny Lee in the first three series of BBC One drama Call the Midwife.

Raine was born in Eardisley, Herefordshire, where she was raised on her father's farm. She is the younger of two daughters of farmer Allan Lloyd (descended from the Lloyd family of Baynham Hall), and his wife Sue, who trained as a dancer but then worked as a nurse. Educated in Kington, Herefordshire, she wanted to be an actress from the age of 13, as her father starred in amateur dramatics with the Eardisley Little Theatre. In sixth form she studied theatre at A-Level and a BTEC in photography at Hereford College of Artsand then studied drama and cultural studies at the University of the West of England, Bristol. Turned down on graduation to enter every drama school that she applied to, Raine went to Thailand and taught English as a second language.

Returning home after a year, she applied to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art a second time and was accepted. Moving to London in anticipation of starting her course, she worked part-time as a waitress and for the telecommunications company BT.

After graduating in 2008, Raine began a successful stage career, initially cast as Lesley Sharp's goth daughter in Simon Stephens's Harper Regan. She then played Tamsin Greig's 16-year-old daughter in David Hare's Gethsemane. Raine then played at the National Theatre in Mike Bartlett's Earthquakes in London as teenage wild-child Jasmine; and then as a secretary in the revival of Clifford Odets's Rocket to the Moon. She has also appeared in Ghosts and Punk Rock, for which she won the Manchester Evening News Award for Best Supporting Actress. She played a role in the Young Vic's revival of Middleton and Rowley's 17th-century tragedy, The Changeling. In 2012 Raine starred in Beyond Ballets Russes at the London Coliseum.

In film and television, she has appeared in Garrow's Law and Robin Hood, directed by Ridley Scott.

Raine starred as the lead character Jenny Lee in the first three series of the BBC One drama Call the Midwife. After the success of the first series, she shot a Christmas special and a second series. At the end of series 2, Raine was asked to commit to eight more series of the programme. On 9 March 2014, it was announced that Raine was leaving the show at the end of series 3 to pursue a career in film in the United States.

In radio, she has played Felice in the Murray Gold play Kafka the Musical, broadcast in April 2011 on BBC 3. She also played the part of Kasey in Ed Harris' radio play The Wire, the Wall., first broadcast in Feb 2011.

Raine was a guest star in the 2013 Doctor Who episode "Hide". Later, she appeared as Doctor Who's original producer, Verity Lambert, in the drama An Adventure in Space and Time, showing the creation of the series as part of its fiftieth anniversary celebrations.

In 2014 Raine joined the cast of the BBC2 police drama Line of Duty for series 2 as Detective Constable Georgia Trotman working for the AC12 anti corruption unit.

She played Tuppence Beresford in the 2015 series Partners in Crime based on Agatha Christie's Tommy and Tuppence stories, though the series is set in 1952 rather than the 1920s.

Raine began dating actor Tom Goodman-Hill in 2010 after they met while co-starring in a play. They married on 5 September 2015 in London.

Film

Television