Katherine Parkinson

Katherine Jane Parkinson (born 9 March 1978) is an English actress. She has appeared in several comedy series, including as Jen Barber in Channel 4's The IT Crowd, for which she received a British Comedy Best TV Actress Award in 2009 and again in 2014, and a BAFTA TV Award in 2014 (having received a nomination in 2011).

She was also a main cast member of the series Doc Martin for three series, and performed the voice-overs for the games Worms Clan Wars and Worms Battlegrounds. She co-starred in Series 1–3 of Humans, a science-fiction drama on AMC/Channel 4, which premiered in June 2015. She has also appeared in such films as How to Lose Friends & Alienate People and The Boat That Rocked.

Parkinson was born in Hounslow, London, to an English mother and Northern Irish father, the historian Alan Parkinson. She grew up in Tolworth and Surbiton, and studied at Tiffin Girls' School before reading classics at St Hilda's College, Oxford. She then studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art where she met Chris O'Dowd, later to be her co-star in The IT Crowd. She left her course to star in the play The Age of Consent. At the conclusion of the run, she was nominated for the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art Award (LAMDAA).

Between 2005 and 2009, Parkinson played Pauline Lamb, the doctor's receptionist – and later phlebotomist – in series 2–4 of the long-running ITV comedy-drama series Doc Martin, based on the film Saving Grace (2000).

While working on Doc Martin, she was asked by her college friend Chris O'Dowd to audition for the comedy series The IT Crowd as the show was having trouble casting a female lead. In an interview with The Independent, Parkinson said that show creator Graham Linehan originally wanted Jen to be "likeable" but "I know what he wanted now – he wanted her to be the more normal person people could relate to." Although she would act as the straight woman to the two guys, her klutziness was well received by the audience. She had straight hair for the role, in contrast to her curly hair from Doc Martin.

In 2007, she appeared in a new production of Chekhov's The Seagull at London's Royal Court Theatre, alongside Kristin Scott Thomas and Mackenzie Crook.

On New Year's Day 2009 in the United Kingdom, she appeared in a feature-length episode of Jonathan Creek entitled "The Grinning Man". She also contributed sketch characters to Katy Brand's ITV2 show, having been friends with Brand since their time at university. At the end of 2009, she appeared in the play Cock at the Royal Court Theatre with Ben Whishaw and Andrew Scott.

She has performed several times on BBC Radio 4, including on Laura Solon: Talking and Not Talking, Mouth Trap, again with Katy Brand, and in The Odd Half Hour. She also featured in television advertisements for Maltesers alongside fellow actress and comedian Amanda Abbington, and provided her voice for a Herbal Essences shampoo advertising campaign in 2010.

Parkinson played Sophie, one of the lead roles along with Mark Heap (Bob Stevens), in BBC Four's three-part comedy series The Great Outdoors, which followed the hikes, heartaches, friendships and rivalries of a misfit rambling club, first aired on 28 July 2010. In 2010–2011, she appeared in Season's Greetings at the National Theatre and in 2011 as Lady Teazle in The School for Scandal (directed by Deborah Warner) at the Barbican Centre.

Parkinson starred in The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff, a four-part BBC comedy series which premiered on BBC Two on 19 December 2011. Parkinson next appeared in series 2 episode 3 of Sherlock, "The Reichenbach Fall", as journalist Kitty Riley in January 2012.

During 2012 and 2013 Parkinson played the roles of Diana in Absent Friends at the Harold Pinter Theatre, and Laura in Rodney Ackland's Before the Party at the Almeida Theatre respectively.

In 2013, she filmed The Honourable Woman for the BBC and SundanceTV.

In 2015 Parkinson starred in the BBC One comedy series The Kennedys, written by Emma Kennedy about growing up on a Stevenage New Town estate in the 1970s. She also played one of the lead roles as Laura Hawkins in the British-American science fiction series Humans Series One broadcast on Channel 4 and AMC between 14 June and 2 August 2015, Series Two in 2016 and Series Three in 2018.

During 2016 she performed in the stage play Dead Funny at the Vaudeville Theatre,where she played the role of Eleanor. In 2018 and 2019 she has performed in Home, I'm Darling, for which Parkinson has been nominated for an Olivier award in the Best Actress category, and in Defending the Guilty.

In 2019 Parkinson's debut work as a playwright Sitting had its London premiere, following a month-long run at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Parkinson is married to actor Harry Peacock.