Julie Hesmondhalgh
Hesmondhalgh in 2008
Born	Julie Claire Hesmondhalgh Accrington,Lancashire, England
Alma mater	London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Occupation(s)	Actress, narrator
Years active	1988–present
Television	Coronation Street (1998–2014) Cucumber (2015) Happy Valley (2016) Broadchurch (2017) The A Word (2020)

Julie Claire Hesmondhalgh (/ˈhɛzməndhælʃ/HEZ-mənd-halsh;^[1][2]) is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her role asHayley Cropper in theITV soap operaCoronation Street between 1998 and 2014. For this role she won "Best Serial Drama Performance" at the2014 National Television Awards and "Best Actress" at the2014 British Soap Awards.

Hesmondhalgh's other regular television roles includeCucumber (2015),Happy Valley (2016),Broadchurch (2017) andThe Pact (2021). Her stage credits includeGod Bless the Child at theRoyal Court Theatre in London (2014), andWit at theRoyal Exchange, Manchester (2016).

Julie Claire Hesmondhalgh^[3] was born inAccrington,Lancashire. She applied to drama school aged 18, and studied at theLondon Academy of Music and Dramatic Art from 1988^[4] to 1991.^{[citation needed]}

Upon finishing her training, Hesmondhalgh was a part of Arts Threshold, a small independent theatre in London, for several years, and worked withRufus Norris in his directorial debut.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1990s she appeared in such television dramas asThe Bill,^{[5][better source needed]}Catherine Cookson'sThe Dwelling Place,^{[6][better source needed]} and in theVictoria Wood comedic television moviePat and Margaret.^[7]

In the 1990s, Hesmondhalgh appeared in such television dramas asThe Bill,^{[8][better source needed]}Catherine Cookson'sThe Dwelling Place,^{[9][better source needed]} and in theVictoria Wood comedic television moviePat and Margaret.^[10]

She is best known for playingHayley Cropper in theITV soap operaCoronation Street.^[11] Making her debut appearance on the show in January 1998, she played the firsttransgender character in a British soap opera.^[12] She took maternity leave from the soap between 2000 and 2001 and later decided to take another break for a year in order to spend more time with her family, leaving in October 2007 and returning in 17 November 2008.^{[citation needed]}

Hesmondhalgh's character Hayley was involved in high-profile storylines, including one concerning agender transition, and a hostage storyline in the Underworld factory in which Hayley andCarla Connor (Alison King) were kidnapped, bound and gagged by rogue businessmanTony Gordon, who intended to murder them. They escaped unharmed, although Tony was killed in the ensuing explosion.^{[citation needed]} On 11 January 2013,ITV announced that Hesmondhalgh would be leavingCoronation Street in January 2014 after 15 years on the show, and that her character Hayley was to leave in a controversialright-to-die storyline, following a battle withpancreatic cancer.^[13] Hesmondhalgh filmed her final scenes on 18 November 2013; they were broadcast on 22 January 2014, the night she won a National Television Award for Best Performance in a Serial Drama, which she shared with her longtime co-star,David Neilson.^{[citation needed]} Over 10 million viewers tuned in to Hayley's final episode, in which she ended her life. She worked withpancreatic cancer charities to raise awareness of the disease, and was involved in a petition and attended a parliamentary debate on the subject in 2014.^{[citation needed]}

On 24 December 2011, Hesmondhalgh appeared onITV'sThe Cube, winning £20,000 for her Accrington-based anti-poverty charity, Maundy Relief.^{[citation needed]}

From 22 January 2015, she played the role of Cleo Whitaker in theChannel 4 drama seriesCucumber, written byRussell T Davies.^[14] She also appeared in theBBC Four filmBlack Roses: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster, a television film about themurder of Sophie Lancaster. Hesmondhalgh played the role of Sophie's mother, Sylvia Lancaster, a role which she previously portrayed on stage. Hesmondhalgh is friends with Sylvia Lancaster and patron of the Sophie Lancaster Foundation. In 2015, Hesmondhalgh won aRoyal Television Society Award for Best Female Actor in a Drama for her role as Sylvia.^{[citation needed]}

Also in 2015, Hesmondhalgh appeared in an episode of the BBC dramaMoving On, withShane Richie andJohn Thomson, as well as one episode ofInside No. 9, written bySteve Pemberton andReece Shearsmith.^{[citation needed]}

In 2016, Hesmondhalgh joined the cast of acclaimed drama thrillerHappy Valley for its second series onBBC One. She was offered the role by creator, writer and executive producerSally Wainwright. Hesmondhalgh's character Amanda Wadsworth is a midwife and working mother fromYorkshire who has a fraught relationship with her husband, John (Kevin Doyle).^[15]

In 2017, Hesmondhalgh played the role ofrape victim Trish in the third and final series ofBroadchurch onITV.^[16]

She appeared as a guest star in theDoctor Who episode "Kerblam!".^[17]

In 2019, Hesmondhalgh played Amanda in the first episode of the final season of Channel 4'sCatastrophe withRob Delaney andSharon Horgan.^[18] She appeared in the six-part ITV comedy dramaThe Trouble with Maggie Cole, withDawn French, in 2020.^[19] Also in 2020, Hesmondhalgh played Heather in the third series ofThe A Word.^{[citation needed]}

In May 2021, Hesmondhalgh played Nancy in theBBC1 seriesThe Pact, alongsideLaura Fraser,Rakie Ayola, Eiry Thomas,Aneurin Barnard andJason Hughes. The series, set inWales, was written byPete McTighe.^[20][21]

In 2021, Hesmondhalgh began narrating the revival ofThe Weakest Link, taking over fromJon Briggs.^[22]

In January 2024, she starred as Suzanne Sercombe, wife of subpostmasterAlan Bates, the main character in the ITV1 dramaMr Bates vs The Post Office, which was based on true events surrounding theBritish Post Office scandal.^[23][24]

On finishing her training in the 1990s, Hesmondhalgh was a part of Arts Threshold, a small independent theatre in London, for several years, and worked withRufus Norris in his directorial debut.^{[citation needed]}

From 19–29 September 2012, Hesmondhalgh appeared at theRoyal Exchange Theatre inManchester, portraying Sylvia Lancaster inBlack Roses: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster opposite Rachel Austin. The play was based on the real-life story of Sylvia's late daughter,Sophie Lancaster. Hesmondhalgh won aManchester Theatre Award for Best Studio Performance in 2013.^[25]

On 23 January 2014, she returned to the Royal Exchange Theatre for her first role since leavingCoronation Street, in theSimon Stephens playBlindsided, which ran until 15 February that year. From 12 November to 20 December 2014, she appeared inGod Bless The Child at theRoyal Court Theatre in London, directed byVicky Featherstone, playing Mrs Bradley, withAmanda Abbington.^{[citation needed]}

In January 2016, she played Vivian Bearing, an American Professor of Poetry dying of ovarian cancer, inMargaret Edson'sWit at The Royal Exchange main stage, directed by Raz Shaw, for which she was nominated for aTMA and won aManchester Theatre Award for Best Actress.^[26]

On 30 April 2017, Hesmondhalgh starred in a one-off performance at theRoyal Court Theatre, ofLemn Sissay'sThe Report, directed by John E. McGrath.^[27]

In February 2018, she starred as Renee inThe Almighty Sometimes by Kendall Feaver. It was directed by Katy Rudd at theRoyal Exchange.^[28]

In February 2019, she performed the title role inMother Courage and Her Children byBertolt Brecht, adapted by Anna Jordan. It was directed by Amy Hodge at the Royal Exchange, Manchester.^[29]

In June 2015, Hesmondhalgh performed a script-in-hand scratch performance of her first one-woman play,These I Love, at Gulliver's in Manchester.^{[citation needed]}

In 2019Methuen Drama published herWorking Diary as part of theirTheatre Makers series.^[30]

She is a founder member of a Manchester-based grassroots theatre collective creating work about social issues, Take Back, which she runs with Rebekah Harrison and Grant Archer, and to which she has contributed as a writer and actor.^[26]

She is also a member of The Gap collective, a writing company in Manchester. She is a supporter ofArts Emergency and a mentor with theNational Youth Theatre.^{[citation needed]}

Hesmondhalgh is aLabour Party member.^[31] In August 2015, she endorsedJeremy Corbyn'scampaign in theLabour Party leadership election. Shetweeted: "Proudly supportingJeremy Corbyn in the Labour leadership contest."^[32] She campaigned for Corbyn as party leader in the2017 UK general election.^[31] In May 2017, speaking at Labour's general election campaign launch in Manchester, she said: "I realised the Labour party and its core values would finally be in line with my own deeply held socialist beliefs about equality, justice and peace."^[33]

On 1 May 2013, Hesmondhalgh appeared onITV game showAll Star Mr & Mrs with husband Ian, and won £20,000 for Maundy Relief.^[34]

Hesmondhalgh is apatron of the following organisations:Trans Media Watch,^[35] Maundy Relief, Marple Drama, WAST, Manchester People's Assembly, Reuben's Retreat, The Alex Williams Believe and Achieve Trust, and The Sophie Lancaster Foundation (for whom she and Ian held a creative writing competition in schools across the North West in 2011). The latter organisation was set up following themurder of Sophie Lancaster.^{[citation needed]}

In 2019, she set up the group 500 Acts of Kindness,^[36] a fundraising community in which 500 members donate a pound a week to give to an individual, group, family or organisation in need.^{[citation needed]}

• Julie Hesmondhalgh atIMDb 
• Julie Hesmondhalgh at theBritish Film Institute^{[better source needed]}

• 1970 births
• Living people
• 20th-century English actresses
• 21st-century English actresses
• People from Accrington
• Actresses from Lancashire
• Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
• British LGBTQ rights activists
• British Soap Award for Best Actress winners
• English humanists
• English soap opera actresses
• English stage actresses
• English television actresses
• Labour Party (UK) people

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