Jemima Rooper

I remember writing "I want to act" on my bed in lipstick. I think I told my mum I wanted to be an actress and she said I needed an agent to do that. I must have said: "Well, I'm going to get one"—and I think that's why. She was devastated. She said: "Please don't be an actress, be a doctor or lawyer." But I was very tunnel-visioned about it all. I'm an only child and I spent a lot of time alone. I played a lot of imaginary games. I just wanted to dress up and be weird, I suppose.

Rooper made her Hollywood debut in The Black Dahlia. In 2008 she starred in the TV series Lost in Austen and guest starred in Agatha Christie's Poirot. She also played a lead role in Her Naked Skin, a new play at the National Theatre. In December 2010, Rooper was cast in the musical Me and My Girl at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre, alongside Miriam Margolyes. Having been featured in films including The Railway Children, A Sound of Thunder, Kinky Boots, One Chance and The F Word since 2003, she has since appeared in numerous guest role on British series including Father Brown.

After several small roles in British TV series, Jemima took the role of Nicki Sutton in the popular Channel 4 teenage series As If, which successfully ran for three years. Her next appearance was in the supernatural drama Hex where she played a lovable lesbian ghost named Thelma. Hex aired on Sky One and ran for two series between 2004 and 2005.

Rooper expressed a wish to be an actress at the age of nine and contacted an agent. Her first professional roles were in the 1993 film The Higher Mortals and the 1994 film Willie's War. In 1996, she appeared in all episodes as George in Enid Blyton's The Famous Five.

Jemima Rooper (born 24 October 1981) is an English actress. Having started as a child actress in television series, she has appeared in numerous film and theatre roles.