10 Things You Never Knew About Jenna Coleman
After charming us as Clara Oswald in Doctor Who and showing her stately side in Victoria, Jenna Coleman is getting seriously intense in The Cry, SundanceTV's new four-part mystery drama series. She plays a woman from Scotland whose baby goes missing during a family trip to Australia – a tragedy which has devastating effects on her mental health. Ahead of its premiere Wednesday, October 23, at 11/10c, check out the trailer, as well as 10 things you might not know about the consistently excellent British actress.
1. Her full name is actually Jenna-Louise Coleman.
And she was named after Priscilla Presley's Dallas character, Jenna Wade. Discussing why she dropped the "Louise" from her stage name, Coleman told The Independent: "The boring truth is that people have never really called me Jenna-Louise and I just found it very strange because I started to do more interviews and go places where people I didn't know kept calling me Jenna-Louise. It sounded odd to me."
2. She was Head Girl – kind of equivalent to Class President – during her time at Arnold School in Blackpool, the English seaside town where she grew up.
Colman has said that though people often dismiss her hometown as "stag-and-hen [bachelorette] central," it actually "has a charm you don’t appreciate until you leave. Something to do with faded '50s glamour and nostalgia."
3. Coleman has said that if she could be a companion to any other Timelord, she'd pick Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor or David Tennant's Tenth Doctor.
You can kind of picture her in the TARDIS with Tennant, can't you?
4. Before filming Victoria's many labor scenes – the monarch had nine children, after all! – she listens to Mumford and Sons to psyche herself up.
"I think there is something about the banjo, something about the adrenaline," Coleman's explained.
5. Before she landed her Doctor Who role, she made a brief appearance in Captain America: The First Avenger.
Yes, really – check it out below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmzOYPuzKIk
6. She also made a psychological horror short film called Corporate Monster.
Its release was severely delayed, but director Ruairi Robinson uploaded the finished film to YouTube just last month, so you can watch it below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7qRwiGEqCU
7. She won a role in Emmerdale, one of the U.K.'s most popular soaps, while studying at drama school.
And ended up playing her character Jasmine Thomas for a massive 168 episodes between 2005 and 2009!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Fb0-TQWobM
8. She wouldn't mind playing another iconic queen from history.
"I always said that I wanted to play Cleopatra, because I remember that thing about her being the infinite variety," she told British Vogue last year.
9. When she left Doctor Who, she took a few mementos with her.
"I stole quite a lot actually. I stole it but somebody helped me in the props department, so I feel like that was okay," she revealed on the U.K.'s The Jonathan Ross Show. "I stole a piece of TARDIS. A proper gallifreyan full-on piece under my jumper, but it was in conjunction with the props team, they gave me the wink. I've also got the neon sign of the police box sign; I've got that in my dining room and it lights up."
10. Oh, and she recently shared her most embarrassing moment – and it's a classic.
Colman told The Guardian: "[I was] buying a sandwich at Leeds train station. The man said to me: 'Do you want to go for a drink?' I said, 'I am so sorry, I’ve got a boyfriend.' And he replied, 'No, it’s a meal deal: if you take a sandwich, you can get a drink as well.'
Oh, Jenna!
What is your favorite Jenna Coleman moment?