Jayne Wisener | |
|---|---|
 Wisener in 2008 | |
| Born | 19 May 1987 |
| Alma mater | Royal Conservatoire of Scotland |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, singer |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Spouse | Wayne Austin (m. 2012) |
| Children | 2 |
Jayne Wisener (born 19 May 1987) is an actress and singer from Northern Ireland. She played Johanna in the British-American film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street . She also appeared in an episode of The Inbetweeners, as Lauren Harris.
 | This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(May 2020) |
On 6 July 2012, Jayne married Wayne Austin in her hometown of Coleraine, Northern Ireland. In January 2019, Jayne gave birth to their first child, Michael.
Wisener was born in Ballymoney and grew up in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, where she attended the Coleraine High School for girls. [1]
In 2005, she represented Antrim in the Rose of Tralee competition and finished 32nd out of 32 entries. [2] Wisener also was part of Musical Theatre 4 Youth, and appeared in a workshop production of Falling . [3]
While performing in a youth production of West Side Story at the Millennium Forum in Derry, Wisener was spotted by a talent scout, who asked her to audition for a role in Sweeney Todd. Wisener was, at age 19, deemed to look too old to play the 15-year-old Johanna Barker. When told this, Wisener "e-mailed them some pictures [of herself] without make-up. Usually looking young does [an actress] no favours at all, but [she was] quite pleased this time". [4]
She trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama for one year but left after landing the role of Johanna in Sweeney Todd.
Wisener made her stage debut in the UK premiere of the musical Parade at the Donmar Warehouse theatre in 2007.
She appeared in Boogeyman 3 playing the role of Amy and in November 2008 created the role of Sophie in a West End showcase of the new musical The Lost Christmas by Laurence Mark Wythe at the Trafalgar Studios, London.
In 2009, she appeared in an episode of The Inbetweeners – "The Field Trip" Series 2 Episode 1.
In late 2009, until early 2010 she appeared on stage playing the role of Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.
In March 2011 she played Sally, a young woman in a centre for female juvenile delinquents, in The Runaway, based on Martina Cole's novel.
From 2012 to 2015 she played the role of student Sandie Morrow, in the BBC Northern Ireland drama Six Degrees. [5]
Jayne also played the lead character 'Jay' in 2012 UK feature film, Life Just Is . She starred alongside Paul Nicholls and the two play a couple trying to work out their complex relationship. The film was not a success. [6]
From December 2012 to January 2013, Jayne starred as Cinderella in The Grand Opera House, Belfast pantomime.
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | Johanna Barker | Film debut |
| 2008 | Boogeyman 3 | Amy | |
| 2009 | Minder | Maria Grant | Episode: A Matter of Life and Debt |
| The Inbetweeners | Lauren Harris | Episode: 'The Field Trip' | |
| Bullets | Train passenger | Music video | |
| 2010 | Casualty | Simone Lewis | 7 episodes |
| Vexed | Lucy B | Episode Three | |
| 2011 | Jane Eyre | Bessie Lee | |
| Injustice | Lucy Wilson | 4 episodes | |
| Misfits | Stacie | 1 episode | |
| A Kiss for Jed | Orla | ||
| The Runaway | Sally | 1 episode | |
| 2012 | Life Just Is | Jay | |
| Nick Nickleby | Kat Nickleby | Main role (5 episodes) | |
| 2012-2015 | Six Degrees | Sandie Morrow | Main role (18 episodes) |
| 2013 | London Irish | Caoimhe | 1 episode |
| 2016 | Doctors | Michelle Jardine | Episode: I Know She Lies |
| 2017 | Son of Perdition | The Woman | Short; post-production |
| 2024 | Unsinkable | Maggie Malloy |
Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial The String of Pearls (1846–1847). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London legend. A barber from Fleet Street, Todd murders his customers with a straight razor and gives their corpses to Mrs. Lovett, his partner in crime, who bakes their flesh into meat pies. The tale has been retold many times since in various media.
Leonard Joseph Cariou is a Canadian stage actor, singer and stage director. He gained prominence for his portrayal of Sweeney Todd in the original cast of Stephen Sondheim's musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979) alongside Angela Lansbury for which he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He also received Tony nominations for his roles in the Betty Comden and Adolph Green musical Applause (1970), and the Sondheim musical A Little Night Music (1973).
Dame Sheila Cameron Hancock is an English actress, singer, and author. She has performed in theatre - plays and musicals in London, and her Broadway debut in Entertaining Mr Sloane (1966) earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Lead Actress in Play.
Josie Lawrence is an English actress and comedian. She is best known for her work with the Comedy Store Players improvisational troupe, the television series Whose Line Is It Anyway? and as Manda Best in EastEnders.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1979 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. It is based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond. The character of Sweeney Todd first appeared in a Victorian penny dreadful titled The String of Pearls.
Julia Kathleen Nancy McKenzie is an English actress, singer, presenter, and theatre director. She has premièred leading roles written by both Alan Ayckbourn and Stephen Sondheim. On television, she is known for her BAFTA Award nominated role as Hester Fields in the sitcom Fresh Fields (1984–1986) and its sequel French Fields (1989–1991), and as Miss Marple in Agatha Christie's Marple (2009–2013).
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 2007 musical slasher film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay by John Logan, based on the stage musical of the same name by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler, which in turn is based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond. The film retells the melodramatic Victorian tale of Sweeney Todd, an English barber and serial killer who, while seeking revenge on Judge Turpin who wrongfully convicted and exiled him to steal his wife, murders his customers and, with the help of his accomplice, Mrs. Lovett, processes their corpses into meat pies.
Hannah Tointon is an English actress. She is best known for playing Katy Fox in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks and Tara Brown in sitcom The Inbetweeners.
Emma Williams is an English actress of stage, screen, TV and radio. She has been nominated four times for an Olivier Award.
Harriet Amelia Thorpe is an English actress. Thorpe trained at London's Central School of Speech and Drama. She is known for her roles in the British sitcoms, The Brittas Empire (1991–1997) and Absolutely Fabulous (1992–2012) and has also starred in the West End musicals, Cabaret (2006), Wicked (2008) and Mamma Mia! (2010). In 2023, she took over the role of Elaine Peacock in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders.
Bríd Brennan is an Irish actress who is known for her film, TV and theatre work. She originated the role of Agnes in the Brian Friel play Dancing at Lughnasa, for which she won the 1992 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. She is also a three-time Olivier Award nominee; for Rutherford and Son (1995), The Little Foxes (2002) and The Ferryman (2018).
Mrs. Lovett is a fictional character appearing in many adaptations of the story Sweeney Todd. Her first name is most commonly referred to as Nellie, although she has also been referred to as Amelia, Margery, Maggie, Sarah, Shirley, Wilhelmina, Mary and Claudetta. A baker from London, Mrs. Lovett is an accomplice and business partner of Sweeney Todd, a barber and serial killer from Fleet Street. She makes meat pies from Todd’s victims.
Johanna is a fictional character appearing in the story of Sweeney Todd. In the original version of the tale, the penny dreadful The String of Pearls (1846–7), her name is Johanna Oakley and she is no relation of Todd. In the popular musical adaptation by Stephen Sondheim, inspired by Christopher Bond's play Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1973), she is the daughter of Benjamin Barker and his wife, Lucy. In this version she is the ward of Judge Turpin, the man who falsely convicted her father and raped her mother.
Lucy Barker is a fictional character that appears in some versions of the story Sweeney Todd. Lucy is the wife of barber Benjamin Barker, who is unjustly imprisoned by Judge Turpin, who wants Lucy for himself. After Turpin sexually abuses her, Lucy attempts suicide with poison, but survives and goes insane. Years later, Benjamin Barker, now calling himself "Sweeney Todd", returns to London and his neighbor, Mrs. Lovett tells Todd about Lucy poisoning herself, but leaves out that Lucy lived. He later finds Lucy as a beggar woman; not recognizing her, he slits her throat, before killing Mrs. Lovett.
Niamh Perry is a Northern Irish singer who is best known for playing Fleck in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Love Never Dies. She came to prominence when she competed as one of the finalists in the BBC talent show-themed television series I'd Do Anything in 2008.
Emily Head is an English actress. Her breakout role was as Carli D'Amato in E4's sitcom The Inbetweeners and she later played Rebecca White in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale and Colette Andrews in BBC drama, The Syndicate.
Michelle Fairley is an actress from Northern Ireland. She is best known for playing Catelyn Stark in the HBO series Game of Thrones (2011–2013). She has since appeared in the USA Network series Suits (2013), the Fox series 24: Live Another Day (2014), the RTÉ miniseries Rebellion (2016), the science fiction series The Feed (2019), and the Sky Atlantic crime drama Gangs of London (2020–).
Lauren Molina is an American actress, singer, songwriter, and musician. She is a co-creator and performer with the comedy-pop, undie-rock band The Skivvies. Her Broadway credits include Johanna in the actor-musician revival of Sweeney Todd. To describe her as an actress, one reviewer said "She's part Mary Martin, Lucille Ball, Kristen Wiig and [fill in the blank with your favorite opera star because Molina has one of the most powerful and flexible voices in the annals of Broadway]." While performing on the first national tour of Sweeney Todd, she received the Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Award for Best Supporting Actress. She won a Helen Hayes award for her portrayal of Cunegunde in Candide (2010-2011), directed by Mary Zimmerman at the Shakespeare Theatre in DC, and received an IRNE nomination for the same role at the Huntington Theatre. She originated the role of Bella Rose in Desperate Measures (2017-2018) Off-Broadway and received nominations for the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical and Outer Critics Circle for Best Supporting Actress. In 2019, she and her Skivvies partner Nick Cearley co-conceived a new actor-musician revival of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown", also playing Lucy and Linus, at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. A Detroit native, Lauren received her BFA from the University of Michigan in musical theatre. She resides in New York City.
Geraldine Hughes is an actress from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Born in West Belfast, Hughes has appeared in films such as Duplex, Rocky Balboa, and Gran Torino. She also played Mary Todd Lincoln in Killing Lincoln. More recently, she performed a solo play written by herself, Belfast Blues.
Katie Pycroft or Katie Hall is an English actress and soprano. She is known for her work in musical theatre.
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