Jessica Barden

Jessica Barden began her acting career as a child, making her television debut in 1999 as a girl in school in an episode of My Parents Are Aliens. She later appeared as Lucy in No Angels in 2005 and Amy in The Chase in 2006. In 2007, she joined the cast of Coronation Street as Kayleigh Morton, appearing as a series regular until 2008. She made her film debut in Mrs Ratcliffe's Revolution (2007) as Mary Ratcliffe.

In 2009, Barden played Pea in the stage production of Jerusalem at the Royal Court Theatre in London, which transferred to the Apollo Theatre in the West End. She appeared as Jody Long in Tamara Drewe (2010), followed by Sophie in Hanna (2011). Her film credits in 2012 included Kelly in Comedown and Marie in In the Dark Half. In 2013, she played Mousey in Mindscape, and in 2014 she appeared as Meredith in Lullaby. Her television work during this period included Comedy Showcase (2011), Vera (2012), Coming Up (2013), and Chickens (2013).

In 2015, Barden played Kit Carmichael in the two-part television adaptation of The Outcast and Liddy in Far from the Madding Crowd. She also appeared as the Nosebleed Woman in The Lobster (2015). In 2016, she played Ellen in the television film Ellen, Jasmine in Mindhorn, and Justine in the third series of Penny Dreadful. She also appeared as Jess in an episode of Murder. In 2017, she starred as Lee in the horror film Habit and began playing Alyssa in the Channel 4 and Netflix series The End of the F***ing World, a role she continued through both series from 2017 to 2019.

Barden appeared as Blake Conway in The New Romantic (2018) and Beth in Scarborough (2018). She also appeared on stage as Sally in Night School at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London in 2018. Her television credits that year included her continuing role as Alyssa in The End of the F***ing World. In 2019, she played Sky in Jungleland and Sister Carla in the Australian series Lambs of God. She also appeared in the music videos for Conan Gray's "Maniac" and Ozzy Osbourne's "Under the Graveyard."

In 2020, Barden played Ruth in Holler and Winona in Pink Skies Ahead. She also appeared as herself in two episodes of Better Things and played Barbra Streisand in an episode of Urban Myths. In 2021, she provided the voice of Rey and additional characters in four episodes of Robot Chicken. She also played Joleen in the radio production SteelHeads (2021).

In 2022, Barden starred as Jane in the Netflix series Pieces of Her. In 2023, she played Emma in the ITV romantic comedy-drama You & Me and appeared as Bestie, a casting chairwoman and Hailey Doherty in episodes of American Horror Stories. She also appeared in the football film An Unsuitable Game. In 2024, she played Young Valya Harkonnen in the HBO series Dune: Prophecy and appeared as Agatha in the short film Hearts of Stone.

In 2026, Barden portrayed Victoria Wood in the documentary film Becoming Victoria Wood and played Nance O'Neil in four episodes of Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story. Her upcoming television credit is The Cadburys (2027), in which she plays Maria. Her film credits also include Far from the Madding Crowd (2015), The Lobster (2015), Mindhorn (2016), Habit (2017), The New Romantic (2018), Scarborough (2018), Jungleland (2019), Holler (2020), Pink Skies Ahead (2020), Hearts of Stone (2024), and Becoming Victoria Wood (2026).