Welcome to the unofficial Jill Halfpenny website!

Jill Halfpenny was born on the 15th of July 1975. She is a former student of the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art (1994-1996) and she also went to drama school First Act Theatre, in Gosforth (Newcastle) and to the Reavley Theatre School (Felling, Gateshead).

A native from Leam Lane, Gateshead, she attended St Edmund Campion School Gateshead and began her acting career in the BBC television children's drama series Byker Grove, set in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Her other work has included appearance in Daziel and Pascoe and Coronation Street for television and theatre with the acclaimed Hull Truck Theatre Company.

She took the major role of Kate Mitchell in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders between 2002 and 2004. She originally played a police officer sent to spy on Phil Mitchell but eventually after her cover was blown, she quit the police force, married Phil and opened a nail salon.

In Autumn 2004, she participated in the BBC One pro-celebrity ballroom dancing competition Strictly Come Dancing, dancing with professional Darren Bennett. The couple won the competition after receiving the full 40 marks from the judges earlier on the show. In a special one-off programme (broadcast on 22 December 2004) which pitted the Strictly Come Dancing champions (and other top performing couples) from series one and two against each other, Jill and Darren were crowned Champion of Champions.

In December 2004, it was announced that she would take the role of Roxie Hart in the West End musical, Chicago, starting January 2005.

On 14^th December 2004, Jill Halfpenny and Darren Bennett made an appearance on stage at the Royal Variety Performance which took place at the London Coliseum.

In the summer of 2005, Jill appeared in a well received run of The Bodies, a new play adapted from an Emile Zola novel by Peter Flannery at the Live Theatre Newcastle opposite Craig Conway. In 2005 and 2006, Jill appeared in hit Pantomimes – Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk - at the Royal Theatre Newcastle.

Jill was the guest presenter for and performed in the first show of the BBC four-part series The Sound of Musicals in January 2006 and played Roxy Ball in Shameless in an episode broadcast on 31^st January 2006. In 2006, Jill made a guest appearance in an episode of The Catherine Tate Show.

From spring of 2006, Jill has appeared in the BBC1 series Waterloo Road as teacher, Izzie Redpath but was killed off at the end of the second series. Jill has most recently been heard as the voice of high-profile commercial for Aunt Bessie’s Yorkshire Puddings and the narrator of Freaky Eaters for BBC3 and Fat Man's Warning for Channel 4 (29/04/07). Jill was also the narrator for a short film advertising how the national lottery helps the North East. The film was created by students at Lord Lawson Of Beamish School as part of a competition. The film they created won the competition. It can be found on the BBC website.

She married the actor Craig Conway on 3^rd February 2007.

From 23rd March to 14^th April 2007, she appeared in a run of Uncle Vanya at the Birmingham Rep to much acclaim and, from the 5th to the 16th February 2008, she has played Norma Farnes in the play Surviving Spike in Windsor's Theatre Royal alongside Michael Barrymore.

Jill and Craig are now the proud parents of a little boy, Harvey-Reece, born on May 3rd 2008.

Adapted from Wikipedia

Jill said several times that she would love to go to Who Do You Thing You Are? and learn some more things about her family name. Here may be some of the answers.

From House of Names.com

Where did the English Halfpenny family come from? What is the English coat of arms/family crest? When did the Halfpenny family first arrive in the United States? Where did the various branches of the family go?  What is the history of the family name?