Who is Jill Halfpenny? The Drowning actress who formerly played Kate Mitchell in EastEnders

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JILL Halfpenny has carved herself out a very successful career and is now one of Britain’s leading TV actresses.

In March 2022 she returned to the box with Channel 5 mystery drama The Holiday.

Jill Halfpenny has had a successful career on both screen and stage

Who is Jill Halfpenny?

Jill Halfpenny is an English actress born on July 15, 1975, which makes her 46-years-old.

She is best known for her roles in several iconic British series, including Coronation Street and EastEnders.

Jill also won Strictly in 2004 and has been a panellist on the ITV daytime show Loose Women.

The actress is one of Britain’s best loved soap stars, having starred as Rebecca Hopkins in Corrie before switching to EastEnders as Kate Mitchell.

She also appeared in Waterloo Road as Izzie Redpath and was Diane Manning in drama In The Club.

The star then appeared in the BBC One drama series, Dark Money, alongside Babou Ceesay.

What else has Jill starred in?

Jill first appeared on screens in the early 90s during a three-year stint as Nicola Dobson in Byker Grove.

She has since starred in a number of theatre and TV productions including Waterloo Road, Wild at Heart, Ordinary Lies, In the Club and an award-winning role in the stage production of Legally Blonde.

Her breakthrough role, however, was in Coronation Street where she played the role of Rebecca Hopkins from 1999.

She then switched over to rival BBC soap EastEnders where she played undercover policewoman Kate Mitchell.

Jill starred opposite Shane Richie in EastEnders between 2002 and 2005

She then switched from soap to drama, and starred in BBC drama Three Girls about the true story of the Rochdale child sex abuse case which shocked the nation in 2012.

Jill played the role of Julie Winshaw, a mother of one of the teenage victims, and appeared opposite Maxine Peake and Lisa Riley.

Her next major role was in Walk Like A Panther, a film about a group of 1980s wrestlers who are forced to don their lycra once more to save their local pub from closure.

She starred opposite Stephen Graham, Jason Flemyng and Julian Sands in the movie which was directed and written by Dan Cadan, a former assistant to Guy Ritchie.

In 2019 Jill starred in four-part drama Dark Money focuses on The Mensahs, an ordinary working-class family from North London.

In 2021 she starred in the gripping Channel 5 thriller, The Drowning.

Is Jill Halfpenny married?

Jill married actor Craig Conway in 2007, however, they divorced in 2010.

They have one child together, son Harvey.

During a 2016 appearance on This Morning, Jill revealed she once went on a cinema date with Declan Donnelly.

The pair starred together in Byker Grove before Declan famously went on to become half of Ant & Dec.