Ashley Jensen Biography

Ashley Jensen Beesley (born 11 August 1969) is a Scottish actress and narrator. She was nominated for an Emmy for her role on the television series Extras, on which she appeared from 2005-2007. She was also a cast member of the ABC show Ugly Betty and the short-lived CBS sitcom Accidentally on Purpose.

Career

Jensen was born in Annan, Scotland to Margaret and Ivar Jensen. She was raised by her mother, a special-needs teacher. She trained at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh and was a member of the National Youth Theatre.

Jensen's first big television role was as Clare Donnelly, daughter of Glasgow criminal Jo-Jo Donnelly (played by Billy Connolly) in the 1993 BBC drama Down Among the Big Boys. In 1994 she played eccentric secretary Rosie McConnichy in the final series of BBC comedy May to December, as a replacement for the character of secretary Hilary, and Heather in Roughnecks, a BBC television series based around the workers on a North Sea Oil platform. Jensen had a small role in a Dangerfield episode "Contact" as the mother of a young girl with meningitis. She then appeared as Fiona Morris in EastEnders. She also appeared in Two Thousand Acres of Sky on the BBC in 2003 along with Michelle Collins and Paul Kaye.

Jensen starred alongside Ricky Gervais in the BBC Two/HBO television programme Extras as the socially inept Maggie Jacobs. For her work on the first series, she received best television comedy actress and newcomer awards at the 2005 British Comedy Awards. In 2006, Jensen received two British Comedy Awards and a BAFTA nomination for her role in Extras. Her role in the 2007 Christmas Special earned her an Emmy Award nomination. In January 2006 she starred in the short-lived drama series Eleventh Hour on ITV, alongside Patrick Stewart. Later that year she played Steve Coogan's agent in A Cock and Bull Story. In 2007, she provided the narration for the film Taking Liberties, directed by Chris Atkins.

In September 2006, Jensen's first major role on American television came when she took the role of regular character Christina McKinney on the ABC series Ugly Betty. Her character was originally an American, but when she met with the show's producers they liked Jensen's accent and changed the nationality of the character, keeping McKinney British. Production of Ugly Betty moved to New York from Los Angeles in mid-2008, causing a conflict for Jensen, who became a recurring member of the cast.

In January 2009, Jensen starred in No Holds Bard, a BBC Scotland one-off special comedy shown on Burns Night as part of a line-up of special programming to mark the 250th Birthday of Robert Burns. She is the narrator of Channel 4's Embarrassing Illnesses and Embarrassing Bodies. She also narrates Bank of Scotland's current advertisement campaign and Persil detergent adverts for both television and radio. From September 2009 to May 2010, she co-starred with Jenna Elfman in the sitcom Accidentally on Purpose as Olivia. Jensen starred in the BBC comedy Nativity as Jennifer Lore, a Hollywood producer's secretary and the love interest of Paul Maddens played by Martin Freeman. Nativity was released in cinemas on 27 November 2009.

On 21 December 2010, she starred in the one-off/pilot BBC comedy drama Accidental Farmer, playing a London executive who buys a derelict farm with her philandering boyfriend's credit card. In 2011, she voiced Nanette the frog in the animated production Gnomeo and Juliet. She starred in the ITV drama The Reckoning in April of that year. On 6 October 2012, she appeared as a guest on the BBC cookery programme Saturday Kitchen hosted by James Martin.

On 22 August 2014, Sky announced that it had commissioned a television film adaptation of the M. C. Beaton novel Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death for Sky1, starring Ashley Jensen as the titular character, Agatha Raisin.

In 2015, Jensen starred opposite Sharon Horgan and American comedian Rob Delaney in Catastrophe, a six-part comedy series for the British Channel 4 that aired in the UK from 19 January 2015.

In 2015, Jensen co-starred with Susan Calman in the BBC Radio 4 comedy series Sisters. Calman also wrote the series.

Personal life

After six years together, Jensen married actor Terence Beesley in a ceremony in the woods of Big Sur, California on 29 January 2007. They met in 1999 while working on a stage production of King Lear. The couple own property in Umbria, Italy. The couple have one son, Francis Jonathan Beesley (born 20 October 2009), and currently live in Bath, Somerset.

In December 2008, Jensen and Beesley were granted a restraining order against Jeff Lewis from Bravo TV's Flipping Out. Jensen and Beesley then were living next door to a Los Feliz house Lewis was renovating, and conflict arose after a deck that Lewis had constructed on the home crossed the property line onto the Jensen-Beesley property. Jensen and Beesley sued, seeking $100,000 for an easement. Lewis reacted negatively and Jensen/Beesley filed a restraining order. In mid-April 2009 the two parties settled for a $30,000 easement and an agreement that the deck would not have to be demolished.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Tickets for the Zoo
1999	Topsy-Turvy	Miss Tringham
2005	A Cock and Bull Story	Lindsey
2009	Nativity!	Jennifer Lore
2010	Sunshine	Alison	short
	How to Train Your Dragon	Phlegma the Fierce	Voice
2011	Gnomeo & Juliet	Nanette
	Hysteria	Fanny
	Arthur Christmas	Bryony	Nominated - Annie Award for Voice Acting in a Feature Production
2012	The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!	The Surprisingly Curvaceous Pirate
2014	Small Time	Gail
2015	The Lobster	Biscuit Woman
2015	The Legend of Barney Thompson	Detective Inspector June Robertson

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	City Lights		1 episode
1992, 1993	Rab C. Nesbitt	2nd Girl / Sheena	2 episodes
1993	Screen One	Claire Donnelly	1 episode
1994	May to December	Rosie / Rosie McConnachy	6 episodes
	The Tales of Para Handy	Catriona MacLean	1 episode
	Takin' Over the Asylum	Kathleen
1994-95	Roughnecks	Heather	13 episodes
1994, 1997	The Bill	Diane Wyre / Kate Selby	2 episodes
1995	The Baldy Man	Hairdresser	1 episode
	Waiting	Amanda Cookson
	Temp	Eileen	TV film
	Capital Lives	Eileen	1 episode
1996	The Big Picnic	Nessie	TV film
	Bad Boys	Morag	6 episodes
1996-2004	Casualty	Stella / Jess	3 episodes
1997	Dangerfield	Michelle Thomson	1 episode
1998-2000	City Central	PC Sue Chappell	31 episodes
1998	Mortimer's Law	Naomi Childs	1 episode
2000	EastEnders	Fiona Morris	2 episodes
2001	Rebus	Mhairi Henderson	1 episode
2001-03	Clocking Off	Babs Leach / Babs Fisher	5 episodes
2002	Outside the Rules	Dawn Deacon	TV film
	Breeze Block		5 episodes
2003	Coming Up	Rachel	1 episode
	Silent Witness	DI Becky Metcalf	"Fatal Error" 2 Episodes
	Sweet Medicine	Faye Brooks	5 episodes
	The Office	Interviewer	2 episodes (voice)
2005	Meet the Magoons	Policewoman No.1	1 episode
	Taggart	Agatha Ferry
2005-07	Extras	Maggie Jacobs	13 episodes British Comedy Award for Best Newcomer British Comedy Award for Best Television Comedy Actress (2005) Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Comedy Performance Nominated - Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie Nominated - Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress Nominated - British Comedy Award for Best Television Comedy Actress (2008) Nominated - Rose d'Or Award for Best Sitcom Performance (follower-up)
2006	Eleventh Hour	Rachel Young	4 episodes
2006-2010	Ugly Betty	Christina McKinney	66 episodes (Series Regular; 1-3 / Guest Star; Season 4) Nominated - BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Acting Performance in Television Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2007, 2008)
2007-15	Embarrassing Bodies	Narrator	Documentary
2009	No Holds Bard	Isobel	TV film
2009-10	Accidentally on Purpose	Olivia	18 episodes
2010	Accidental Farmer	Erin Taylor	TV film
2011	The Reckoning
2013	All Stars
	Love and Marriage	Sarah
	The Escape Artist	Kate Burton
2014-present	Agatha Raisin	Agatha Raisin	TV film
2015-present	Catastrophe	Fran
2017	Love, Lies And Records	Kate Dickenson	6 Episodes BBC