Jessica Henwick Biography

Jessica Yu Li Henwick (born 30 August 1992) is an English actress and writer. She is the first actress of East Asian descent to play the lead role in a British television series, having starred in the children's show Spirit Warriors. She is also known for her role as Nymeria Sand in HBO series Game of Thrones, as X-wing pilot Jess Pava in the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens and for her role as Colleen Wing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, making her debut in the Netflix television series Iron Fist.

Early life

Henwick was born and raised in Surrey, the daughter of a Singaporean Chinese mother and a Zambian-English father, Mark Henwick, author of the Bite Back series of novels. She trained at Redroofs Theatre School and the National Youth Theatre.

Career

In June 2009, it was announced that Henwick had been cast in the lead role of Bo for the BBC show Spirit Warriors, making her the first actress of East Asian descent to play the lead role in a British television series. For the role, Henwick trained in wushu with martial arts choreographer Jude Poyer. The show was nominated for several awards, including the Broadcast Awards 2011.

In early 2013, Henwick made her professional theatre debut in the international premiere of Running on the Cracks, based on the book by Julia Donaldson. Allan Radcliffe of The Times praised her "excellent" and "understated" performance, while the Guardian wrote, "with tremendous physical presence, Henwick captures the sense of adolescent righteousness, passion and confusion of a girl trying to create order in an unfair universe." Theatre critic Joyce McMillan wrote that Henwick was "outstanding as Leo".

Later that year she was cast as Jane Jeong Trenka in the drama Obsession: Dark Desires, which aired January 2014. The adaptation details Trenka's stalking in Minnesota, 1991, which she details in her book The Language of Blood. Henwick also joined the cast of Silk as new barrister pupil Amy. The series brought in an average of 5 million viewers per episode. She reprised her role for the spin-off radio series Silk: The Clerks' Room and later that year went on to play a young Oxford University student in Inspector Lewis.

In 2015 Henwick joined the cast of the HBO series Game of Thrones in Season 5 as Nymeria Sand, with Oscar-nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes and Rosabell Laurenti Sellers playing her sisters. The process included six months of training to use a traditional bullwhip.

Henwick played the X-wing pilot Jess Pava in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Her full name is established as Jessika "Testor" Pava in the spin-off novel The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure, which establishes her as an admirer of Luke Skywalker. Her character has become extremely popular within the Star Wars fandom.

Henwick won several awards along with co-writer Faberes for their short film The Heart of the Forest in 2016 and 2017.

In 2017, Henwick is set to appear in the second season of drama series Fortitude, as well as Colleen Wing in the upcoming Netflix television series, Iron Fist and The Defenders.

Filmography

Screen

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009-2010	Spirit Warriors	Bo	TV Series
2012	The Thick of It	Charlotte	TV Series
2014	Balsa Wood	Scotty	Short film
2014	Obsession: Dark Desires	Jane Jeong Trenka	TV Series
2014	Silk	Amy Lang	TV Series
2014	Lewis	Chloe	TV Series
2015	Dragonfly	Paula Reid	Film
2015	The Heart of the Forest	Akira	Film
2015-2016	Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey	Enu / Hanna Roth	Video Game
2015-present	Game of Thrones	Nymeria Sand	TV Series
2015	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	Jess Testor Pava	Character also known as Jessika Pava
2016	The Headhunter	Aiko Koo	Film
2017	Fortitude	Bianca	TV Series
2017	Iron Fist	Colleen Wing	TV Series
2017	Newness	Joanne	Film
2017	The Defenders	Colleen Wing	TV Series

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	Running on the Cracks	Leo	National tour

Radio

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011-2012	North by Northamptonshire	Helen	BBC Radio Four Sony Radio Award Nomination
2013	Monday to Friday	Julie	BBC Radio Scotland
2014-2015	Silk: The Clerks Room	Amy Lang	Seasons 1 & 2