Name	Jill Halfpenny
Height	5' 4
Naionality	British
Date of Birth	15 July 1975,
Place of Birth	Newcastle, England, UK
Famous for

Jill Denise Halfpenny (born 15 July 1975) is a British actress and former student of the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.

A native of 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 appearances in Dalziel 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 December 14th 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, Halfpenny 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, Halfpenny appeared in hit pantomimes at the Theatre Royal Newcastle. Halfpenny 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 January 31, 2006. In 2006, Halfpenny made a guest appearance in an episode of The Catherine Tate Show.

Since spring 2006, Halfpenny has appeared in the BBC One series Waterloo Road as teacher, Izzie Redpath. Halfpenny has most recently been heard as the voice of a high-profile commercial campaign for Aunt Bessie's Yorkshire Puddings and the narrator of Freaky Eaters for BBC Three. She married the actor Craig Conway on February 3rd.

She is currently appearing in a run of Uncle Vanya at the Birmingham Rep to much acclaim.