Jane Allison Stanness is a Welsh actress, writer, and singer-songwriter, best known for starring as Deborah in the BAFTA winning comedy series ''

Sally4Ever ''Sally4Ever'' is a British comedy television series created by Julia Davis. The series stars Davis, Catherine Shepherd and Alex MacQueen. It premiered in the United Kingdom on Sky Atlantic on 25 October 2018, and in the United States on HBO ...

'', as Matron in the 2018 film ''

Slaughterhouse Rulez ''Slaughterhouse Rulez'' is a 2018 comedy horror film directed by Crispian Mills. Written by Mills and Henry Fitzherbert, the film's cast features Asa Butterfield, Finn Cole, Hermione Corfield, Michael Sheen, with Nick Frost and Simon Pegg. ''S ...

'', and as Mary in the 2020 Sky TV comedy series ''

Intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...

''.

Early years

Jane Allison Stanness was born Jane Alison Sherman in

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth () is a university and seaside town as well as a community in Ceredigion, Wales. Located in the historic county of Cardiganshire, means "the mouth of the Ystwyth". Aberystwyth University has been a major educational location in ...

Ceredigion Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. Cere ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

; later the family moved to

Elysian Grove Elysian Grove ( Welsh: ''Llwyn Afallon'')Elysian Grove
...

. Jane attended Plascrug primary school followed by Ardwyn Grammar school, finishing her A-levels at

Ysgol Penglais School Ysgol Penglais School ( cy, Ysgol Penglais) is an 1118 comprehensive school situated in the town of Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, West Wales. It offers education to approximately 1,100 pupils aged 11 to 18. The school was established in 1973 and te ...

in its inaugural year. Stanness's first experience of acting was at the age of 15, playing the role of Sheila in '' An Inspector Calls'' while part of the Wardens drama group. During her teens she also worked backstage at Theatr y Werin at the

Aberystwyth Arts Centre Aberystwyth Arts Centre (Welsh: ''Canolfan y Celfyddydau Aberystwyth'') is an arts centre in Wales, located on Aberystwyth University's Penglais campus. One of the largest in Wales, it comprises a theatre (312 seats), concert hall (900 seats), s ...

meeting many famous actors. Stanness trained at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London. In 1983, while working with the North Dyfed Dance Project, she gave birth to her first daughter, . Stanness moved to and is now a 30-year resident of

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

Career

Stanness's first appearance on television was in 2000 in the series ''

Human Remains Human remains may refer to: A corpse or skeleton * A deceased human body ** A cadaver ** A Human skeleton, skeleton Music * Human Remains (band), an American grindcore band * Human Remains (Hell album), ''Human Remains'' (Hell album), 2011 * Huma ...

'' as a Wedding Shop Manager (under the name: Jane Roth). She co-wrote 7 episodes of ''

Nighty Night ''Nighty Night'' is a BBC black comedy television sitcom starring Julia Davis. It was first broadcast on 6 January 2004 on BBC Three. Notorious for its dark humour, the show follows narcissistic sociopath Jill Tyrell (Julia Davis) alongside he ...

'' and also appeared in a single episode as Karen Pole in 2005. In 2012 she starred as Sheena the Punk Rocker in the film ''

A Fantastic Fear of Everything ''A Fantastic Fear of Everything'' is a 2012 British horror comedy film starring Simon Pegg, written and directed by Crispian Mills with Chris Hopewell as co-director. It is based on the novella ''Paranoia in the Launderette'' by Bruce Robinson, ...

''; the same year she appeared as Biddy Ritherfoot in the television series ''

Hunderby ''Hunderby'' is a British black comedy produced by Sky and written by Julia Davis. It was first broadcast on Sky Atlantic in 2012. The series won two awards at the British Comedy Awards in 2012; it also won Davis a BAFTA TV Award for best comed ...

''. In 2018 she starred as Deborah in ''

'' which won the best Scripted Comedy BAFTA award in 2019. The same year she starred as Matron in the film ''

'' alongside

Asa Butterfield Asa Bopp Farr Butterfield (; born Asa Maxwell Thornton Farr Butterfield on 1 April 1997) is an English actor. He has received nominations for three British Independent Film Awards, two Critics' Choice Awards, two Saturn Awards, and three Young ...

and

Simon Pegg Simon John Pegg (né Beckingham; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom ''Spaced'' (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. H ...

. In 2020, Stanness played a lead role in the television series ''

'' alongside

David Schwimmer David Lawrence Schwimmer (born November 2, 1966) is an American actor, director and producer. He gained worldwide recognition for portraying Ross Geller in the sitcom '' Friends'', for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Prime ...

and

Nick Mohammed Nicholas George Mohammed (born 4 October 1980) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He is best known for his character Mr. Swallow, which he has portrayed across both stage and television for over a decade. Outside of the United Kingdom, M ...

Music

Jane has been a singer-songwriter with psychedelic folk band ''Childe Roland'' in the early 1990s, before joining post punk band ''KarmaDeva''. *In 2012, she recorded and released a video of the track “Catch me” which was produced by

Alonza Bevan Alonza George Bevan (born 24 October 1970) is an English musician who is the bassist for the English rock band Kula Shaker. In between Kula Shaker splitting in 1999 and reforming in 2004, Bevan played in a number of groups including Johnny Marr' ...

. *In 2014, she released her debut album "Just Another Girl" which was funded by a successful Kickstart campaign. *In 2017, she wrote and performed all tracks on her second album named “Methylene Blue”.

Roles

Television

Film

References

External links

*
Jane Allison website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanness, Jane Living people People from Aberystwyth Welsh stage actresses Welsh film actresses Welsh television actresses British comedy actresses People educated at Ardwyn School, Aberystwyth 21st-century Welsh women singers Welsh singer-songwriters Year of birth missing (living people) People educated at Ysgol Penglais School