Jessica Lucas (born September 24, 1985
) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles in television, such as ''
Edgemont'', ''
Melrose Place
''Melrose Place'' is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on Fox from July 8, 1992, to May 24, 1999, for seven seasons. The show follows the lives of a group of young adults living in an apartment complex on Melrose Place, in ...
'', ''
Cult
In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...
'', and ''
Gotham'', and in the films ''
The Covenant'', ''
Cloverfield
''Cloverfield'' is a 2008 American found footage monster film directed by Matt Reeves, produced by J. J. Abrams, and written by Drew Goddard. It stars Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel and Odette Yustman ...
'' and the 2013 ''
Evil Dead
''Evil Dead'' is an American horror film franchise created by Sam Raimi consisting of four feature films and a television series. The series revolves around the ''Necronomicon Ex-Mortis'', an ancient Sumerian text that wreaks havoc upon a gro ...
''. She also starred in the music video for
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University Col ...
's 2014 single "
True Love".
Life
Lucas was born and raised in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
.
Her father is
Black Canadian
Black Canadians (also known as Caribbean-Canadians or Afro-Canadians) are people of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, though t ...
, and her mother is
European Canadian
European Canadians, or Euro-Canadians, are Canadians who were either born in or can trace their ancestry to the continent of Europe. They form the largest panethnic group within Canada.
In the 2021 Canadian census, 19,062,115 Canadians self-i ...
. She began acting at seven years old, and trained with the Children's Arts Theatre School in Toronto.
She started her career appearing in stage productions,
including local productions of ''Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs'', ''Grease'', ''Cinderella'', ''Mousetrap'' and ''Music Medley''.
In April 2017, Lucas announced her engagement to chef Alex Jermasek.
Career
In 2001, she joined the Canadian teen drama television series ''
Edgemont'' as recurring character Bekka Lawrence, later becoming a series regular on the show,
which she remained through the end of the show's run in 2005. She was also a series regular on another Canadian television series,
YTV's short-lived ''
2030 CE
''2030 CE'' is a Canadian children's television series that aired for two seasons on YTV in 2002. It aired in the United States on Showtime Family Zone. The series was created by Angela Bruce, Dennis Foon and Yan Moore. A third season had bee ...
'' in 2002.
She guest starred in an episode of ''
The L Word
''The L Word'' is a television drama that aired on Showtime from January 18, 2004 to March 8, 2009. The series follows the lives of a group of lesbian and bisexual women who live in West Hollywood, California. The premise originated with Ilene Ch ...
'' as Roxanne in 2004. She went on to appear as a series regular in the short-lived ABC teen drama series ''
Life as We Know It'' as Sue;
the series which ran for just one season. In 2006, she appeared in the film ''
She's the Man
''She's the Man'' is a 2006 American romantic comedy teen sports film directed by Andy Fickman and starring Amanda Bynes, Channing Tatum, Laura Ramsey, Vinnie Jones, and David Cross. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Twelfth Night,'' the f ...
'' and co-starred in ''
The Covenant''. She was cast in another ABC television pilot, ''Secrets of a Small Town'', though it was not picked up to series.
In 2007, she joined the cast of ''
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', also referred to as ''CSI'' and ''CSI: Las Vegas'', is an American procedural forensics crime drama television series that ran on CBS from October 6, 2000, to September 27, 2015, spanning 15 seasons. This wa ...
'' playing the recurring character of Ronnie Lake. Despite appearing in four episodes, rumours were denied that she would be a permanent replacement for
Sara Sidle
Sara Sidle is a fictional character portrayed by actress Jorja Fox on the CBS crime drama ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' and its sequel, '' CSI: Vegas''. Sidle is a forensic scientist and one of the core characters of the show, which revolves ...
.
The character was written out of the series with no explanation. She also appeared in a made-for-television film ''Split Decision''.
In 2008, she guest starred as Kimberly MacIntyre in four episodes of
The CW
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
's ''
90210''. She also starred in a leading role as Lily in
J. J. Abrams
Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American filmmaker and composer. He is best known for his works in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. Abrams wrote and produced such films as '' Regarding Henry'' (1991), '' F ...
''
Cloverfield
''Cloverfield'' is a 2008 American found footage monster film directed by Matt Reeves, produced by J. J. Abrams, and written by Drew Goddard. It stars Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel and Odette Yustman ...
'', which was a box office success and was well received by critics. She was cast as Lisa in the film ''
Amusement
Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or animal actively maintains the experience, and is associated with enjoyment, happiness, laughter and pleasure. It is an emotion with posi ...
'' in 2006; the film was set to be released theatrically by
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema is an American film production studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is a film label of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company; later becoming a film studio after acq ...
, but after a negative reaction it was released instead straight-to-DVD in 2009. The same year, Lucas was announced to have signed on as
Riley Richmond, one of the lead roles in another
CW television series ''
Melrose Place
''Melrose Place'' is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on Fox from July 8, 1992, to May 24, 1999, for seven seasons. The show follows the lives of a group of young adults living in an apartment complex on Melrose Place, in ...
'', a followup to the popular 1990s series of the same name.
Lucas was part of the main cast of the
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
sitcom ''
Friends with Benefits'', which aired during the summer of 2011 before being cancelled. In 2011, she played Haley in ''
Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son'', where she showcased her singing talents as well as her acting skills.
In 2012, Lucas was cast as the lead character, Skye Yarrow, in the CW series ''
Cult
In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...
'',
which was filmed in the spring of 2012. In 2012, she was cast in a main role in the
2013 remake of the classic horror film ''
The Evil Dead
''The Evil Dead'' is a 1981 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Sam Raimi, produced by Robert Tapert and executive produced by Raimi, Tapert, and Bruce Campbell, who also starred alongside Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeMan ...
''. In 2014, Lucas appeared in ''
Pompeii
Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...
'' directed by
Paul W. S. Anderson
Paul William Scott Anderson (born 4 March 1965) is an English filmmaker who regularly works in science fiction films and video game adaptations.
Anderson made his feature film debut with the British independent film '' Shopping'' (1994), a ...
.
From 2015 to 2019, she has had a regular role in
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
's ''
Gotham'' as
Tabitha Galavan
'' Gotham'' is an American crime television series developed by Bruno Heller, based on characters appearing in and published by DC Comics in their Batman franchise, primarily those of James Gordon and Bruce Wayne. The series premiered in the U ...
.
In 2019, Lucas played the starring role of Kate Jameson in the Canadian crime drama television series ''
The Murders
''The Murders'' is a Canadian police procedural drama television series created by Damon Vignale. Starring Jessica Lucas and produced by Muse Entertainment in conjunction with Rogers Media, the series debuted on Citytv and FX in Canada on Ma ...
'' which aired on
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The licence of the original Citytv station, granted the callsign of CITY-TV by the CRTC on November 25, 1971 to Cable Television Ass ...
.
In late 2020, she was cast in the regular role of Billie in the fourth season of the Fox medical drama television series ''
The Resident''.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, Jessica
1985 births
Living people
Actresses from Vancouver
Black Canadian actresses
Canadian child actresses
Canadian expatriate actresses in the United States
Canadian film actresses
Canadian television actresses
21st-century Canadian actresses