Shelley Deborah Conn (born 21 September 1976) is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Lady Mary Sharma in the hugely successful Netflix series ''

Bridgerton ''Bridgerton'' is an American historical- romance streaming television series created by Chris Van Dusen for Netflix. Based on the book series by Julia Quinn, it is Shondaland's first scripted show for Netflix. It revolves around the eponymo ...

'', as Isabella in the film ''Love Sarah'', as Dr Elizabeth Shannon in the Spielberg series '' Terra Nova'' and soon to be seen in Neil Gaiman's '' Good Omens'' and The Boys spin-off series ''Gen V'', both for

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service from Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- ...

Early life and education

Conn was born in Barnet in north London to

Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people fall into two different groups: those with mixed Indian and British ancestry, and people of British descent born or residing in India. The latter sense is now mainly historical, but confusions can arise. The '' Oxford Englis ...

parents. She is of mixed heritage, which includes Portuguese, Burmese and Indian. She attended Queen Mary's College in

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

and

Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art Webber may refer to: * Webber, Kansas, a US city *Webber Township, Jefferson County, Illinois, USA *Webber Township, Lake County, Michigan, USA *Webber International University, in Babson Park, Florida, USA *Webber (surname), people with the surnam ...

. Conn trained at Bretton Hall. She was a student at Cranbourne School in Basingstoke.

Career

After drama school, Conn had a series of small roles in various British films, before coming to prominence when she starred as Ashika Chandiramani in the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

series '' Party Animals''. In 2001, she picked up the role of PC Miriam Da Silva in BBC1's '' Mersey Beat'' and an irregularly recurring role in ''

Casualty Casualty may refer to: *Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster ** Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare * The emergency department of a hospital, also known a ...

''. In 2002, Conn made her West End theatre stage debut in three plays in December 2002, after transferring from

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...

in the Royal Shakespeare Company's Jacobean Season at the Gielgud Theatre – ''The Island Princess'', ''Eastward Ho!'' and ''The Roman Actor''. Conn has appeared television, film and theatre, with a series of leading roles in various small budget European as well as British films namely BBC character dramas such as ''

The Innocence Project ''The Innocence Project'' is a television drama series created by BBC Northern Ireland and first broadcast on BBC One on 9 November 2006. The series follows the work of Professor Jon Ford ( Lloyd Owen), who sets up ''The Innocence Project'', pe ...

,'' and occasional returns to the RSC. Conn joined Series Five of the popular BBC One series '' Down to Earth'' in 2004. In early 2008, Conn starred as Miranda Hill in ''

The Palace ''The Palace'' is a British drama television series that aired on ITV in 2008. Produced by Company Pictures for the ITV network, it was created by Tom Grieves and follows a fictional British Royal Family in the aftermath of the death of King ...

'', as Jessica in ''

Mistresses Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to: Romance and relationships * Mistress (lover), a term for a woman who is in a sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a d ...

'' and as Neela Sahjani in ''

Trial & Retribution ''Trial & Retribution'' is a feature-length ITV police procedural television drama series that first aired on 19 October 1997. Written and devised by Lynda La Plante as a follow-on from her successful television series ''Prime Suspect'', each e ...

''. In 2008 she appeared as Claire in ''

Dead Set ''Dead Set'' is a British zombie horror miniseries written and created by Charlie Brooker and directed by Yann Demange. The show takes place primarily on the set of a fictional series of the real television show '' Big Brother''. The five epi ...

''. In 2010 she played Danni Prendiville in the TV series '' Strike Back''. She was chosen by Steven Spielberg to be one of the leads in the $150 million TV series ''Terra Nova'', which premiered on 26 September 2011. In 2014, Conn appeared in a US TV series called '' The Lottery''. In April 2021, it was announced that Conn would star as Mary Sharma in the second series of the Netflix romance period drama ''

'' based on Julia Quinn's second novel in her ''Bridgerton'' series, ''

The Viscount Who Loved Me ''The Viscount Who Loved Me'' is a 2000 historical romance novel written by Julia Quinn, first published by Avon. It is the second novel of Quinn's Bridgerton series set in Regency England and tells the story of Anthony, Viscount Bridgerton wh ...

''. The series was released in March 2022.

Personal life

Conn lives in London. She ran in the 2006 London Marathon. Conn married her boyfriend of over a decade, actor

Jonathan Kerrigan Jonathan Kerrigan (born 14 October 1972) is an English actor well known for various leading roles on TV including '' In The Club'', ''Casualty'', '' Heartbeat'', ''Merseybeat, The Five'' and ''Reach For The Moon''. Films include '' Diana'', ''FL ...

, in late 2011.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Conn, Shelley 1976 births 21st-century English actresses Actresses from Hertfordshire Actresses from London Alumni of Bretton Hall College Alumni of the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art British actresses of Indian descent British people of Anglo-Indian descent English people of Burmese descent English people of Indian descent English people of Portuguese descent English film actresses English stage actresses English television actresses Living people People from Chipping Barnet Royal Shakespeare Company members