Felicity Rose Hadley Jones (born 17 October 1983 in Birmingham, England), is a British actress. Best known for playing determined brunettes in period pieces like The Theory of Everything and On the Basis of Sex, as well as the protagonist of the Star Wars spinoff Rogue One.
She married director Charles Guard in June 2018, and they have a son born April 2020.
Selected Filmography
Television
- The Worst Witch (1998-1999) as Ethel Hallow
- Cape Wrath (2007) as Zoe Brogan
- Northanger Abbey (2007) as Catherine Morland
- Doctor Who (2008; episode "The Unicorn and the Wasp") as Robina Redmond
- The Diary Of Anne Frank (2009) as Margot Frank
- Girls (2014) as Dottie
Film
- Brideshead Revisited (2008) as Cordelia Flyte
- Cheri (2009) as Edmée
- The Tempest (2010) as Miranda
- Like Crazy (2011) as Anna Gardner
- Chalet Girl (2011) as Kim Mathews
- Albatross (2011) as Beth
- The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) as Felicia Hardy
- The Theory of Everything (2014) as Jane Wilde Hawking — Academy Award nominee for Best Actress
- True Story (2015) as Jill
- A Monster Calls (2016) as Mom
- Inferno (2016) as Sienna Brooks
- Star Wars: Rogue One (2016) as Jyn Erso
- On the Basis of Sex (2018) as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- The Aeronauts (2019) as Amelia Wren
- The Midnight Sky (2020) as Sully
- Dragon Rider (2020) as Sorrel (voice)
- The Last Letter From Your Lover (2021) as Ellie
Radio
- The Archers as Emma Grundy
Tropes in her works:
- Actor-Inspired Element: She did her own hair and make-up for Like Crazy.
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She made a career playing snobby and/or distant characters.
- Chronically Killed Actor: Not usually, but in 2016, she starred in three movies in which her character ends up dying.
- Sienna Brooks suffers Death by Adaptation.
- Jyn Erso is Doomed by Canon.
- Connor's Mom's death by cancer is a Foregone Conclusion.
- The Danza: Almost. She plays Felicia Hardy in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
- Dawson Casting:
- She was 25 playing the teenage Margot Frank in a BBC series of Anne Frank.
- She also played 21-year-old Jyn Erso when she was 32.
- Fake American: She puts on an American accent to play Felicia Hardy in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Ruth Bader Ginsburg in On the Basis of Sex.
- Improv: Like Crazy was largely improvised, with only a 50-page outline of the story, and the actors improvising most of the dialogue.
- Method Acting: To prepare for Chalet Girl, she worked undercover for two months in a chalet at St Anton, scrubbing toilets and partying at the Krazy Kanguruh bar.
- The Other Darrin: She missed home while filming The Worst Witch, so Katy Allen replaces her as Ethel in Season 2. The show explains this as a 'witch-over' Ethel gives herself so people won't think she and Sybil are related. In a rare subversion of the trope, Jones returns to playing Ethel in the spin-off Weirdsister College.
- Playing Against Type:
- In contrast to her Brainy Brunette and Costume Drama roles, Chalet Girl is a Romantic Comedy where she plays a Hard-Drinking Party Girl.
- And of course an Action Girl like Jyn Erso in Rogue One is quite different too. In a bonus feature for the movie, between all the training and fight scenes and stunts, she said it was the most exercise she'd ever done in her life.
- Playing with Character Type: Retroactively. Jones often finds herself playing hyper-intelligent women of privilege. Her first major role - Ethel Hallow in The Worst Witch - is a rich Child Prodigy who's also the Alpha Bitch and the technician in the Technician Versus Performer.
- Promoted Fanboy: According to Star Wars Insider, Jones is a huge Star Wars fan and "dropped everything" in order to join the cast of Rogue One.
- Star-Making Role: She had been on the rise for a few years, held as an up-and-comer, but her Oscar-nominated turn in The Theory of Everything led to her headlining Rogue One.
