Jessica Yu Li Henwick (born 30 August 1992 in Surrey, England) is an English actress of English and Chinese descent.
She's perhaps best known for her roles in various franchises, including Nymeria Sand on HBO's Game of Thrones, Colleen Wing in Marvel's Iron Fist and The Defenders, Jessika Pava in The Force Awakens and Bugs in The Matrix Resurrections. She also appeared in ITV's Silk, Sky Atlantic's Fortitude, and provided the voice of Enu / Hanna in Dreamfall Chapters.
Selected filmography:
- Silk (2014) as Amy Lang
- Dreamfall Chapters (2014) as Enu / Hanna (voice)
- Game of Thrones (2015 — 2017) as Nymeria Sand
- The Force Awakens (2015) as Jessika Pava
- Fortitude (2016) as Bianca
- Marvel Cinematic Universe (2017 — 2018) as Colleen Wing:
- Iron Fist (2017 — 2018 )
- The Defenders (2017)
- Luke Cage (2018)
- Underwater as Emily Haversham
- Blood of Zeus as Alexia (2020) (voice)
- Love And Monsters as Amiee
- The Matrix Resurrections (2021) as Bugs
- Blade Runner: Black Lotus (2021) as Elle (voice)
- The Gray Man (2022) as Suzanne Brewer
- Glass Onion (2022) as Peg
Tropes regarding her career include:
- What Could Have Been:
- Henwick auditioned for the role of Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, claiming she wanted the part "more than anything in the world”, but ultimately would be cast as an X-Wing pilot, Jessika Pava. She was due to reprise the role in The Last Jedi but her appearance was cut, which led to her insisting Rian Johnson make up for it by casting her in Glass Onion.
- In 2021 she revealed that she'd been offered the opportunity to audition for Xialing in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, but it meant choosing between that or taking the audition for The Matrix Resurrections as well as potentially rendering her prior portrayal of Colleen Wing non-canon.
