A look inside the wholesome life of Jessica Gunning who carried Baby Reindeer as Martha

I can’t believe she’s not actually Scottish

2 months ago

Jessica Gunning has shot to fame after her captivating performance as Martha in Baby Reindeer. Her harrowing portrayal of the 42-year-old ex-lawyer who stalks Donny in the true story drama has left us all surprised that this is the first major show she’s starred in. But who is the northern actress taking over Netflix’s top show to watch with co-star, Richard Dunn? Here’s a look inside the life of Jessica Gunning when she’s not behind the camera.

Jessica Gunning is 38 and is from Yorkshire

Despite pulling off a more than convincing Scottish accent on the show, the TV and theatre actress is actually from West Yorkshire. No wonder she’s such an icon. Whilst she could definitely be mistaken for a Scot, she actually grew up in Huddersfield, before moving to London to study acting at Rose Bruford College.

She’s previously starred in notable TV shows such as Holby City and Doctor Who

Jessica landed a role in Doctor Who back in 2008. Acting alongside the legend who is Catherine Tate, she played Stacey Campbell, a Londoner who took some dodgy diet pills – if you know, you know.

After her gruesome stint with the Doctor, Jessica worked on a hefty 20 episodes of Holby City where you may recognise her as Angela. On top of that, she worked on a tonne of shows like White Heat and The Outlaws. She also played Sian James in the movie Pride. That’s a hefty reel of experience right there.

Jessica is a big fan of Richard Gunn and has spoken publicly about his bravery

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Jessica previously expressed her admiration for her co-star, explaining how filming Baby Reindeer was “a really tough time”. Her and Richard are good friends in real life and couldn’t resist posting for a photo on the red carpet for Baby Reindeer back in December.

She explained that during filming, she frequently “checked in” with Richard and “made sure he was doing ok”, most notably during episode four which was extremely emotionally taxing.

Jessica added: “Richard was so amazingly brave and vulnerable and open to reliving all of that. I was so impressed with him.”

She’s an avid supporter for gay rights and advocates for minorities

In an interview back in 2014, Jessica spoke about her appearance in the movie Pride, and the importance of the film’s message. She explained how the film highlighted the historical actions of the gay community to rid the country of stigma around sexuality.

“This film hopefully, for the gay community, will show them that the struggle that people went through in order for them now not to have to fight is one of those moving moments. Sadly, some of the issues shown and discussed in the film are still relevant now.”

She’s completely off social media – and is totally happy without it!

Jessica owns no social media accounts, explaining her severe lack of digital footprint online. Despite that, you can catch a glimpse of her own bubbly laugh and upbeat persona online in interviews. She even couldn’t resist cracking up the crowd in her acceptance speech after being conferred as a Fellow of Rose Bruford College when she returned in 2019.

Baby Reindeer is available on Netflix now. For more like this look at the life of Jessica Gunning and all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.