Background

Ethnicity: Henwick has Singaporean and Chinese ancestry on her mother’s side and is of Zambian and English descent on her father’s side.

Henwick was born on August 30, 1992, in Surrey. She is the daughter of a Chinese mother and English father, Mark Henwick, author of the Bite Back series of novels. Henwick has 2 brothers and is the middle child.

Education

Jessica Henwick trained at Redroofs Theatre School and the National Youth Theatre.

Career

In June 2009, it was announced that Henwick had been cast in the lead role of Bo for the BBC show Spirit Warriors, making her the first actress of East Asian descent to play the lead role in a British television series. For the role, Henwick trained in wushu with martial arts choreographer Jude Poyer. The show was nominated for several awards, including the Broadcast Awards 2011.

In early 2013, Henwick made her professional theatre debut in the international premiere of Running on the Cracks, based on the book by Julia Donaldson. Later that year she was cast as Jane Jeong Trenka in the drama Obsession: Dark Desires, which aired January 2014. The adaptation details Trenka's stalking in Minnesota, 1991, which she details in her book The Language of Blood. Henwick also joined the cast of Silk as new barrister pupil Amy. The series brought in an average of 5 million viewers per episode. She reprised her role for the spin-off radio series Silk: The Clerks' Room and went on to play a young Oxford University student in Inspector Lewis.

In 2015 Henwick joined the cast of the HBO series Game of Thrones in Season 5 as Nymeria Sand, with Oscar-nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes and Rosabell Laurenti Sellers playing her sisters. The process included six months of training to use a traditional bullwhip. She continued performing the role until Season 7, when Sand was killed off in that season's second episode, "Stormborn."

Henwick played the X-wing pilot Jess Pava in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The character's full name is established as Jessika "Testor" Pava in the spin-off novel The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure, which establishes her as an admirer of Luke Skywalker. Despite her limited screen time, the character of Pava has become a fan favorite. Pava later appeared as a supporting character in the comic book series Star Wars: Poe Dameron, which ran from 2016 to 2018. Henwick expressed interest in reprising the role for the 2019 film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but her character did not make an appearance in the film.

In 2017, Henwick appeared in the second season of drama series Fortitude, as well as Colleen Wing in the Netflix television series Iron Fist. Although critical reception of Iron Fist was generally negative, Henwick's performance in the series was well received. She reprised the role for the series The Defenders, as well as the second season of Luke Cage.

Henwick's next role is the Fox feature film Underwater, Godzilla vs. Kong, Monster Problems and Sofia Coppola's On the Rocks.

Achievements

• 

  Jessica Henwick is the first actress of East Asian descent to play the lead role in a British television series, having starred in the children's show Spirit Warriors. She is also known for her role as Nymeria Sand in HBO series Game of Thrones, and as X-wing pilot Jess Pava in the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
  
  At the end of 2017, Henwick was listed as one of Variety's Top Breakout Stars.

Works

More photos

• movie

  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens

    (As a new threat to the galaxy rises, Rey, a desert scaven...)

    2015
  • Newness

    (Two young Los Angelenos navigating a social media-driven ...)

    2017
  • Heart of the Forest

    (On a hunting trip in the forest, a mother and daughter co...)

    2016
  • Yo! My Saint

    (A musical exploring the complex relationship between an a...)

    2018
  • Dragonfly

    (Brutal corrupt cop, DS Blake is no stranger to violence. ...)

    2015

• TV series

  • The Defenders

    (The Defenders is a drama about two colorful Las Vegas def...)

    2017
  • Game of Thrones

    (Nine noble families wage war against each other in order ...)

    2015
  • Marvel's Iron Fist

    (Danny attempts to fulfill the duties of the Iron Fist.)

    2017

Religion

Jessica hasn’t spoken about her religious views publicly.

Views

Quotations: "The seafood in England is sad."

"Asian food is amazing. I love a good Milo Dinosaur, bubble tea, and things like that."

"I was a real wild kid, spending much more time outdoors than I ever did indoors."

"I've been extremely lucky in that I've been able to play roles that are not defined by their ethnicity. But that's not a common thing for people of ethnic minorities."

"I'm not a good katana user, bo staff user."

Personality

In order to portray the character of Bo on Spirit Warriors, Jessica trained extensively with martial arts choreographer Jude Poyer in the Chinese martial art form Wushu.

Jessica learned piano as a kid and even played it competitively as a child.

Physical Characteristics: Build: slim

Height: 5 ft 6½ in (169 cm)

Weight: 56 kg (123.5 lbs)

Hair color: black

Eye color: light brown

Distinctive features: small black mole on her right cheek above her lips

Interests

• Singaporean Food – Singaporean curry crab, kway teow, Hainanese chicken rice, Milo Dinosaur, Bubble tea, Laksa

• Writers

  J. K. Rowling

• Artists

  Favorite Actor: Christian Bale
  
  Favorite Actress: Keira Knightley
  
  Favorite Singaporean Actor: Adrian Pang

• Sport & Clubs

  Underwater diving

• Music & Bands

  Piano

Connections

Jessica Henwick is not married.

Father:

Mark Henwick

Mother:

Pearlyn Goh Kun Shan

colleague:

Keisha Castle-Hughes

Keisha Castle-Hughes is a New Zealander actress. She rose to prominence for playing Paikea "Pai" Apirana in the film Whale Rider.

colleague:

Rosabell Sellers

Rosabell Laurenti Sellers is an Italian-American actress. She is known for her role as Tyene Sand in the HBO series Game of Thrones, and as the titular character in the children's series, Mia and Me.

colleague:

Indira Varma

Indira Varma is a British actress of Indian and Swiss descent. Due to her Asian and Genoese features, she was offered a major role in the movies ‘Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love’ and ‘Bride and Prejudice’ which made people in India and around the world notice her. She played an important role in the classic movie ‘Rome’ that was a hit at the box office.

colleague:

Nell Free

Nell Tiger Free is an English actress. She is known for her role as Myrcella Baratheon in seasons 5 and 6 of the television series Game of Thrones.

colleague:

Toby Sebastian

Sebastian Toby M. Pugh, known as Toby Sebastian, is an English actor and musician. He is best known for portraying the character of Trystane Martell in the HBO series Game of Thrones.

colleague:

Lena Headey

(born 3 October 1973)

She is an English actress.

colleague:

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is a Danish actor, screenwriter, and producer. He is widely known for playing Ser Jaime Lannister in HBO’s hit series ‘Game of Thrones’. He is also known for appearing in a number of movies, such as ‘Nightwatch’, ‘A Thousand Times Good Night’ and ‘Headhunters’, to name a few.

colleague:

Pedro Pascal

(born April 2, 1975)

He is a Chilean-American actor.

colleague:

Finn Jones

(born 24 March 1988)

He is an English actor known for his roles as Loras Tyrell in the HBO series Game of Thrones (2011–2016) and as Danny Rand in the Netflix television shows Iron Fist (2017–2018), The Defenders (2017), and Luke Cage (2018), which are set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

References

• Focus On: 100 Most Popular English Child Actresses: Emma Watson, Felicity Jones, Dafne Keen, Keira Knightley, Jessica Henwick, Kaya Scodelario, Millie ... Andrews, Naomi Scott, Rebecca Hall, etc.
• Jessica Henwick - Instagram