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FP News
Joanna Vanderham Joanna attended the High School of Dundee from 2002 until 2008, dedicating much of her spare time to Drama. When not in the studios at Trinity Meadowside, she was also an active participant of the Hockey and Netball Teams. A member of Airlie House, she also raised a substantial amount of money for charity, and was in the History society. Upon leaving the School, Joanna followed her passion for acting, and was accepted to study at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Speaking recently with Director of Development, Oliver Jackson-Hutt, Jo has extolled passionately about the importance of, and her approval and support for, Campaign 2015 – 2020.
Being launched into the spotlight in 2011, whilst still attending Drama School, Joanna secured the female lead in Sky 1’s thriller The Runaway, starring alongside Jack O’Connell. She portrayed the character ‘Cathy’ in the six-part series that was adapted from Martina Coles’ critically acclaimed novel of the same name. As a result of this, she was nominated for an International Emmy Award in the category of ‘Best Actress’. A year later, she starred in The Promise, by Aleksei Arbuzov, in a new stage version by Penelope Skinner. The play itself was staged at Trafalgar Studios, depicting an epic love triangle that begins during the siege of Leningrad in 1942. Of her portrayal of ‘Lika’, Matt Wolf of The Arts Desk excitedly described her as ‘calling to mind a much younger Kate Winslet… no doubt that the stage is as much her natural habitat as the screen’. Joanna’s film debut as ‘Margo’ in the 2012 charming, and critically acclaimed feature film What Maisie Knew, received fantastic praise, with Indiewire singling out her performance as ‘breakthrough’, and writing ‘there’s a massive movie star in the making here’. The film sees Joanna portraying a young nanny who takes care of six-year-old Maisie, whose neglectful parents, and their new partners, are caught up in the middle of a vicious custody battle. Directors, Scott McGehee, and David Siegel were at first reluctant to produce a film about divorce, however, they warmed to the idea of the script focusing primarily on the story told from Maisie’s perspective.
Toward the end of 2012, Joanna was cast as the female lead, ‘Denise Lovett’ in the hit BBC One series, The Paradise. Her intelligent, and ambitious character arrives from the small Scottish town of Peebles, and quickly accepts a job at glamorous department store, ‘The Paradise’. The television series follows the fortunes of England’s very first department store in 1870, as well as the complicated love story that unfolds. Alongside co-stars Emun Elliot, Sarah Lancashire, Elaine Cassidy, and David Hayman, the series was so well received that a second series was quickly commissioned. The first episode of this second season was broadcast in September 2013, and attracted over 5.2 million viewers. Dancing on the Edge, BAFTA award winning director Stephen Poliakoff’s production set in the 1930s, saw Joanna star as ‘Pamela Luscombe’. The five-part drama series aired in 2013, and follows jazz outfit, The Louise Lester Band, as they climb to fame through parties hosted by the upper classes during times of extraordinary change. The Golden Globe nominated series also included cast members such as Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matthew Goode, and John Goodman. Claire Leona Apps’ dark, and twisting thriller And Then I Was French, afforded Joanna the opportunity to step into the shoes of a completely different character than what she was used to. The film portrays the life of sensitive wallflower ‘Cara’, who embarks on a journey of self-discovery, which takes an incredibly
