Biography - The rise and rise of Jill !
Jill was born in Gateshead on 15th July 1975. She started her acting career early whilst still a teenager, starring as Nicola Dobson in the childrens' TV series Byker Grove. However, Jill is no stranger to the stage - appearing in such performances as "1984", "Cooking with Elvis" and more recently, "The Bodies" . Her other stage work includes "The Sound of Music" at the Sheffield Crucible and "Studs", a play by The Hull Truck Company. Jill is however more well known to TV audiences as a well accomplished "soap" actress after appearing as Rebecca Hopkins in Coronation Street and more lately as Kate Mitchell in EastEnders . Jill's other TV work includes Peak Practice, Touching Evil , and Dalziel & Pascoe and many more. Much more recently, Jill appeared in Waterloo Road , starring in the leading role of teacher Izzie Redpath. When Jill's part in EastEnders came to an end, she was selected to take part in the reality TV show Strictly Come Dancing where she was partnered by well known Latin dancer Darren Bennett. Jill and Darren went on to claim the winner's trophy after a dazzling performance of the jive. This was followed up by another win in the Christmas Show - Champion of Champions.
After Jill's triumph in Strictly Come Dancing, her engagement book began to fill up and she won the coveted role of Roxie Hart in the stage musical Chicago. It was during her time in the cast of Chicago that the general public realised that not only could Jill dance, but could sing as well. 
Jill's role as Roxie came to an end after about 3 months after which followed an invitation from Christian Aid to promote the charity by visiting the villages in India and Sri Lanka which had been devasted by a tsunami. Jill's visit was filmed and subsequently televised shortly after. Jill has also made various one off appearances on TV in such programmes as chat shows Loose Women, The Wright Stuff, The Paul O'Grady Show and Davina. Her other guest appearances have been in such programmes as Barbara and The Catherine Tate Show . In both these programmes, Jill showed she can not only do serious drama but comedy as well. She has also "guested" on shows such as Celebrating the Sound of Music and The Sound of Musicals which again proved her ability as a singer. In 2005, Jill realised her life long ambition to play in a pantomime at The Theatre Royal in her hometown of Newcastle. She took the role of Fairy Godmother in Cinderella which played to packed audiences from mid December to late January 2006. Again Jill showed her all round ability as actress/singer/dancer. 
Jill's next panto role was as Mother Nature in Jack and the Beanstalk, again at The Theatre Royal Newcastle, which started on 12th December 2006. This time, Jill played alongside her now husband Craig Conway whom she also played alongside in the plays 1984 and The Bodies.
Jill and Craig announced their engagement during the last performance of Cinderella and were married at St Andrew's church in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 3rd February 2007. Jill "trod the boards" again at The Birmingham Repetory Company in the Chekov play "Uncle Vanya" Which ran from 23rd March until 14th April. Jill received very favourable reviews for her performance as Sonya with the drama critic from the Telegraph saying, "..... and Jill Halfpenny - of Coronation Street and Strictly Come Dancing fame - is a revelation as Vanya's niece Sonya."
Jill's latest major television project was a second series of Waterloo Road which received high acclaim from the critics on the showing of series one. Series two started in early 2007 in which we saw the many "ups and downs" in Izzie (Jill) and Tom's (Jason Done) lives. The series ended on 26th April 2007 with very harrowing scenes of Izzie getting stabbed. Jill's closing scenes were of Izzie in the arms of headteacher Jack Rimmer (Jason Merrells) who was desperately trying to save her. Jill said in a previous interview on GMTV that she wouldn't be in series 3.Following her time in the Waterloo Road series, Jill was to be seen as a guest on Strictly Come Dancing's sister programme Strictly Come Dancing - It Takes Two
A very recent TV appearance at the time of writing (3rd December 2007) was playing herself in the BBC comedy show "The Omid Djalili Show" where she played in a sketch opposite Omid's "frustrated actor" character, ending the sketch with a tremendous head butt to Omid, proving once again that Jill is extremely good at comedy.
Jill was to be seen in the final episode of the series of Blue Murder entitled "Crisis Management" which was broadcast on 17th December on ITV1. Jill played Jackie Holroyd, a single mother to two children, Ben (Richard Fleeshman) and Bethan (Larner Taylor).
The last stage appearance by Jill to date was in the play "Surviving Spike" playing alongside Michael Barrymore who played the title role of Spike Milligan. This play ran from the 5th to the 16th February 2008 at the Theatre Royal Windsor. Jill's role was as Norma Farnes, the late Spike Milligan's agent, manager and confidante for 36 years.
A Happy Event occurred within the Halfpenny household on 3rd May 2008 when Jill and her husband Craig became parents for the first time. Jill gave birth to Harvey Reece, a 6lb 8oz baby boy. Readers of this biography can offer their congratulations via the Guest Book.
Between Thursday 31st July and until Monday 25th August, Jill will reprise her role as Norma Farnes, again playing opposite Michael Barrymore in another series of performances of Surviving Spike at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Performances are held at "The Assembly" George Street and start at 4:15 p.m. Tickets are from £10-£20 depending on day. For further information telephone 0131-623 3030.
Jill in her role as Norma Farnes
Exracts of reviews of Surviving Spike:
"…….Jill Halfpenny delights as the feisty
"…And EastEnders' Jill Halfpenny is a 24-carat pro as Norma, radiating precisely the resilience and likeability that Farnes must have needed to "survive" the great but infuriating man".
"…..and Jill Halfpenny, as the Yorkshire-born Farnes, has a tough but tender charm that is hard to resist."
"….but in the end the show is narrated and rightly dominated by the gutsy Halfpenny."
The latest TV appearance of Jill was on 3rd May 2009 when she played a major role in the drama series "Inspector George Gently" starring Martin Shaw in the title role and Lee Ingleby as DC John Bacchus. The series was set in Northumberland in 1964 and in the episode entitled "Gently with the innocents", Jill played the part of Cora Davidson, a developer who returns to a former childrens' home. Cora wishes to redevelop the site because it holds disturbing memories for her when she as a child was one of several abused by some of the staff. Whilst at the former childrens' home, a murder takes place and Cora finds herself part of the investigation.