Joanne Froggatt Biography

Born in Littlebeck, North Yorkshire, Joanne Froggatt spent her childhood on a farm. In her youth, she dreamed of being an actress and joined an afterschool acting program in Scarborough before leaving home at age 13 for the Redroofs Theatre School in Maidenhead, Berkshire.

Her first popular role was on the program Coronation Street from 1997 to 1998, playing a teenage mother. She continued to work in television, appearing in the first four episodes of Bad Girls and as the lead in the TV movie Danielle Cable: Eyewitness, which was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for Best Single Drama. In 2010, she first appeared as lady maid Anna on the ITV series Downton Abbey. Since then, Joanne has received two Emmy nominations in 2012 and 2013. In 2015 she was awarded a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-series, or Movie. She reprised her role as Anna for the sequel movies Downton Abbey (2019) and Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022).

Joanne earned a British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her role of Suzy in In Our Name (2010). She appeared in many other films such as Mary in Filth (2013), Detective Inspector Sarah Clayton in U Want Me 2 Kill Him? (2013), and Val in A Street Cat Named Bob (2016).

Joanne has spent much of her career on the stage. She appeared on the London stage in the adaptation of All About My Mother in the role of Sister Rosa in 2007 before starring in The Knowledge at the Bush Theatre in 2011, and in 2019 she appeared in Alys, Always at the Bridge Theatre in London.

Joanne also has voice work experience, including in BCC Radio Four shows I am Emma Humphreys, The Disappearance by Peter Walley, and the recent animated Bob the Builder series from 2015 to 2018.

She has a long-standing history of working as an ambassador for many charitable causes. This includes Combat Stress, a mental health charity for veterans, and Plan UK's "Because I Am a Girl" campaign, which hopes to end violence and discrimination against girls globally.

Joanne married longtime boyfriend James Cannon in 2012, but the pair separated in 2020.

Filmography:

Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022)
Downton Abbey (2019)
One Last Thing (2018)
Bob the Builder: Mega Machines (2017)
Mary Shelley (2017)
A Crooked Somebody (2017)
A Street Cat Named Bob (2016)
Still Life (2013)
U Want Me 2 Kill Him? (2013)
Filth (2013)
In Our Name (2010)
Miranda (2002)