Joanna started life as a very small cellist, picking up the instrument at the age of 5 and going on to gain grade 8 distinction aged 16 and study at the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music. However, a love of singing and acting took over and she spent most of her time at Cambridge University performing on stage at the ADC Theatre and Cambridge Arts Theatre. After gaining her BA in Modern Languages, she therefore went on to Central School of Speech and Drama to study acting and singing.

Since graduating in September 2004, she has worked regularly on stage, most notably as Johanna in the UK no 1 tour of John Doyle's acclaimed actor-musician production of Sweeney Todd, the Broadway version of which recently won a Tony for Best Musical, and as Beth in his Merrily we Roll Along at the Watermill Theatre.

2009 has been a busy year, as Jo played Sibyl Vane in Ruby in the Dust's production of Dorian Gray at the Leicester Square Theatre and then Celeste in Primavera's production of Saturday Night at the Jermyn Street.  Both were sell-out productions, and Saturday Night transferred to the Arts Theatre, Leicester Square and Theatre Royal Windsor.  She recently covered the roles of Mrs Crocker Harris and Mrs Gilbert in Sir Peter Hall's touring production of 'The Browning Version' to broaden her experience, and this Christmas will see her working with director Rachel O'Riordan and composer Connor Mitchell on Manchester Library Theatre's production of Carol Ann Duffy's 'Grimm Tales'.

Jo has also done several jazz gigs at balls, parties and bars under the name 'Sooner or Later', with pianist Will Galton and is hoping to find regular work as a session singer. With her ability to sightsing and hold difficult harmonies, she is very easy to work with. She also works as a cellist in pit bands etc. 

Jo plays the piano and is able to perform in several different accents or sing in different vocal styles, from operatic (she is a trained classical soprano) to belt, via musical theatre mix and character voices. Her vocal range goes from F below middle C to  'Queen of the Night' top F above the stave.  She is always keen to learn new instruments, and has recently been learning the flute.

At five foot 2 with a youthful appearance, she is most often cast as children or young women, from Tiny Tim (aged 7!!) to Wendy (11) and romantic lead Johanna (16).  The part of Beth in Merrily provided an extra challenge, as it required her to play both hopeful teenager and angry divorced mother (28).

For more information, please contact her agent Phil Belfield at Belfield and Ward.

Photo taken by Chris Baker.