Joanna Higson is an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 actress. She graduated from Salford University with a First Class Honours degree in Media and Performance in the summer of 2006.

Television

Higson's first television role came on 22 January 2007 when she was handpicked by Jim Cartwright for a role in an episode of The Afternoon Play on BBC One

BBC One

BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

 entitled, Johnny Shakespeare. She then appeared in the pilot episode of Scallwagga when the series was titled Spacehopper. She played Amy Osbourne in Cold Blood in June 2007 and also in Cold Blood 5: The Last Hurrah on 3 January 2008.
On 13 December 2007 she appeared in an episode of the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 television series, The Street

The Street (TV series)

The Street is a British television drama series created by Jimmy McGovern and produced by Granada Television for the BBC. The series follows the lives of various residents of an unnamed street in Manchester and features an all-star cast including Timothy Spall, Jim Broadbent, Jane Horrocks, Bob...

.
From April to June 2008, Higson returned in the comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 sketch show series Scallywagga

Scallywagga

Scallywagga is a British comedy sketch show, written by Stuart Kenworthy, who has worked on Green Wing and Smack the Pony. The executive producer of series one was Kenton Allen, and the producer was Jon Montague. The pilot episode aired on 21 March 2007 when the show was known as Spacehopper...

on BBC Three

BBC Three

BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...

. She played a number of lead characters including the role of "Greggs Girl".
Higson appeared as the new regular character of Maxine Donnelly in the sixth and seventh series of the comedy drama series Shameless

Shameless

Shameless is a British television drama series set in Manchester on the fictional Chatsworth council estate. Produced by Company Pictures for Channel 4, the first seven-episode series aired weekly on Tuesday nights at 10pm from 13 January 2004...

on Channel 4

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

 from January 2009 to 2010. She left the show after 2 series; her character, Maxine, has not been mentioned or heard of during series eight.
Joanna then appeared in Jimmy McGovern BBC1 Drama 'Accused', broadcast in November 2010. Joanna played the young daughter of Christopher Eccleston's

Christopher Eccleston

Christopher Eccleston is an English stage, film and television actor. His films include Let Him Have It, Shallow Grave, Elizabeth, 28 Days Later, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Others, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra...

 character, Willy, whose single chance encounter with a money launderer leads to a slippery criminal downfall for him and his family.

Theatre

In 2008 Higson appeared in two plays, Road

Road (play)

Road is the first play written by Jim Cartwright, and was first produced in 1986.The play explores the lives of the people in a deprived, working class area of Lancashire during the government of Margaret Thatcher, a time of high unemployment in the north of England...

 and Spring and Port Wine

Spring and Port Wine

Spring and Port Wine is a stage play by Bill Naughton which was turned into a film .It began life under the title My Flesh, My Blood as a BBC Radio play, broadcast on 17 August 1957 in the Saturday Night Theatre strand...

, at the Octagon Theatre

Octagon Theatre, Bolton

The Octagon Theatre is a producing theatre located in Bolton, Greater Manchester, England.-Programme:The Octagon produces between eight and nine professional theatre productions a year in its Main Auditorium...

 in Bolton

Bolton

Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...

.

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