Jessica Yu-Li Henwick (born 30 August 1992) is an English actress, writer, and director. She began her career in 2010 and is best known for her roles in Game of Thrones, Iron Fist, Love and Monsters, The Matrix Resurrections, and Glass Onion. Her directorial debut Bus Girl was nominated for a BAFTA.
Early life
Henwick is from Surrey, the daughter of a Singaporean-Chinese mother of Teochew descent and a Zambian-born English father. Her father, Mark, became an author in 2012 and is best known for his urban fantasy 'Bite Back' series. She has two brothers, one older and one younger.
Henwick attended Collingwood College in Camberley. She trained briefly at Redroofs Theatre School before dropping out. She also trained with the National Youth Theatre.
Career
Henwick happened upon a casting call in London Chinatown and her mother encouraged her to pursue the opportunity. In June 2009, it was announced Henwick had been cast in the lead role of Bo in the CBBC series Spirit Warriors, making her the first actress of East Asian descent to play the lead role in a British television series.
In early 2013, Henwick made her professional theatre debut in the international premiere of Running on the Cracks, based on the book by Julia Donaldson. Allan Radcliffe of The Times praised her "excellent" and "understated" performance, while the Guardian wrote, "with tremendous physical presence, Henwick captures the sense of adolescent righteousness, passion and confusion of a girl trying to create order in an unfair universe." Theatre critic Joyce McMillan wrote that Henwick was "outstanding as Leo".
Later that year, Henwick was cast as Jane Jeong Trenka in the drama Obsession: Dark Desires, which aired January 2014. The adaptation details Trenka's stalking in Minnesota, 1991, which she details in her book The Language of Blood. Henwick also joined the cast of Silk as new barrister pupil Amy. The series brought in an average of 5 million viewers per episode. She reprised her role for the spin-off radio series Silk: The Clerks' Room.
In 2015, Henwick joined the cast of the HBO series Game of Thrones in Season 5 as Nymeria Sand. She continued performing the role until Season 7.
Henwick originally auditioned for the role of Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens before losing out to Daisy Ridley for the role. Nevertheless, she still had a role in the film as the X-wing pilot Jess Pava. The character's full name is established as Jessika "Testor" Pava in the spin-off novel The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure. Despite her limited screen time, the character of Pava has become a fan favourite. Pava later appeared as a supporting character in the comic book series Star Wars: Poe Dameron, which ran from 2016 to 2018, and reprised the role for the Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga game.
In 2017, Henwick appeared as Colleen Wing in the Netflix television series Iron Fist. Although critical reception of Iron Fist was generally negative, Henwick's performance in the series was well received. She reprised the role for the series The Defenders, as well as the second season of Luke Cage.
At the end of 2017, Henwick was listed as one of Variety'''s Top Breakout Stars. In 2020, she co-starred in the Fox science fiction thriller Underwater, and the films Love and Monsters and Sofia Coppola's On the Rocks. That same year she was listed as one of The Hollywood Reporter's Rising Stars and won the Brit to Watch award at the Newport Beach Film Festival.
In 2021, she starred in The Matrix Resurrections. IGN called Henwick the "best part of Resurrections", while Deadline Hollywood said she was "what makes the movie worth watching". She was nominated and won Best Supporting Actress on the Gold list Honors for the most outstanding Asian achievements in the film industry.
In 2022, Henwick was in two of the most highly viewed Netflix films of all time, The Gray Man and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. She also directed her short film Bus Girl, shot entirely on a smartphone during a break from filming Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. It was nominated for a BAFTA award for Best Short Film. Henwick thanks Rian Johnson in the credits of the film.
In 2023, Henwick joined the cast of The Royal Hotel.https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/sep/15/the-royal-hotel-movie-review-feminist-thriller
Writing
In 2020, it was announced Amazon had picked up Nancy Wu Done It, a young adult series that Henwick co-wrote. She also has a miniseries in development with Emu Films.