About Jessica

Jessica Brown-Findlay was born on 14 September 1989.

Jessica trained with the National Youth Ballet and the Associates of the Royal Ballet. Aged 15, she was invited to dance with the Kirov at the Royal Opera House for a summer season.

Jessica attended Furze Platt Senior School in Maidenhead. At the end of her GCSEs, Brown-Findlay was accepted to a number of ballet schools but chose to go to the Arts Educational School, because of the A-level courses it provided and its pastoral care. She attended for two years and in her second year had three operations on her ankles, the last of which went wrong. Waking up from the anaesthetic, she was told she couldn�t dance anymore.

After encouragement from an art teacher, she applied for and got onto a Fine Art course at St Martin�s. While there, she took up acting classes. After being seen by a casting agent, she was cast in the lead role of Emelia in the film Albatross, directed by Niall MacCormick. She was subsequently cast in an episode of the E4 programme Misfits.

(Source: Downtonline)