Ruth Jones Popular Books

Ruth Jones Biography & Facts

Ruth Alexandra Elisabeth Jones (born 22 September 1966) is a Welsh actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She co-wrote and co-starred in the award-winning BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey (2007–2010, 2019). She later co-wrote and starred in the Sky One comedy-drama Stella (2012-2017), for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Female Comedy Performance and won the BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Screenwriter. Jones has appeared in various television series, including Fat Friends (2000–2005), Little Britain (2003–2007), Nighty Night (2004–2005), Saxondale (2006–2007), and The Street (2009). Jones was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to entertainment. Jones is also an author, writing three novels: Never Greener (2018), Us Three (2020) and Love Untold (2022). Early life Ruth Jones was born on 22 September 1966 in Bridgend, Glamorgan, Wales. Her father was a solicitor for British Steel Corporation, Port Talbot, and her mother was a GP. She has two older brothers and a younger sister. Brought up in Porthcawl, she attended Porthcawl Comprehensive School (actor and comedian Rob Brydon was also a pupil there and the two appeared in school musicals together). She participated enthusiastically every year in musical theatre productions. After graduating from University of Warwick with a degree in Theatre Studies and Dramatic Arts, she trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff. Career Stage In November 1989, Jones undertook her first professional role, with Dominic Cooke's company, Pan Optic, playing Countess Almaviva in Cooke's adaptation of The Marriage of Figaro, which toured the UK for six months. Thereafter, she undertook some temporary clerical work. At that point, she considered giving up acting and training to be a solicitor. However, in 1990, the comedian and pantomime producer Stan Stennett offered her an Equity contract, shifting scenery and playing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (Michelangelo) in Dick Whittington at the Grand Pavilion, Porthcawl, where she had performed in school musicals. In October 2018, Jones returned to the stage after a 12-year absence in the new play "The Nightingales" by William Gaminara, produced by Jenny Topper and Theatre Royal, Bath. Television Her first television job was an unbroadcast sketch show for BBC Wales, which included Rob Brydon and Steve Speirs. Soon after, she joined an improvisational theatre group in Bath. That group included Julia Davis, with whom Jones later appeared in Nighty Night and Gavin & Stacey. She first worked in TV and radio comedy for BBC Wales in 1991. Theatre roles with the RSC and The National Theatre were followed by her performance in 1999 hit British film East Is East. In 1996, she appeared in the BBC television period drama Drover’s Gold, billed as a "Welsh Western" which told the story of a cattle drive from West Wales to London. Jones later commented, "I loved that job. I visited places like Lampeter and Llandeilo for the first time, as well as Abergavenny and Crickhowell. I fell in love with them all. There was something so unspoilt about them, and I’ve been back several times since." Jones appeared on television as Kelly in four series of ITV's comedy Fat Friends, where she met James Corden. Afterwards she appeared in several BBC comedies, playing Myfanwy in Little Britain, Magz in Saxondale and Linda in Nighty Night. Jones achieved prominence in 2007 as co-writer with James Corden of the BBC Three sitcom Gavin & Stacey, and as playing a lead role in it as Nessa Jenkins. The series became a hit and was moved to BBC One. Jones said: "It wasn't as deliberate as us saying, 'Right, we're going to react against cynical comedy'. We just wrote what we wanted. And it just so happens that the show does generate a lot of warmth. People seem to like that, especially when things aren't terribly jolly. It's nice to have your cockles warmed." The series won several awards, including two BAFTAs and four British Comedy Awards. Jones and co-star Rob Brydon recorded "Islands in the Stream" (a song performed by their characters in the programme) as a single for Comic Relief in 2009; the song reached No. 1 in the chart. In 2008, Jones featured in two BBC One television period costume dramas, Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Little Dorrit, as well as two episodes of The Street. In December 2009, she starred in A Child's Christmas in Wales. In 2010, she starred in BBC Four comedy The Great Outdoors alongside Mark Heap, and, in December, presented the first of four chat shows on BBC2, Ruth Jones' Christmas Cracker. In January 2011, she starred as Hattie Jacques in BBC Four drama Hattie, which recounts Jacques' affair with her young driver John Schofield while she was married to actor John Le Mesurier, later known for his role in Dad's Army. In 2008, Jones co-founded Tidy Productions with producer David Peet. The company produced the series Jones presented on BBC Radio Wales in 2008-9, Ruth Jones' Sunday Brunch. In 2010, the company had comedy and light entertainment production credits with BBC Two and BBC Three. It has made two 90-minute comedy dramas for S4C and light-entertainment shows for BBC Wales, and topical radio series What's the Story? for Radio Wales, predecessor to The Leek. Tidy Productions also produced 58 episodes of the comedy drama Stella for Sky TV. The first series aired in 2012. It was Jones' first major comedy project since Gavin & Stacey; she created, executive produced and storylined the show with Peet. Jones stars in the title role, and wrote several episodes as well as co-writing episodes with Rob Gittins, Rob Evans, David Peet and Steve Speirs. Jones has stated she was worried about comparisons to Gavin & Stacey when setting a second programme in Wales and the company originally thought to set it in Bristol, but the decision was made to set it in the Rhondda Valley "I know people from the Valleys and it is just a joyously colourful place and full of characters." A second series of Stella was filmed in summer 2012 and aired in early 2013. A further four series plus two Christmas specials completed the run, with the final episode broadcast in October 2017. In January 2018, Jones took the part of Mandy Haveez in Radio Wales comedy series Splott, written by David Peet and made by Tidy Productions. In March 2018, Jones worked with director Debbie Isitt, appearing in the film Nativity 4. In 2020, she participated in Iaith ar Daith ('Language Road Trip'), a show for S4C where she and several other celebrities learned Welsh, broadcast in April 2020. An extra episode, Iaith ar Daith ‘Dolig ('Language Road Trip: Christmas') was broadcast at the end of 2020, interviewing each of the celebrities about whether they were still making use of their Welsh and the opportunities they had had to use Welsh during lockdown. Writer In April 2018, Jones's first novel, "Never Greener", was published .... Discover the Ruth Jones popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Ruth Jones books.