Juliet Cowan (born 21 May 1974 in Belfast, Northern Ireland)[citation needed] is a Northern Irish television, film and stage actress. Cowan has had various TV guest star roles in long-running shows such as EastEnders, Silent Witness and Casualty. Cowan has also had a recurring role in the CBBC show The Sarah Jane Adventures, This Life and BBC comedy Back to Life.

Juliet Cowan
Born (1974-05-21) 21 May 1974 (age 50)
OccupationActress
Years active1993–present
Known forHank Zipzer as Rosa (2014–2016)
TelevisionCuckoo
The Bill
Silent Witness
EastEnders
The Sarah Jane Adventures
Casualty
Back to Life

Career

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Cowan's first aired acting role was in the 1993 live performance video Raising Hell,[1] by Iron Maiden, which was broadcast live on pay-per-view television in the United Kingdom and on MTV in North America.[2] She was not credited for this performance, however. Cowan guest-starred in over 20 episodes of The Bill as Julie Saunders, the mother of the boy who accused PC Tony Stamp of sexual assault. She also starred in "The Wench Is Dead", the penultimate episode of the Inspector Morse series, as Joanna Franks, a Victorian woman who is murdered on board a canal boat.

She played recurring characters Nicki in This Life (1997), Carla in Series 7 of The Queen's Nose, air stewardess Polly Arnold in the Channel 5 soap opera Family Affairs (2001), Tanya in Pulling (2003), and Chrissie Jackson in The Sarah Jane Adventures,[3] making her first appearance in the first episode "Invasion of the Bane" (2007).[4] She was social worker Josie in two episodes of the series Shameless in 2009. In 2006, Cowan appeared in a short film entitled Goodbye to the Normals. It was a promotional video for Robbie Williams, directed by Jim Field Smith and featuring the song "Burslem Normals".

Cowan has also appeared in television adverts for Danone Actimel (2003 to 2004), Nationwide Building Society (2006), Cadbury's (2007), and Cif cleaning products (2008)[5] She was a finalist in the So You Think You're Funny competition at the 1999 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.[6] On 5 March 2009, Cowan guest-starred in Episode 7, "JJ", of the third series of the teen drama Skins. She plays the mother of the character JJ and returned again in the sixth episode of the fourth series to reprise the role. In 2010 she appeared in two episodes of PhoneShop as Lance's wife Shelley, as well as in a Christmas advertisement for Boots; an appearance which has evolved into a more recurring role in subsequent commercials for Boots. Cowan played Sharon Watts's Bridesmaid Nina Hewland in EastEnders on 13–14 August 2012. From September 2012, she acted as Stanley Brown's mother in the CBBC programme The Revolting World of Stanley Brown. In late 2013 Cowan acted as Rosa Zipzer for the new CBBC programme Hank Zipzer along with Henry Winkler. Cowan appeared in an episode of Utopia for Channel Four as Bridget in July 2014.

2018 saw her play real-life character Tracey Rogers in Killed by My Debt for the BBC. In 2022 she appeared in Dylan Moran sit-com Stuck.[7]

In February 2023, it was announced that Cowan was added to the cast of the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black and would be playing Winehouse's mother Janis Winehouse-Collins.[8]

Filmography

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Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1998 Inspector Morse: The Wench is Dead Joanna Franks
2003 Bounty Hamster Cassie Main role, voice
2006 – 2009 Pulling Tanya
2007 – 2008 The Sarah Jane Adventures Chrissie Jackson
2008 Beautiful People Kathy Guest role
2009 – 2010 Skins Celia Jones
2010 – 2011 PhoneShop Shelley
2013 Fresh Meat Chris Nordstrom
2014 – 2016 Hank Zipzer Rosa Main role
2017 End of the F***ing World Della
2021 Brassic Liz Jones
2022 The Flatshare Gillian
Stuck Joy
Am I Being Unreasonable? Viv
Everything I Know About Love Joan
Prefect Janice
2023 The Power Barbara Monke Recurring role
Culprits Marian 2 episodes
2024 Death in Paradise Eloise Mirie

Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2023 Falling Into Place Sara
2024 Back to Black Janis Winehouse

References

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  1. ^ Declan Lowney (Director) (1994). Raising Hell. Pinewood Studios, London: PMI. Event occurs at 54:25.
  2. ^ Wall, Mick (2004). Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorised Biography (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. p. 298. ISBN 1-86074-542-3.
  3. ^ Arnop, Jason (17 October 2007) [19 September 2007]. Doctor Who Magazine. No. 387. p. 19. {{cite magazine}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ^ "Juliet Cowan". Internet Movie Database. 2007. Retrieved 20 September 2007.
  5. ^ "Other works for Juliet Cowan". Internet Movie Database. 2007. Retrieved 20 September 2007.
  6. ^ "Biography for Juliet Cowan". Internet Movie Database. 2007. Retrieved 20 September 2007.
  7. ^ "Stuck – BBC Two". Retrieved 5 September 2022.
  8. ^ Chrisp, Kitty (19 February 2023). "Amy Winehouse's dad disappointed not to be played by George Clooney in new biopic: 'Eddie f****** Marsan!'". Metro. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
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