Julie Hesmondhalgh

Julie Hesmondhalgh was born and brought up in Accrington, Lancashire, and trained at LAMDA. She was a member of Arts Threshold Theatre in London in the 1990s, and is co-founder of the political theatre company Take Back in Manchester, her home city. She is best known for her award-winning role as Hayley Cropper in Coronation Street , a part she played for sixteen years. She has since worked extensively in theatre ( Wit , Mother Courage and Her Children , The Greatest Play in the History of the...See more

Julie Hesmondhalgh was born and brought up in Accrington, Lancashire, and trained at LAMDA. She was a member of Arts Threshold Theatre in London in the 1990s, and is co-founder of the political theatre company Take Back in Manchester, her home city. She is best known for her award-winning role as Hayley Cropper in Coronation Street , a part she played for sixteen years. She has since worked extensively in theatre ( Wit , Mother Courage and Her Children , The Greatest Play in the History of the World , There Are No Beginnings ), television and film ( You & Me , The Pact , Broadchurch , Happy Valley , Black Roses , Doctor Who , Inside No. 9 , Catastrophe , Cucumber , Peterloo ), and radio, where she is a regular voice on BBC Radio 4. Her Working Diary was published by Methuen Drama in 2019. Author photo by James Melia See less