Katie Jarvis

KATIE JARVIS

Date of Birth: June 22, 1991

With no previous acting experience, this young British actress is nicknamed the "accidental actress." When she made her debut in Fish Tank (2010), which premiered at the 62nd Annual Cannes Film Festival, agencies were scrambling to sign her as their newest talent.

Born in Dartford, Kent, England, Katie Jarvis grew up in Dagenham, England with her parents Paul, a painter, Tamara, a stay-at-home mom, and her three younger sisters Charmaine, Jodie-May and Beckie. Her parents later divorced when she was 12 years old.

Jarvis was planning on going to beauty school when she was spotted by a casting agent at Tilbury Town railway station in Tilbury, Essex. Jarvis was having an argument with her boyfriend Brian on the platform when a casting agent approached her about the movie role. She was reluctant to give the agent her number, but took his instead and called later on. Jarvis went through two successful auditions. In the first she was asked to dance for the casting directors because of the large role dance plays in the film. Jarvis refused, but the directors accommodated her timidity by leaving the room and allowing her to dance just for the camera. She then got the life-changing news that she had won the leading role of Mia, the 15-year-old troubled teen who tries to maneuver around the pitfalls of her life, with the help of hip-hop.

Since the film's debut Jarvis has been accepting countless awards for her breakthrough role. She was nominated for Best Actress by the British Independent Film Awards. At the Edinburgh Film Festival she was awarded the Trailblazers Award and Best Performance in a British Feature Film Award. Jarvis was also nominated for Best Actress at the European Film Awards, which put her in a category with Oscar winners Kate Winslet and Penelope Cruz.

The film, directed by Andrea Arnold, was up for the Palme D'or at the Cannes Film Festival, but did not win. It did however win the third most prestigious award at the film festival, the Jury Prize. Jarvis currently lives in Essex, England and on May 9, 2009, she gave birth to baby girl Lily Mae.