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Jo Hartley (born ) is an English actress. She is known for her roles in the films Dead Man's Shoes (2004), This Is England (2006), The Young Victoria (2009), Torvill & Dean (2018), Slaughterhouse Rulez (2018), Eddie the Eagle (2016), Sweetheart (2021), and Bank of Dave (2023). Television credits include This Is England '86 (2010), Not Safe For Work (2015), In My Skin (2018), After Life (2019–2022), Mandy (2021), Das Boot (2022), Death In Paradise (2023), Passenger (2024), and Adolescence (2025).
She joined Oldham Theatre Workshop, developing her acting skills until the age of 17, when she stopped acting to work at British Aerospace on a Youth Training Scheme. She worked as a secretary there for two years before leaving to join Japan Airlines as a flight attendant.
In her mid-twenties, Hartley left the aviation industry to pursue a career as an actor. Hartley returned to England, in London studying at the Questors Theatre in Ealing, where she studied method acting and Stanislavski's system until landing her first film role in 2004.
In 2016 Hartley appeared as Janette, Eddie's mother in the film Eddie the Eagle appearing alongside Taron Egerton and Hugh Jackman. She co-starred in the David Cross series Bliss opposite Heather Graham as one of two partners of a fraudulent travel writer. Hartley also appeared in the comedy horror film Slaughterhouse Rulez, alongside Asa Butterfield and Simon Pegg.
After a successful pilot episode, Hartley played the role of Bethan's mum, Katrina, who suffers from bipolar disorder in the BBC series In My Skin which aired on BBC1 in 2020. In April 2020, Hartley returned as June in the second series of Ricky Gervais's After Life.
In January 2021, Hartley joined the Rising Star Award jury of the EE British Academy Film Awards to select the shortlist for the 2021 award, alongside Alicia Vikander, Naomi Ackie and several other prominent figures of the industry. In November 2021, Hartley was nominated for the BIFA for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Tina in the Marley Morrison directed British drama film Sweetheart.
In December 2021, Hartley had a guest-role appearance in the BBC's Mandy Christmas special— We Wish You A Mandy Christmas alongside Diane Morgan and Johnny Vegas. In 2022, Hartley landed a recurring role in four episodes of series 3, of the Sky One German U-boat series Das Boot, alongside Tom Wlaschiha.
In 2023, Hartley starred as 'Nicola', wife of Burnley banker Dave Fishwick (played by Rory Kinnear) in the film Bank of Dave, released on Netflix in January 2023.
In April 2024, Hartley played the lead character in the British comedy film Swede Caroline.
| +Key | Denotes works that have not yet been released |
| 2004 | Dead Man's Shoes | Marie |
| Northern Soul (short film) | Jo Sherbert | |
| Me and Her (short film) | Coleen | |
| 2006 | This Is England | Cynthia |
| 2007 | Bigboy_74 (short film) | Woman |
| 2008 | Terra Firma (short film) | Debbie Jo Hartley & Michael Smiley, The Independent, 19 September 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2017 |
| Flushed (short film) | Mrs Mop | |
| 2009 | The Young Victoria | Landlady |
| 2010 | Soulboy | Monica |
| 2011 | Inbred | Kate |
| At Dusk (short film) | Woman | |
| 2012 | Up There | Margaret |
| When the Lights Went Out | Jeanette | |
| Ill Manors | Carol | |
| 2014 | The Crossing (short film) | Juliet |
| Janet and Bernard (short film) | Janet | |
| I Don't Care (short film) | Mandy | |
| 2015 | Sea Change (short film) | See awards |
| 2016 | Eddie the Eagle | Janette Edwards |
| Pauline Gray | ||
| Prevenge | Midwife | |
| Gibberish (short film) | Mother | |
| Access All Areas | Libby | |
| 2018 | Slaughterhouse Rulez | Babs Wallace |
| Torvill & Dean | Betty Torvill | |
| 2021 | Sweetheart | Tina |
| 2023 | Bank of Dave | as Nicola Fishwick |
| 2024 | Swede Caroline | Caroline |
| 2015 | International Christian Film & Music Festival | Best Actress – Short film | Sea Change | ||
| 2017 | Underwire Film Festival | Best Actor | Gibberish | ||
| 2021 | British Independent Film Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Sweetheart | ||
| 2024 | National Film Awards UK | Best Actress | Swede Caroline | ||
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