Katie Jarvis

Acting career

Jarvis was seen by a casting agent working for director Andrea Arnold at Tilbury Town railway station in Tilbury, Essex, following an argument with her boyfriend, Brian. When first approached by the casting agent, she did not believe she was being cast for a film and refused to hand over her phone number, but eventually took a number and called later. She was cast in Arnold's film, Fish Tank, following a successful audition. Despite no previous acting experience, Jarvis said she wasn't nervous; "There weren't a lot of people at the first audition so I wasn't nervous, but at the second it became a bit more scary as there were a lot of girls. I'd never done any dancing or anything like that and I didn't think I had a chance." However, in the audition Jarvis refused to dance on which Arnold commented; "We had to leave the camera in the room and go out. She hates dancing." During much of the filming, Jarvis slept on her sister's couch. She plays Mia, a troublesome and sometimes aggressive 15-year-old girl from an underclass family, passionate about dance. Media of the time referred to her as the 'accidental actress'. The film was in the running for the Palme d'Or at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival, and although it didn't win the highest award, it did win the Jury Prize. Following the success of the film, she was signed by talent agencies, Billy Lazarus signed her for United States based United Talent Agency and Sue Latimer of Artist Rights Group will represent her in Britain.

In early 2014 she was reportedly under consideration for a role in the Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens after taking a hiatus from acting to concentrate on her family. However, she did not appear in the film.

Jarvis' most recent role was as Sadie Burns in 4 episodes of the 2014 Channel 5 TV series, Suspects.

Personal life

Jarvis was born in Tilbury, Essex. She gave birth to a daughter, Lillie Mae, on 9 May 2009. On 19 April 2011 she gave birth to her son, Alfie.