Shelley Conn

Early life and education

Conn was born in Barnet in north London to Anglo-Indian parents. She is of mixed heritage, which includes Portuguese, Burmese and Indian. She attended Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke and Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. Conn trained at Bretton Hall. She was a student at Cranbourne School in Basingstoke.

Career

After drama school, Conn had a series of small roles in various British films, before coming to prominence when she starred as Ashika Chandiramani in the BBC series Party Animals.

In 2001, she picked up the role of PC Miriam Da Silva in BBC1's Mersey Beat and an irregularly recurring role in Casualty.

In 2002, Conn made her West End theatre stage debut in three plays in December 2002, after transferring from Stratford-upon-Avon in the Royal Shakespeare Company's Jacobean Season at the Gielgud Theatre - The Island Princess, Eastward Ho! and The Roman Actor.

Conn has now developed her roles between all three media (television, film and theatre), with a series of leading roles in various small budget European as well as British films; BBC character dramas such as The Innocence Project; and occasional returns to the RSC.

Conn joined Series Five of the popular BBC One series Down to Earth in 2004.

In early 2008, Conn starred as Miranda Hill in The Palace, as Jessica in Mistresses and as Neela Sahjani in Trial & Retribution.

In 2009 she appeared as Claire in Dead Set.

In 2010 she played Danni Prendiville in the TV series Strike Back.

She was chosen by Steven Spielberg to be one of the leads in the $150 million TV series Terra Nova, which premiered on 26 September 2011.

In 2014, Conn appeared in a U.S. TV series called The Lottery.

Personal life

Conn lives in London. She ran in the 2006 London Marathon.

Conn married her boyfriend of over a decade, actor Jonathan Kerrigan around 2011. They have a son named Oscar, born in April 2012.