Ashley Jensen

About

Ashley Jensen (born 11 August 1969) is a Scottish actress and narrator. She is best known as Maggie Jacobs in Extras (2005–2007), Christina McKinney in Ugly Betty (2006–2010), the title character in Agatha Raisin (2014–2022), and DI Ruth Calder in Shetland (2023–present).
For her role in Extras, Jensen was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie in 2008.

Jensen was a member of the UK’s National Youth Theatre before being selected to study and train in Drama at Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University.
Her first significant television role was as Clare Donnelly, daughter of Glasgow criminal Jo-Jo Donnelly (played by Billy Connolly) in the 1993 BBC drama Down Among the Big Boys. In 1994, she played eccentric secretary Rosie McConnichy in the final series of BBC comedy May to December, as a replacement for the character of secretary Hilary (Rebecca Lacey), and Heather in Roughnecks, a BBC television series about workers on a North Sea oil platform. Jensen had a small role in a Dangerfield episode “Contact” as the mother of a young girl with meningitis. She then appeared as Fiona Morris in EastEnders. She also appeared…