Career
Halfpenny had a part in The Round Tower as Rosie Cotton. She began her acting career in the BBC television children's drama series Byker Grove, set in the Benwell area of Newcastle upon Tyne. Her other work has included appearances in Dalziel and Pascoe, Barbara and Coronation Street for television and theatre with the acclaimed Hull Truck Theatre Company.
She took the major role of Kate Mitchell in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders in 2002. The character was introduced as a police officer sent to spy on Phil Mitchell, but after her cover was blown she quit the police force, married Phil and opened a nail salon, her final scenes were broadcast in January 2005.
In 2004, Halfpenny participated in the BBC One pro-celebrity ballroom dancing competition Strictly Come Dancing, dancing with professional Darren Bennett. The couple won the competition after receiving the full 40 marks from the judges in the final. On 14 December 2004, Halfpenny and Darren Bennett made an appearance on stage at the Royal Variety Performance which took place at the London Coliseum. In a special one-off Christmas programme which pitted the Strictly Come Dancing champions (and other top performing couples) from series one and two against each other, Jill and Darren were crowned as Champion of Champions. In December, it was announced that she would take the role of Roxie Hart in the West End musical, Chicago, starting in January 2005.
In 2005, Halfpenny appeared in The Bodies, a new play adapted from an Emile Zola novel by Peter Flannery at the Live Theatre, Newcastle, opposite her real-life husband, actor Craig Conway. In 2005 and 2006, Halfpenny appeared in hit pantomimes at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle.
Halfpenny was the guest presenter for and performed in the first show of the BBC four-part series The Sound of Musicals in January 2006 and played Roxy Ball in Shameless in an episode broadcast on 31 January 2006. In 2006, Halfpenny made a guest appearance in an episode of The Catherine Tate Show.
From spring 2006, Halfpenny appeared in the BBC One series Waterloo Road as teacher Izzie Redpath but was killed off at the end of the second series . Halfpenny has most recently been heard as the voice of a high-profile commercial campaign for Aunt Bessie's Yorkshire Puddings and the narrator of Freaky Eaters for BBC Three and Fat Man's Warning for Channel 4. Jill was also the narrator for a short film advertising how the national lottery helps the North East, created by students at the Lord Lawson of Beamish School as part of a competition. The film they created won the competition.
Halfpenny was invited to University of Sunderland where she presented the awards evening for Seaham School of Technology in November 2007.
From the beginning of February 2008, a pregnant Halfpenny played Spike Milligan's long-suffering manager, Norma Farnes, alongside Michael Barrymore in Surviving Spike at the Theatre Royal, Windsor.
It was announced in mid-October 2008 that Halfpenny will be taking part in the 2009 live Strictly Come Dancing tour with her professional partner Darren Bennett. On Christmas Day 2008, she appeared in a Christmas special of Strictly Come Dancing and won (with Kelly Brook in second place). She also appeared as a special guest dancer on the episode which aired live from the Tower Ballroom, Blackpool on 7 November 2009.
Halfpenny starred in the West End production of Calendar Girls from 28 July to 31 October 2009 and recently played the part of Paulette Bonafonté in the West End company of Legally Blonde, which opened January 2010 with previews beginning December 2009. She played the part until late October 2010 and she was subsequently replaced by Denise van Outen. For this role Halfpenny won the whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical and also won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical.
She will make a guest appearance in the Canadian series, Murdoch Mysteries, during the series' fifth season, scheduled to air in 2012.
In March 2012 she starred in a revival of Mike Leigh's 1977 play Abigail's Party at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London. In April the show played at the Theatre Royal, Bath and will transfer to the West End at the Wyndham's Theatre from May to September.
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