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Emily Martin

BBC The Graham Norton Show: Daisy Edgar Jones' teen pregnancy in Cold Feet, 'surprise' success in Normal People and real-life split from actor boyfriend

Daisy Edgar-Jones was the breakout star of the first pandemic lockdown.

Not something anyone could have predicted, prior to March 2020, but her hugely popular role as Marianne in the BBC adaption of Sally Rooney's Normal People coincided with a serious upsurge in TV watching as we were all stuck in our houses - and we all fell in love with Daisy and her effortless beauty.

What do we know about Daisy Edgar-Jones?

Well, she was born in Islington in London in 1998, making her still just 23 years old.

She has a Northern Irish mother (Wendy) and Scottish father (Philip). And Philip is the director of Sky Arts and also head of entertainment at Sky.

Read more: Only Fools and Horses: What happened to the cast, including tragic deaths and showbiz marriages

Daisy Edgar-Jones will star as Kya in the upcoming film, Where the Crawdads Sing (PA)

TV Career

Daisy made her TV debut in the 2016 Outnumbered Christmas Special.

At 17, she was cast as Olivia Marsden in ITV's comedy drama Cold Feet, which saw her caught up in some big storylines, including a teenage pregnancy for which she received plenty of praise for her sympathetic protrayal of a schoollgirl mum-to-be.

She's also appeared in Silent Witness, in independent coming-of-age feature film Pond Life and BBC series Gentleman Jack.

In May 2019, it was announced that Edgar-Jones had been cast in the main role of Marianne alongside Paul Mescal as Connell in the BBC series Normal People.

Normal People

Normal People (based on the best-selling book by Sally Rooney) captured the imaginations of so many of us and caused a huge stir on our screens and deeply within our hearts too, seemingly touching the nerve of past-love for a lot of viewers in a big way.

It's a love-story about shyness, abuse, misunderstanding and everything in between.

In December 2020, Daisy told The Big Issue: "It’s true to say that the impact of Normal People took us by surprise.

"We knew it was a great story with a brilliant team making it, and of course the book was a huge hit already, but there was something extra that seemed to happen through being in lockdown when the show was released.

"I think it was a heightened experience for many people – whether that was about being connected when we had to be apart or about nostalgia for first love, it felt like touched people on a deep emotional level."

What's next for Daisy?

She has just wrapped filming for Where the Crawdads Sing, the movie adaptation of best-selling book by Delia Owens, and in which Daisy plays the character, Kya.

She will also be appearing as Brenda in Dustin Lance Black's, Under the Banner of Heaven which is set for release this spring.

Personal life

As much as we all wished Daisy Edgar-Jones and her Normal People co-star Paul Mescal were a real-life item (how can that incredible on-screen chemistry not have been real?), there was no such luck, although the actors were very close prior to filming the series.

Speaking during an online panel discussion ahead of the BAFTA TV Awards in 2021 Paul, 25, revealed he and Daisy, "spent a week together" before rehearsals.

The actor explained: 'We didn't do a huge amount of standard rehearsal.

"We spent about a week together prior and talked about the character and would touch on scenes."

Perhaps romance was off the cards due to Daisy's relationship with her then boyfriend, actor Tom Varey.

Tom Varey was Daisy's most recent boyfriend (SCU)

But sadly, the last news we heard on the romantic grapevine was that Daisy split from her boyfriend, 29-year-old Ackley Bridge and Ridley Road actor in February 2021.

Rumour has it that the two-year romance between the pair petered they drifted apart, breaking up in order to focus on work – with Daisy reportedly moving out of their London home to move back to her parent’s house.

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