Meet Nicola Coughlan, new leading lady of Bridgerton season 3: before starring on Derry Girls and wowing on the red carpet in Valentino, she was a struggling actress taking odd jobs in London
- Coughlan’s road to stardom wasn’t easy: she fell in love with acting at a young age and studied at the Oxford School of Drama and Birmingham School of Acting, but struggled to kick-start her career
- The Irish actress was working for an optician in her hometown of Galway when she saw an ad for an open audition at the Old Vic Theatre … now she’s returning to the hit Netflix series as Penelope Featherington
After two hit seasons, Netflix’s steamy period romance returns to screens on May 16 – a second set of episodes is due to drop on June 13, per People – with Irish actress Nicola Coughlan as this season’s leading lady.
In the trailers that flooded the internet ahead of the show’s release, Coughlan reprises her role as Penelope Featherington, an unassuming but sharp-witted girl, and her dynamic relationship with her friend and long-time crush, Colin Bridgerton. This season centres on Polin’s – their couple name – relationship and sees Penelope make bumbling attempts to shed her wallflower status as Colin guides her on how to land a man.
With Coughlan being so firmly in the limelight now, it might come as a surprise to many that she actually spent years as a struggling actress. Just a few years ago, the Derry Girls star was working as a receptionist to make ends meet after failing to make the cut for a full-time course at the Oxford School of Drama.
What is Nicola Coughlan’s acting background?
Nicola Mary Coughlan was born in Galway, Ireland, on January 9, 1987, per IMDB. Her interest in acting was first piqued at a young age when she watched her older sister Clodagh performing in a school play, per Biography.com.