10. She's A Former Soap Star
Because everyone's got to start somewhere, right? You wouldn't believe it now but Jenna was once a soap star through and through. In fact, she hadn't even secured a place in drama school when she became a household name after landing her first TV gig, aged 21, in ITV's long running soap opera Emmerdale. She joined the cast as Jasmine Thomas in 2005 and her portrayal of the fiesty bar girl turned journalist went down so well that she received a string of nominations at the British Soap Awards during her dramatic four year stint in the Dales, including Best Actress, Sexiest Female and Best Dramatic Performance. She didn't win any of them, but it's the taking part that counts. Apparently. As you'd probably expect from a soap opera, Jenna's time in the show was as turbulent as her current TARDIS tenure. She was expelled from school, became unexpectedly embroiled in a murder mystery and got tongues wagging - and in more ways than one - when she began a lesbian relationship with her close friend Debbie Dingle. She even got to share the screen with Samuel Anderson who would later play her beau Danny Pink in Doctor Who so the stars were well and truly aligning for Clara Oswald even back then. And thank God they did!
Dan Butler
Doctor Who Editor
Dan Butler is the Doctor Who Editor at WhatCulture.com. When he isn't writing his own articles or editing other people's, he can be found trawling the internet for gifs of Steven Moffat laughing. Contact him via dan.butler@whatculture.co.uk.
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