Felicity Rose Hadley Jones is an English actress. Jones was born in Birmingham, West Midlands, and grew up in Bournville. Her parents met while working at the Wolverhampton Express and Star. Her father was a journalist while her mother was in advertising. They divorced when she was three, and she was brought up with her brother by her mother alone. She has said that her family is still "extremely close." Her uncle is actor Michael Hadley.

She started her professional acting career as a child, appearing at age 12 in The Treasure Seekers (1996). She went on to play Ethel Hallow for one series in the television show The Worst Witch and its sequel Weirdsister College. After Kings Norton Girls School, Jones attended King Edward VI Handsworth School, to complete A Levels and went on to take a gap year (during which she appeared in the BBC series Servants (2003)). She took time off from acting to attend school during her formative years, and has worked steadily since she graduated with a 2:1 from Wadham College, Oxford in 2006, where she read English. While studying English, she appeared in student plays, including Attis in which she played the title role, and, in 2005, Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors" for the OUDS summer tour to Japan, starring alongside Harry Lloyd.

On radio, she is known for playing the long-running role of Emma Grundy in The Archers. In 2008, she appeared in the Donmar Warehouse production of The Chalk Garden. Since 2006, Jones has appeared in numerous films, including Northanger Abbey (2007), Brideshead Revisited (2008), Chéri (2009), and The Tempest (2010). She stars in Star Wars spin-off Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) as Jyn Erso. Her performance in the 2011 film Like Crazy (2011) was met with critical acclaim garnering her numerous awards, including a special jury prize at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. In 2014, her performance as Jane Hawking in The Theory of Everything (2014) was also met with critical acclaim, garnering her nominations for the Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA, and Academy Award for Best Actress.

Trivia

In 2006 she graduated with a 2:1 (Second-class Honours, upper division) in English from Wadham College, Oxford, where she'd acted in a few student plays.
Her family home is Worcestershire.
Nominated Best Newcomer at the 2008 Evening Standard Theatre Awards for "The Chalk Garden" at the Donmar Warehouse.
Has an older brother who works as a film editor.
Her uncle is the actor Michael Hadley.
Was in a relationship with sculptor Ed Fornieles from 2006 until 2013.
Appearing as Laurel in "The Chalk Garden" at the Donmar Warehouse theatre in London, alongside Penelope Wilton and Margaret Tyzack. Play runs until 2 August 2008. [June 2008]
Felicity Jones and Ellie Kendrick have played sisters twice.
For many years Felicity played the voice of "Emma Carter" in the long running BBC radio series "The Archers".
Is just 16 years younger than Emily Watson, who played her mother in The Theory of Everything (2014).
One of her life's passions is cooking, especially Italian cuisine.
Is a big fan of the BBC gangster series Peaky Blinders (2013), set in her home city of Birmingham.
Began acting at the Central Junior Television Workshop, an after-school club in Birmingham. Through the Workshop she began to get TV roles like The Treasure Seekers (1996) with Keira Knightley and The Worst Witch (1998) series.
Before she became a household name, Felicity appeared with Benedict Cumberbatch and David Tennant in a BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Jane Austen's "Mansfield Park" (2003).
Felicitas is a Roman goddess of luck and fortune.
Her name Felicity is derived from the Latin word felicitas meaning "luck, good fortune".
(June 30, 2018) Married her boyfriend of 3 years Charles Guard in a secret ceremony at Sudeley Castle in the Cotswolds, Oxfordshire in England. They began dating in 2015 and their engagement was announced in May 2017.

I would love to play a ... [drifts off for a second, and laughs] I was thinking I'd like to play a snake. But no, not a snake. I'd like to play a superhero, something very different. I think the main trap not to fall into as an actress is not to play the love interest too much. You have to make sure that there's a character there, something to get your teeth into; otherwise there's no point doing it.
When you're a young actor, there's this pressure to rush. But I hope to be doing this into my sixties and seventies, so I'd prefer to take my time. There's so much of a desire in the entertainment industry for newness, a desire to build somebody up and then treat them as old news within six months. I think you'd be naive if you didn't try to hold on to your own way of doing things.
[on her Like Crazy (2011) character] I like playing someone who wasn't cautious, who was in the moment and made impulsive decisions, which is what attracted me to her in the first place. I think you're attracted to things that are different from yourself in a character because it's more interesting, and you get to play out a fantasy version of yourself.
The key is working with great directors. A film is so many different people and all their talents, but particularly the directors, because of the idiosyncrasies of that person.
You have to take risks. I realized in doing Like Crazy (2011), if you don't take risks, a true risk, then you're never going to produce something interesting. The risk is of being exposed. I've never done something where I've had to trust the director so completely.
[on working with Ralph Fiennes] We have similar approaches. We like to prepare extensively [with] time to ruminate on the world you're about to enter into. But, on the day, trying to be as instinctive as possible. We share that, that way into acting.
[on acting 'instinctively'] That's the challenge, that's what the camera captures, isn't it? The camera loves spontaneity. As an actor you do everything you can so that in that moment something new happens.