Irish actress Nicola Coughlan (born 9 January 1987) rose to international fame as Clare Devlin in the hit sitcom Derry Girls (2018–2022) and as Penelope Featherington in the Netflix period drama Bridgerton (2020–present). Growing up in Galway, she decided at age five to become an actress, but her path was rocky—after drama school in England, she moved to London three times, only to return home due to financial struggles and depression, even working part-time at an optician. Her breakthrough came in 2018 with Derry Girls, which became Channel 4's most successful comedy since Father Ted and gained a massive global audience after hitting Netflix in December 2018, later winning a BAFTA for Best Scripted Comedy in 2023. For her role in Bridgerton, she earned a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for the third series, and she also received a BAFTA Television Award nomination for her part in Big Mood (2024–present). Beyond these hits, she made her West End debut in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 2018, played Hannah Dalton in Harlots, and even auditioned for Stranger Things before landing her iconic roles.