Laura Katherine Parkinson (born 9 March 1978)[2] is an English actress and comedian who is known best for playing the part of Jen Barber in the Channel 4 comedy series The IT Crowd. She has contributed sketches for Katy Brand, her friend since studying at Oxford.Between 2005 and 2009, Parkinson played Pauline Lamb, the doctor's receptionist – and later phlebotomist – in series 2–4 of the long-running ITV comedy-drama series Doc Martin, based on the film Saving Grace (2000).
While working on Doc Martin, she was asked by her college friend Chris O'Dowd to audition for the comedy series The IT Crowd as the show was having trouble casting a female lead.[6] In an interview with The Independent, Parkinson said that show creator Graham Linehan originally wanted Jen to be "likeable" but "I know what he wanted now – he wanted her to be the more normal person people could relate to." Although she would act as the straight woman to the two guys, her klutziness was well received by the audience. She had straight hair for the role, in contrast to her curly hair from Doc Martin.
In 2007, she appeared in a new production of Chekhov's The Seagull at London's Royal Court Theatre, alongside Kristin Scott Thomas and Mackenzie Crook.
On New Year's Day 2009 in the United Kingdom, she appeared in a feature-length episode of Jonathan Creek entitled "The Grinning Man". She also contributed sketch characters to Katy Brand's ITV2 show, having been friends with Brand since their time at university. At the end of 2009, she appeared in the play Cock at the Royal Court Theatre with Ben Whishaw and Andrew Scott.
She has performed several times on BBC Radio 4, including on Laura Solon: Talking and Not Talking, Mouth Trap, again with Katy Brand, and in The Odd Half Hour. She also featured in television advertisements for Maltesers alongside fellow actress and comedian Amanda Abbington, and provided her voice for a Herbal Essences shampoo advertising campaign in 2010.
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