Who Is Claudia Jessie? The Bridgerton Actress Has a Fascinating Past

Believe it or not, Claudia never had any formal acting training before she broke into the business, mostly because she couldn't afford it. "My family were so poor," she told the Belfast Telegraph in September 2018. "My mum would clean houses to maybe get me to a ballet class, bless her. My dad — when he was still about — I don't think he worked. We were fighting off bailiffs at the door."

As Eloise, it's clear that Claudia has a natural flair for comedy, so it makes sense that she fell in love with acting through comedy shows. "Ever since I was really young, I have loved making people laugh," she told TresA magazine during a March 2018 interview. "I was obsessed with shows like Whose Line Is It Anyway, Blackadder, Monty Python, The Kenny Everett Show, and things like that. I think I just wanted to be silly and clown around. I always felt super odd and being funny was such an outlet for me."

Claudia was born and raised in Birmingham, England, where — according to her interview with the Belfast Telegraph — she and her family lived on a barge (a flat-bottomed boat built mainly for the transport of goods on rivers and canals). And apparently, Claudia loved boat life so much that she decided to buy her own houseboat in Birmingham in 2018. According to You magazine, Claudia decided to renovate the houseboat with her partner, Joseph, so "they can glide up and down the canal network of their hometown."

Claudia has endured panic attacks and extreme anxiety since childhood, and eventually, she was diagnosed with depersonalization disorder (DPD). To cope with those feelings, Claudia tried chanting and mediation, and now, she, her partner, her mom, and her brother all practice Nichiren Buddhism, a Japanese branch of the religion. "It's supported me no end," she told the Belfast Telegraph. "The more I resisted those feelings, the worse it would feel. The more I sat with them, meditating, the more easily they passed."

According to Claudia, she may have never pursued acting if she hadn't found Buddhism. "I can be deeply sensitive, so Buddhism being the center of my life has given me the courage to go for the things I want without fear holding me back," she told You.

Claudia got her break into acting thanks to Hannah Phillips, a Birmingham School of Acting playwright and director who spotted Claudia in an amateur drama production at a teen. As Claudia told You, "For some reason, she saw something in me and then put me in every play she made." Later, at 21, Claudia joined Pink Space, an LGBTQ+ theater company run by Hannah. "I felt like I belonged there," she told the Belfast Telegraph. After putting on a play, Heterophobia, at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art with Pink Space, Claudia decided to move to London and find an agent.

In order to support herself before her acting career took off, Claudia had to juggle several odd jobs, all while sleeping on her aunt's sofa in London. According to her interview with the Belfast Telegraph, she worked in pubs, walked dogs, did promo work for Capital FM in Birmingham, England, and made market-research phone calls for shampoo brands and the BN Biscuit brand. As she explained to the Sunday Post, she spent five years doing any work she could find. "I was just doing anything I could to earn money," she added.

Claudia doesn't just dislike social media — she doesn't use social media at all. "There are certain things that work for people, and there are certain things that don't. And for me, my absolute happiness, my truest happiness — I don't think that would happen on social media," she told Town & Country in January 2021. "I feel like Bridgerton is the way that I get to reach out to people. Do you know what I mean? My job gets to be expansive and that's exciting. But I feel like social media's not for me, and it hasn't been since forever, really. I've taken a breather for years now. It's going really well."

Daphne is the piano player of the Bridgerton family on screen, but IRL, Claudia is actually musically gifted herself. When asked by Bradford Zone in August 2018 whether she was actually playing the piano as Amelia in Vanity Fair, Claudia said, "I've got a piano. It was my grandad's and he taught me how to play the piano and when he died he left it to me in his will. So I do play. My mum and my brother are quite musical. It's been in our lives forever. Filming those scenes was really good fun."

Because her parents divorced when she was young, Claudia was raised primarily by her mother, and despite their financial difficulties, Claudia's mom always encouraged her to follow her dreams. "She always told me that she didn't want me to give up on something that I loved," she told the Sunday Post in September 2018, referring to her mom. "She was open to the idea that I could achieve anything. We had a really difficult life. She was a single parent and was cleaning houses so I could get an opportunity to express myself. She worked her backside off for my brother and myself and never gave up. It was down to her that I kept going."

Claudia even received her education from her mom. After she left school at the age of 14, her mom taught her from home. As Claudia explained to You magazine in August 2018, "I was so much happier being educated one-on-one by my mum. I felt really safe and nurtured, and that I could be myself."

Unlike many actors, who choose not to watch their own TV shows and movies, Claudia told the Belfast Telegraph that she loves seeing herself on screen. "I watch myself back on Sundays, absolutely," she said in reference to Vanity Fair. "I know that the common reaction [from actors] is to be like, 'Oh no, I can't stand seeing myself on TV,' but I love it because I'm so proud of it. I get dead excited."