Jodi Balfour

“For as long as I can remember, live performance made me feel completely lit up. Artistic expression through dance, music, plays, and later, on-screen work offered a connection to something hard to define…something sort of multi-dimensional,” says Jodi Balfour. The South African actress and creative force is widely known for her breakout role as Gladys Witham in Bomb Girls, Ellen Waverly Wilson in For All Mankind, Jackie Kennedy in The Crown, venture capitalist Jack Danvers on Ted Lasso, and leading roles in Quarry and Rellik, along with notable film work in between. “I saw my first ballet around age 5 or 6, and I was hooked. I wanted to explore every form of performance. Ultimately, that led to acting. It wasn’t a rational choice; it was an undeniable impulse I only really stopped to question a few years ago. But here we are!” Balfour says the most rewarding aspect of her work is “getting to live in places I probably wouldn’t have otherwise, learning skills I wouldn’t have otherwise, and digging into specific human experiences with each character I play.” In recent years, the artist has expanded into writing and directing with an eye toward working across stage and screen. She came out publicly in 2021, writing, “how undeniably freeing it has been to finally embrace and explore my queerness…even though it took me a long time to get here, it feels like coming home to myself in a way that’s burst life right open.” Balfour married her wife, actress Abbi Jacobson, in 2023. –MH