Joanna Suzanne Coffey was born on 26 August 1976 in
Solihull,
West Midlands. She began her career in stand-up comedy and has performed at the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe several times since 2007. Coffey has
dwarfism and describes herself as "the comedy circuit's fourth shortest comic". Coffey subsequently embarked on a career as an actress and appeared in the
BBC soap opera
EastEnders as Elspeth, a probationary officer overseeing
Lucas Johnson in January 2021. In 2022, she took part in the
Channel 4 comedy programme
Jokes Only A...Can Tell in an episode featuring jokes told by disabled comedians. She also appeared in the
BBC comedy series
Avoidance as Deena, as well as portraying a dwarf in an episode of the
Netflix fantasy series
The Witcher: Blood Origin. In 2023, Coffey was cast in the BBC school drama
Waterloo Road as
Wendy Whitwell. Her character has served as the personal assistant of headteachers Kim Campbell (
Angela Griffin), Steve Savage (
Jason Manford) and Stella Drake (
Lindsey Coulson) respectively. The same year, she appeared in an episode of the comedy series
Extraordinary as Denise, a chemist. She also appeared on ''
Rosie Jones's Disability Comedy Extravaganza, and was a contestant on an episode of Celebrity Mastermind in which she answered questions on the Dallas character J. R. Ewing. In 2024, Coffey appeared in an episode of the spy thriller series Alex Rider'' as churchwarden Lisa Torrence. ==Filmography==