Background and career
Nicola Mary Coughlan (; born 9 January 1987) is an Irish actress. She is best known for her roles as Clare Devlin in the Channel 4 sitcom Derry Girls (2018–2022) and Penelope Featherington in the Netflix period drama Bridgerton (2020–present). She earned a Screen Actors Guild Awards nomination for playing Penelope in the third series of Bridgerton and received a British Academy Television Award nomination for her role as Maggie Donovan in Big Mood (2024–present).
Coughlan was born on 9 January 1987 in Galway, Ireland, and grew up in nearby Oranmore. The youngest of four siblings, her father served in the Irish Army. He died in 2017, and her mother was a stay-at-home parent. At the age of five, while watching her sister perform in a school play, Coughlan decided she wanted to become an actress. She attended Scoil Mhuire Primary School and Calasanctius College. She graduated with a degree in English and Classical Civilisation from the National University of Ireland, Galway. She went on to train in England at the Oxford School of Drama and Birmingham School of Acting.
In 1997, at the age of 9, Coughlan had an uncredited role in the action thriller film My Brother's War. In 2004, she started her career with a role in Tom Collins' short film The Phantom Cnut, a revenge comedy. In the following years, Coughlan did voice work in animated series and films, including The Fairytales from 2004 to 2005, Summer of the Flying Saucer in 2008, Simsala Grimm II: The Adventures of Yoyo and Doc Croc in 2010, Thor: Legend of the Magical Hammer in 2011, and Ivan the Incredible in 2012. She made brief appearances in the soap opera Doctors in 2012 and the musical comedy film Svengali in 2013. After drama school, Coughlan moved to London three times in four years, and each time was forced to move back home with her parents in Ireland due to financial difficulties. She suffered from depression during this period, and received help from her family. She worked part-time at an optician in Galway, and later responded to an open casting call for Jess and Joe Forever at The Old Vic in London and The Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, winning the main role of Jess. Her first performance was in September 2016, prior to a national tour.
In 2018, Coughlan began playing Clare Devlin, one of the main characters in Derry Girls, a sitcom set in Derry, Northern Ireland, in the 1990s during the final years of The Troubles. Coughlan has said that her Northern Irish accent was inspired by Girls Aloud's Nadine Coyle. Derry Girls is Channel 4's most successful comedy since Father Ted, and the most watched show in Northern Ireland since modern records began in 2002. In July 2018, the cast appeared on challenge game show The Crystal Maze. In December 2018, Coughlan competed against some of her Derry Girls co-stars in an episode of The Great British Bake Off. Though Derry Girls was broadcast in January and February 2018 on Channel 4, it was after its rerelease onto Netflix in December that same year that the show gained international audience and popularity. The third and last series aired from 12 April 2022 to 18 May 2022 on Channel 4, and was released on Netflix on 7 October 2022. Derry Girls has received nominations at the British Academy Television Awards, winning Best Scripted Comedy in 2023, and the Irish Film and Television Awards, including winning Best Comedy in 2018. Coughlan played Hannah Dalton in Harlots, a period drama television series set in 18th-century London. 2018 marked her West End debut in The Donmar Warehouse's production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. In September, the Evening Standard named her "one of the Rising Stars of 2018". Coughlan has stated that she auditioned for the part of Robin Buckley in season 3 of Stranger Things, but did not get the part. In 2020, she starred alongside Hannah Bristow in audio play podcast series, A Passion Play, about two teenagers' first love colliding with the Crucifixion of Jesus.
In 2019, it was announced that Coughlan had been cast in the Netflix series Bridgerton, which premiered in December 2020. Coughlan played Penelope Featherington, a reluctant debutante and youngest daughter of a nouveau riche family in Regency era London. Coughlan's role was significantly cut back in the third series of Derry Girls in 2022 due to scheduling conflicts with Bridgerton and the coronavirus pandemic. The third season of Bridgerton focused on Coughlan's character's love story with Luke Newton's Colin Bridgerton. For her lead role as Penelope Featherington in the third season of Bridgerton, Coughlan received a Screen Actors Guild Awards nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series, and a second nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, having received a nomination for the first season of Bridgerton. Coughlan also received an IFTA Film & Drama Awards nomination for Lead Actress in a Drama. Coughlan was nominated for Best Actress in a Drama Series and Best Cast Ensemble in Streaming Drama Series at The Astra Awards. Coughlan returned for the fourth season of Bridgerton, which was released in 2026. Coughlan confirmed a reduced role for the fifth season of Bridgerton, which will be released in 2027. In June and July 2021, Coughlan was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Drama for Bridgerton, and nominated and won Rising Star Award at the IFTA Film & Drama Awards. In November 2021, The Hollywood Reporter included Coughlan in its Next Gen Talent 2021: The Hollywood Reporter's Rising Young Stars. In 2021, along with Big Mood creator and writer Camilla Whitehill, Coughlan co-created, co-wrote and starred in Whistle Through the Shamrocks, a six-episode scripted comedy podcast. Coughlan presented History's Youngest Heroes, a twelve-episode history podcast focusing on the stories of twelve people from across history, on BBC Radio 4. In November 2022, Coughlan was honoured with Glamour's Women of the Year TV Actor Awards. In February 2023, Coughlan was awarded Best Newcomer at the Newport Beach Film Festival UK Honours. In July 2023, Coughlan made a brief appearance in Barbie as Diplomat Barbie, citing scheduling conflicts for the short time she was in the film. In the same year, she voiced the Playroom Fairy in Apple TV+ Christmas special The Velveteen Rabbit, based on the children's book of the same name. Coughlan portrayed Queen Victoria in the 2023 Dodger Christmas special on BBC One and CBBC. In March 2024, Coughlan portrayed the leading role of Maggie, a sufferer of bipolar disorder, co-starring alongside Lydia West in Channel 4 sitcom Big Mood, a six-part dramedy series about two best friends navigating friendship amidst a mental health crisis. Big Mood was Channel 4's most-watched new comedy launch since Derry Girls, and Coughlan received praise for her role as Maggie Donovan. Coughlan received her first British Academy Television Awards nomination for Best Female Performance in a Comedy. She won Best Comedy Performance at the TV Choice Awards 2025. A second season of Big Mood was confirmed in February 2025, and premiered in April 2026. Coughlan starred as Humble Joan alongside Aimee Lou Wood and Lolly Adefope in Seize Them!, a 2024 comedy film set in the Dark Ages. In December 2024, Coughlan played the title role in the 2024 Doctor Who Christmas special, "Joy to the World", written by Steven Moffat, alongside Barbie co-star Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor. In October 2024, Coughlan was named in Time 100 Next's 2024. She was named in Variety's 2024 Power Women of Hollywood. Coughlan was the cover of Time's 28 October 2024 issue, having been named as one of Time's Next Generation Leaders. Vanity Fair and TV Insider praised her performance as Penelope Featherington in Bridgerton and Maggie Donovan in Big Mood as one of the 24 best performances of 2024. She was IMDb's second Most Popular Breakout Star of 2024, and seventh Most Popular Star of 2024. She was named as one of the best-dressed women of 2024 by Harper's Bazaar UK.
Coughlan was named in Elle's "40 for 40: The Women In Film And Television Power List", which lists women that "will shape what - and how - you watch for decades to come". The Independent named Coughlan in its "Independent Women 2025 - The Influence List" which listed 50 of the most influential women in the UK. Coughlan was honoured with the Konbini Commitment Award, which recognizes a talent or a series that has distinguished itself by the artistic quality and the societal, innovative or revolutionary dimension of its work, at the 8th Cannes International Series Festival (Canneseries). In May 2025, Coughlan was named 36th in Radio Times' TV 100 of the most influential people in TV. In June 2025, Coughlan was included on Pride Power List 2025 as one of the "Celebrity Allies Using Their Platform to Stand Up For Our Community When It Counts." Coughlan was shortlisted for the Celebrity of the Year Award at the National Diversity Awards 2025. Coughlan made her Royal National Theatre debut playing Margaret (Pegeen) Flaherty in John Millington Synge's The Playboy of the Western World in the Lyttelton Theatre from 4 December 2025 to 28 February 2026. Coughlan had a voice role in Sony Pictures Animation's Goat, which had its theatrical release on 13 February 2026. Coughlan played the role of Silky in the adaptation of Enid Blyton's The Magic Faraway Tree. Two sequels to The Magic Faraway Tree are in development, with production anticipated to start in 2027. Coughlan hosted the fifth episode of the first season of Saturday Night Live UK, alongside musical guest Foo Fighters. Coughlan is set to lead the fourth season of Channel 4’s BAFTA-winning I Am... anthology series. Coughlan joined the sixth season of Only Murders in the Building in a recurring role. Coughlan was listed in Variety's inaugural Women's Impact Report UK in May 2026, which recognizes executives and talent in the UK that drove top features and series, winning awards and leading companies to greater things. Coughlan joined the voice cast of Netflix's Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory, led by Kit Connor as Charlie Paley and Taika Waititi as Willy Wonka, which will be released globally in theatres 5 November 2027. Coughlan was also cast alongside Naomi Scott, Imelda Staunton and Dominic West in Netflix's six-part untitled drama based on Roald Dahl's short story for adults. Coughlan has narrated several audiobooks, including Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Big Girl, Small Town (abridged) by Michelle Gallen, The Temple House Vanishing by Rachel Donohue, Listening Still by Anne Griffin, Aren't We Lucky by Sarah Forbes Stewart, and an Audible Original, Misdirected by Lucy Parker, alongside Gwilym Lee. In November 2022, she appeared in a Sam Mendes produced Audible audio adaptation of Oliver Twist. Coughlan has narrated Juno Dawson's Her Majesty's Royal Coven, The Shadow Cabinet, Queen B, and Human Rites. She narrated two chapters of Meet the Georgians: Epic Tales from Britain's Wildest Century by Robert Peal ("Anne Bonny and Mary Read, pirate queens of the Caribbean" and "Ladies of Llangollen, the lovers who built paradise in a Welsh valley") alongside Bridgerton co-star Adjoa Andoh, and she appeared in a cameo role as Countess Christiana in That Friend by Sabrina Brier.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
