Jess Robinson (born 1982/1983) is an English comedy actress, singer, impressionist, voice artist and comedian.[3]
Early life
Robinson was born in Edgware, London, in a non-religious Jewish family, the daughter of a piano teacher and artist, and granddaughter of the jazz pianist, Jules Ruben.[1] She grew up in Aldbury, Hertfordshire.[4] Her mother is a teacher[citation needed] and her father was an artist.[5] She attended the Tring Park School for the Performing Arts.[5]
Robinson provided female impressions on Headcases, an animated satirical show similar to Spitting Image, which appeared on ITV from April to June 2008 on Sunday evenings.[7]
She appeared in various sketches in the first two series of The Impressions Show with Culshaw and Stephenson. In 2010, director Angie De Chastelai Smith collaborated with producer Charlie Hanson at ITV to make It's Paul Burling! in which Robinson co-starred as the main female impressionist. Her impressions included Cheryl Cole, Stacey Solomon and Kerry Katona. The show, which aired in December 2010 to a television audience of 3.7 million viewers, was a one-hour Christmas special on ITV following Burling's success on talent show BGT.[citation needed]
On radio, Robinson was part of Newsjack for BBC Radio 7,[14] and has also recorded numerous episodes of 15 Minute Musical,[15]The Castle,[16]The Secret World,[17] and radio sitcom, The Music Teacher.[18]
She participated in the eleventh series of Britain's Got Talent and made her way through to the live semi-finals, where she finished in fifth place.[20]
As a voice-over artist, Robinson is the lead voice on Horrible Histories along with Jon Culshaw. She has completed 52 episodes of new animation Bat Pat, playing one of the lead roles; Leo as well as many other characters. She has voiced many promotions on Disney Channel and Disney Junior.[21]
In 2021, Robinson's podcast 'Stars in Your Ears' won gold at The British Podcast Awards in The Best Entertainment category, with 'James Acaster's Perfect Sounds' and 'A Gay and a Non Gay' placed in second and third place. Of Robinson's winning podcast, the said "in a very strange year and in a field that is brimming with a lot of entertaining podcasts, this one stood out as bold and totally unique. It's clear that the host spends every second on this podcast having fun with a total commitment of creativity, energy and ambition to the podcast from all involved, that was topped off with outstanding production values. It kept a smile on the judges faces throughout." In each episode of the first two series, made during the COVID-19 lockdown, Jess and her band – Jessington World Of Adventures impersonate the styles of famous singers, interview a celebrity guest and teach them how to do an impression. Guests have included: Stephen K Amos, Ellie Taylor, Rachel Parris, Deborah Frances-White, Romesh Ranganathan, Gareth Malone, Al Murray, Alex Horne and Rosie Jones.
In November 2021, Robinson appeared on Channel 4's The Last Leg, ostensibly in character as Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, performing karaoke versions of famous songs with lyrics modified satirically.[31]
Podcast
Robinson has a podcast called Stars in Your Ears (2020)[32] In 2021 the podcast won gold for 'Best Entertainment Podcast' at the British Podcast Awards.[33]