Joy 2024 Real-Life Cast and Characters Comparison Guide

British drama filmmakers, Happinesswere tasked with finding a cast of talented actors to help recreate the events of one of the greatest medical breakthroughs in history. Directed by Ben Taylor, Happiness follows a surgeon, Patrick Steptoe, and a scientist, Robert Edwards, who team up with nurse embryologist Jean Purdy to work on solving the medical puzzle of infertility. The trio are pioneers in the advancement of IVF, leading to the birth of the world’s first IVF baby, born in 1978.

Happiness portrays the determination and dedication that the three have in their researchand helping women struggling with fertility. But as shown in Happiness The film’s trailer also masterfully displays the media scrutiny, religious outrage, and public scorn they were forced to endure in the process. Reviews about Rotten tomatoes have described the film as a triumphant representation of one of the most successful scientific discoveries in existence and its talented cast reflects on this.

Bill Nighy as Patrick Steptoe

Date of birth: December 12, 1949

Actor: Nighy is a British stage and film actor. Beginning his stage career in the 1960s, he received national recognition for his performances in plays, including True and Blue/Orange, for which he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor. Nighy transitioned to screen acting in the 1980s, receiving worldwide recognition for his roles as Billy Mack in True love (2003), Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, and James Lake in It’s about time. Nighy has also lent his voice to animated films, appearing as Whitey in Discarded and Mewtwo in Detective Pikachu. For his role as Rodney Williams in Living, Nighy received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in 2022.

Character: Bill Nighy plays the role of Patrick Steptoe, an English surgeon and obstetrician in Happiness. The film shows how Steptoe was approached by a scientist, Robert Edwards, to assist in the development of in vitro fertilization. As portrayed in the film, Steptoe is skeptical of the idea proposed by Edwards, as he knows the experiment has the potential to cause media scrutiny. Regardless of the scrutiny, Steptoe remained committed to the experiment and he, Edwards and Jean Purdy worked together to establish in vitro fertilization, which has helped millions of women. For his work, Steptoe was later awarded the Golden Plate Award in 1979 and was appointed Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1988.

James Norton as Robert Edwards

Date of birth: July 18, 1985

Actor: James Norton began his film career with a small role in the 2009 film An education. He rose to prominence for his work on many BBC television series, including Happy Valleywhere he played a convicted criminal, Tommy Lee Royce, and The Trial of Christine Keeler, where he played an artist, Stephen Ward. For his work in Happy Valley, Norton received a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 2015. He appeared as part of the cast of Greta Gerwig’s acclaimed adaptation of Little Women, and played music producer Christopher Blackwell in the 2023 biopic Bob Marley: One Love.

Character: James Norton plays physiologist Robert Edwards in Happiness. As portrayed in the film, Edwards was an ambitious Cambridge scientist and biologist who was determined to turn his scientific ideas into reality. He describes his ideas as “making the impossible possible“and remains committed to proving his work despite the scrutiny he and his colleagues faced from the media and public. As portrayed, Edwards’ work proved successful in helping many women who struggled to get pregnant. Edwards was a of the founders of the Bourn Hall Clinic, where specialists were trained, and was knighted in 2011 for his contributions to science.

Thomasin McKenzie as Jean Purdy

Date of birth: July 26, 2000

Actor: Thomasin McKenzie is a New Zealand actress who began her career with a role in The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies. She is well known for her roles as Tom in Leave no traceElsa Korr in Jojo Coelho and Maddox Cappa, 16, in Old. She voiced the character MIST in the 2nd season of Pantheon. Among other accolades, McKenzie won the National Board of Review’s Outstanding Innovative Performance award for his performance in Leave no tracewhich is considered one of Thomasin McKenzie’s best films. She recently starred in the title role of the 2023 film Eileen.

Character: Thomasin McKenzie plays the role of Jean Purdy in Happiness. As portrayed in the film, Purdy works as a nurse and introduces herself to Robert Edwards, wanting to work with him on his studies on infertility and IVF. Edwards accepts Purdy as part of his job and the two work together to recruit Steptoe into the experiment. Purdy does her job while also caring for her sick mother, who, in the film, appears to not support the idea of ​​in vitro fertilization. Purdy became the first person to describe the cell division that formed the first IVF baby and later co-founded the Bourn Hall Clinic with Steptoe and Edwards.

Joy Cast and Supporting Characters

Joanna Scanlon as Gladys May – Jean Purdy’s mother, who expresses her disapproval of her daughter’s work in developing in vitro fertilization, which causes tension in their relationship. Scanlon has appeared in films including Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Invisible Woman, and Bridget Jones’s baby. His TV credits include The thickness of it and Moving forward. Scanlon starred in the 2020 film After love for which she won the BAFTA for Best Actress.

Charlie Murphy as Trisha – member of a group of women participating in the in vitro fertilization program. Murphy’s acting credits include the RTE drama series Love/Hate and the BBC drama Happy Valley. She has made appearances in films including Filomena and Walking invisible. Between 2017 and 2019, she starred Peaky Blinders as Jesse Eden and appeared in the Netflix miniseries Obsession.

Tanya Moodie as Muriel a matron who works in the operating room with Patrick Steptoe in Oldham. Moodie began her acting career in 1994 on the British sitcom So haunt me, and has since made numerous appearances on TV shows, including Sherlock, Absence, and Maternity, for which he received the Breakthrough Award at the Royal Television Society Program Awards. Moodie made his film debut in the 2019 science fiction film, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker as General Bellava Parnadee.

Ella Bruccoleri as Lesley Brown – a patient who undergoes IVF treatment and gives birth to the first IVF baby, Louise Brown. Between 2018 and 2022 Bruccoleri played the role of Sister Frances in the BBC drama Call the midwife. She has made appearances in several TV series including Bridgerton and Luis.

Rish Shah as Arun – colleague of Jean Purdy, with whom he maintains a romantic relationship Happiness. Starting his career in theater, Shah made guest appearances in British soap operas such as Victim and Emmerdalebefore debuting in the cinema in To all the boys: always and forever. He joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Kamran in Ms. Marvel and also appeared as Russ in the Netflix film Take revenge.

Source: Rotten tomatoes