April Pearson
Born and brought up in Bristol, Pearson was drawn to acting from a young age and appeared in local theatre productions as a child.[6] She followed this by her portrayal of Isla Crane in Edgar Wallace's The Case of the Frightened Lady at the Theatre Royal, Windsor, in which she received praise for her performance.[28][29] Michael Billington wrote, in his review for The Guardian, "You sense a bond of buried affection between James Lailey's guilt-ridden Gerry and [Pearson] as the bridling bride-to-be.[42][43] Pearson also appeared as Gen in Circle of Truth, a short film shot by David Allain which explored some of the challenges that people with multiple sclerosis face when deciding whether or not to disclose their diagnosis to their colleagues.[45] Alongside Pearson, Circle of Truth featured Ashley Thomas, Nathan McMullen, Lauren Socha, Simon Day, Justin Edwards, and Nicholas Burns.[45] In April 2014, Pearson co-starred opposite Ben Peel in Greg Zinger's romantic comedy short film The Engagement (2014), which focused on the difficulty of making marital commitment.[46][47] In her second feature-film, Pearson portrayed Beth Prince, a young woman in search of her happy ever after, in Jamie Patterson's romantic comedy Home for Christmas (2014).[49][50] Later that year, Pearson reunited with David Allain to reprise her role of Gen in short film Working It Out, in which her character interviews other people with multiple sclerosis about their experiences of employment."[57] Ben Robins of The National Student wrote: "Even the cast, a who’s who of largely forgotten-about (but still entirely reliable) British talent, from Rupert Evans to Michael Smiley and Skins’ [Pearson], seemed like a stab in the right direction.[64] In 2016, Pearson starred in Fractured, about a couple whose peaceful getaway weekend goes awry, where she reunited with Home for Christmas's Karl Davies and director Jamie Patterson.[76] Noel Murray of the Los Angeles Times noted praise of the performances, remarking that "Caught hits the usual beats, but with an unusually strong cast and original characters."[77] Jeannette Catsoulis praised the cast, in her review for The New York Times, by stating "As played by [Barry] and [Pearson] [...], the interlopers are a weird, disgusting delight, easily dominating the movie and their ineffectual hosts.[84] The resulting performance was positively received; Sol Harris of Starburst concluded, "Pearson and Lynne Anne Rodgers do an admirable job working with the material that they’re given and attempting to carry the vast majority of the film on their own - not to mention child actor, Kendra Mei [...]".[96] Pearson also starred as Lily in Patterson's critically acclaimed comedy-drama Tucked (2018), the estranged daughter of Derren Nesbitt's Jackie.[97][98][99] In 2018, Pearson co-wrote and starred in Patterson's independent comedy-drama film Tracked, in which a young couple try to save their failing relationship by interrailing around Europe together.[104][105] In 2020, she also appeared as Katy in supernatural rom-com short film One Year Later, with whom she co-starred alongside starring Simon Weir, Mark Wood, and Rhys-Teare Williams.[111] Pearson will next star as Eva in Adam Oldroyd's black comedy directorial debut Sideshow, alongside Anthony Stewart Head, Les Dennis, and Nathan Clarke.