You know that moment when you’re scrolling through Netflix, half-watching The Crown while also trying to remember what you came into the kitchen for? Then you see a familiar face—Jenna Coleman as the young Queen Victoria—and your brain short-circuits. “Wait,” you think, “isn’t that the lady from Fleabag’s step-mother? The one who won all the Oscars?”
You’re not alone. I’ve had this exact thought while eating cereal at 11 p.m., and it’s a classic case of celebrity surname confusion. It’s the same feeling you get when you can’t remember if Chris Evans is Captain America or the guy who hosts Top Gear. Your brain just files all the “Colmans” under one messy drawer.
The Great Last Name Mystery
Let’s get the boring-but-necessary fact out of the way: No, Jenna Coleman and Olivia Colman are not related. I know, I know—it feels like a cosmic joke. They share a last name, they’re both brilliant British actresses, and they’ve both played queens. It’s like finding out that Tom Hanks and Tom Hardy aren’t brothers. How dare the universe do this to us?
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Jenna is Jenna-Louise Coleman, born in Blackpool, and Olivia is Sarah Caroline Olivia Colman, born in Norwich. They didn’t grow up sharing a dressing room or a holiday cottage in Cornwall. They’re just two talented women who happen to have a very popular surname—like Smith, but with more royal drama.
Why Your Brain Keeps Lying To You
Here’s the thing: our brains are lazy. When you see “Coleman” and “British actress,” your mental filing system says, “Ah yes, the one who cries beautifully and wears corsets.” It’s the same reason you mix up the two Annas from Frozen and The Devil Wears Prada. Your brain just shoves them into a folder labeled “Anne Hathaway’s Colleagues.”
I once told a friend, “Olivia Colman was amazing in Doctor Who,” and they looked at me like I’d just claimed the moon was made of cheese. That’s because that was Jenna Coleman, who played Clara Oswald. Meanwhile, Olivia was winning an Oscar for The Favourite. My friend still brings this up at parties.
BC-Filmed Revenge Thriller WILDERNESS With Jenna Coleman
To make it worse, they’ve both played queens. Jenna was Queen Victoria, Olivia was Queen Anne and Queen Elizabeth II. If you squint, they even have similar smiles. It’s like the universe is trolling us. I half-expect a third “Coleman” to pop up as the Queen of England in a documentary about corgis.
The Anecdote That Sums It All Up
Picture this: Last Christmas, my aunt—who thinks Ryan Reynolds is still married to Scarlett Johansson—asked me, “Is the lady from The Crown the same lady from that Victoria show?” I sighed, poured myself a glass of wine, and explained the entire situation. She nodded, said, “So they’re cousins?” and then changed the subject to her cat’s new diet. You can’t win.
It’s a daily struggle, folks. You try to enjoy Broadchurch (where Olivia plays a detective) and Victoria (where Jenna wears a thousand petticoats), and your brain just screams “COLEMAN OVERLOAD!” It’s like your streaming queue is a bad game of Two Truths and a Lie.
Jenna Coleman, Rashida Jones, Sonam Kapoor, Olivia Munn and Azra Akın
What We Can Learn From This Chaos
So, next time you’re at a dinner party and someone confidently says, “Oh, Olivia Colman was brilliant in Doctor Who,” you can gently correct them. Or, better yet, just nod and change the subject to how good they both are at crying on screen. Because honestly, who cares about genealogy when the performances are this good?
The real moral of the story is this: Don’t trust your memory after 9 p.m. And if you ever meet a Colman at a coffee shop, just assume they’re related. You’ll probably be wrong, but you’ll make a funny story out of it. I once asked a barista named “Olivia” if she was Jenna’s distant cousin. She just stared at me and handed me my latte. Worth it.
In the end, we’re all just searching for connections, whether it’s between two actresses or between the half-eaten sandwich in your fridge and your dinner plans. Jenna and Olivia share a country, a profession, and a knack for making us ugly-cry. That’s close enough for me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go rewatch The Favourite—and pretend every rabbit is a sign from the universe.