Joan trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
She can most recently be seen as Barbara in Coronation Street (ITV) and as Sharon Peacock in This England (Freemantle).
Her many theatre credits include Macbeth (The Globe), The Tide (Soho Theatre), Mamma Mia (International Tour), The History Boys (National Theatre), Paper Thin (UK Tour), The Banyan Tree (Soho Theatre), and most recently The Great Middlemarch Mystery with Dash Arts Theatre Company.
On screen Joan’s credits include Doctors, Birds of a Feather, Why We Went to War, Kiss Me Kate, City Central and feature film Blood Moon.
Joan has also worked extensively in radio for many years. Her work includes Once More, With Feeling, (BBC Radio 4), Nightingale Wood (BBC Radio 4), Today Programme (BBC), The Future of Radio (BBC Radio 4/Pier Productions), Middleton Hall (British Council), and Do Not Go Gentle and A Small Town Murder (Brill Productions/BBC Radio 4).
Joan was recently A.C.S. winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award © 2023 for her work on The Dictionary People The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary. She can also be heard alongside Natalie Dormer in Harry Potter: A History of Magic for Audible.