Jodi Balfour

Jodi Balfour is a South African actress who has earned recognition for her work in various television dramas and films. She is widely known for her starring roles in the Canadian drama Bomb Girls and the Apple TV+ science fiction series For All Mankind.

Raised in Cape Town, South Africa, Balfour pursued higher education in her home country. She attended the University of Cape Town to study drama, successfully completing her degree in 2009.

Following her graduation, Balfour relocated to Canada to advance her acting career. Early in her professional journey, she secured guest appearances on television programs such as Supernatural and Sanctuary, establishing a presence in the Canadian entertainment industry.

Balfour achieved a major career milestone when she was cast as Gladys Witham in Bomb Girls, a television series that aired from 2012 to 2013. She reprised the role in the television movie continuation, Bomb Girls: Facing the Enemy, a project that brought her significant critical acclaim.

Her career continued to expand with high-profile television engagements. In 2015, Balfour joined the cast of the Cinemax series Quarry. She later appeared in the second season of Netflix's historical drama The Crown in 2017, portraying Jacqueline Kennedy alongside Michael C. Hall. Starting in 2019, she began a multi-year tenure as Ellen Waverly Wilson on For All Mankind, remaining with the series through 2023. Additionally, she was cast in the Apple TV+ comedy series Ted Lasso in 2022.

Beyond television, Balfour has participated in notable film projects. In the 2023 feature Freud's Last Session, she took on the role of American psychoanalyst Dorothy Burlingham, depicting the professional colleague and companion of Anna Freud.

Balfour's work has received official industry recognition. At the 3rd Canadian Screen Awards held in 2015, she received the award for Best Lead Actress in a Television Film or Miniseries for her performance in Bomb Girls: Facing the Enemy.

Outside of performing, Balfour resided in Vancouver, British Columbia, where she became a co-owner of the Gastown coffeehouse and bakery Nelson the Seagull. She publically shared her identity as queer in 2021, and in 2023, she married Abbi Jacobson in Brooklyn, New York.