University News Last updated 12 January
Acting Alumna Danielle Pinnock has won a Hollywood Create Alliance (HCA) TV Award for her portrayal of Alberta in the US adaptation of hit sitcom Ghosts, saying it “feels surreal.”
Announcing her win on X, Danielle thanks the HCA for this honour, and shares that the Astra award is her first accolade.
Ghosts began in the UK in April 2019, a BBC sitcom written by the collective group Them There, who are perhaps best known for writing the children’s television series, Horrible Histories.
It was announced in November 2019 that CBS would produce an American adaptation of the series, and in December 2020 the full cast was announced, including School of Acting Alumna Danielle Pinnock, who graduated in 2012. Danielle had previously starred in CBS Comedy Young Sheldon, a spin-off and prequel of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, playing Sheldon Cooper’s teacher Ms. Ingram, amongst other roles.
The show premiered in October 2021, with a second series the following September before it was renewed for a third series in January 2023. The third series is set to premiere on February 15, 2024.
Danielle Pinnock stars as Alberta Hayes, a lounge singer from the Prohibition era who passed away after drinking poisoned moonshine. The solving of her murder plays an important part in the plot of series two.
Danielle was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in Broadcast Network or Cable Comedy Series for her portrayal Alberta and announced on 11 January that she had won the Astra Award, sharing that she had “never won anything before.” Alongside a picture of her smiling in her Alberta costume and holding the award, the actress said on X that she is “beyond grateful and so humbled by this recognition.” Speaking on her fellow nominees, which included Jane Lynch, Megan Mullaly and Jennifer Garner amongst others, Danielle called them “a category of iconic women I’ve looked up to my whole career”.
Danielle has also recently starred in the Amazon Prime Christmas film Candy Cane Lane, as the co-host of the News channel, Kit.
Danielle is very active on social media, posting to her TikTok, Instagram and X channels, @bodycourage, which is a throwback to a play she developed while at Birmingham School of Acting, and for which she won ‘Best Actress’ at the Strawberry One-Act Theatre Festival.