Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan, a.k.a. Penelope Featherington, has a knack for playing characters much younger than she is, and the internet has just recently caught on.
She first rose to stardom for her role as Clare Devlin in three seasons of the 2018 sitcom Derry Girls, which followed a group of teenage girls in Northern Ireland during the 1990s. When that series kicked off the characters were meant to be 16 years old but Nicola was already in her 30s and the audience was none the wiser.
With the highly anticipated release of Bridgerton season three on the horizon, and Penelope and Colin at the forefront, there’s a lot of discourse online about how the 37-year-old has managed to trick her audiences into believing she’s in her mid-20s at the latest.
Her character in Bridgerton is supposed to be 17 or 18 in season one, according to Business Insider, putting her around 19 or 20 in the upcoming episodes. Some users on X credit Nicola’s full cheeks to keep her looking youthful and glowing. One user even said she’s the perfect example against the popular Buccal Fat removal trend because she still looks 20 at 37.
Nicola’s height is probably also a factor in tricking audiences into thinking the actress is barely out of her teenage years. According to the actress’s IMDB page, she stands at just five feet and one inch tall. For reference, her season three love interest, Luke Newton (Colin Bridgertonis), is six feet tall, per his IMDB page. Her on-screen best friend Eloise Bridgerton, played by Claudia Jessie, is five feet and six inches, according to IMDB. Needless to say, much of the Bridgerton cast towers over her, but that only adds to the spot-on casting of Nicola as Penelope.
Coughlan responded to conversations about her age in an interview with Teen Vogue.
She told interviewer Versha Sharma that she finds the discourse funny, crediting her youthful look to makeup and lack of sun exposure growing up. Despite online conversations, she was still told she was too old to play a teenager by casting directors, even in her mid-twenties.
She’s proven them wrong over and over again and fans are completely behind her. Bridgerton viewers far and wide are ready to watch Nicola play Penelope Featherington all over again. And come May 16 they can revel in Penelope’s love story through Nicola in all her talented, youthful, 5 foot 1 glory.
