Jo Pickard, full name Joanne Pickard, is a British actress, presenter, and voiceover artist from North Yorkshire, England. She trained as an actress and dancer at the University of Central Lancashire and went on to build a career spanning acting, live event presenting, and professional voiceover work.
Jo is perhaps best known today as the face and voice of Omaze UK, a charity platform that has raised over £8.3 million for UK charities since 2020.
Who is Jo Pickard?
Jo Pickard is a British actress, presenter, and award-winning voiceover artist. Born and raised in North Yorkshire, she has spent her career crossing between stage, television, live events, and professional voice work.
Her presenting credits include the London 2012 Olympics, the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, two Volvo Ocean Races, and Chris Evans’ Carfest. Jo has also served as the stadium announcer for England’s women’s football team, the Lionesses.
As a voiceover artist, her work spans Netflix productions, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Volvo, gaming, animation, and national advertising campaigns. She won the Ultimate VO Survivor competition, a major North American voiceover contest, and she received recognition as one of New York City Journal’s Top 30 Inspiring Women of 2022.
Since 2020, Jo has served as the main presenter for Omaze UK. Through that role, she has helped reveal how much money each campaign raises for charity. The total raised through Omaze UK since its launch, with Jo as the face of the brand, has reached over £8.3 million across nine different charities.
Early Life of Jo Pickard
Jo Pickard grew up in North Yorkshire, England. Her earliest years were in Kirkbymoorside, where her parents owned a sports shop called Charles Pickard Sports. Her father also worked as a warehouse manager for an aviation company, which led the young Jo to believe he designed planes.
Her family later took on a 17th century coaching inn called the Royal Oak in the village of Gillamoor, on the North Yorkshire Moors. Jo and her younger brother Jonny grew up above the pub. She has described performing shows for her dad’s customers at the age of five, which she said did not impress her father.
From childhood, Jo wanted to become an actress. She went to Kirkbymoorside Primary School and then to Ryedale Secondary School. She also attended Lady Lumby’s in Pickering for her sixth form studies before going on to university.
After training as an actress and dancer, Jo worked in Yorkshire and London, performing on stage, including a solo one-woman show, and appearing on television.
When she later met her husband, she returned to Yorkshire and settled on a farm in the village of Nunnington, where she now lives and records from a purpose-built home studio.
Jo Pickard Age
Jo Pickard’s exact birth date has not been consistently confirmed across public sources. She has spent decades working professionally across presenting, acting, and voiceover work, with her career spanning the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games and a highly active period throughout the 2020s.
Her professional biography confirms she began performing from the age of around four or five, and her career trajectory places her firmly among experienced, mid-career professionals in the UK entertainment industry.
Jo Pickard Ethnicity and Nationality
Jo Pickard is British by nationality, born and raised in North Yorkshire, England. Her ethnic background is White British, and her upbringing in the North Yorkshire Moors shaped both her accent and her strong regional identity.
Her family background reflects a working entrepreneurial environment, with her parents running a sports shop and later a country inn. This background, she has said, gave her the inspiration to run her own business as an independent voiceover artist.
Jo Pickard Height and Weight
Jo Pickard stands 6 feet 1 inch tall, which equals 1.85 meters. Her weight is reported at approximately 75 kg, which equals about 165 lbs.
Her tall, commanding presence translates well to both stage and live event presenting. Jo regularly hosts large-scale live events, sports competitions, and public ceremonies, where her height and confident delivery give her a natural stage presence.
Jo Pickard Education
Jo Pickard attended Ryedale Secondary School and Lady Lumby’s in Pickering for sixth form before going on to the University of Central Lancashire. She studied acting and dance there and graduated with a first-class Honours Degree.
Her training in both performance and movement gave her the technical grounding she needed for a career that has spanned theatre, television, live events, and audio work. Jo has described her university years as foundational to her professional confidence and range.
Jo Pickard Career
Jo Pickard began her professional career as a theatre and television actress after graduating from the University of Central Lancashire.
She performed on stage in Yorkshire and London, taking on roles that ranged from ensemble work to a solo one-woman show. On television, she appeared in the long-running British drama Heartbeat and in Bodies, the medical thriller written by Jed Mercurio.
Her career shifted direction when she moved into live event presenting, a transition that would take her around the world over the following fifteen years.
Early Career in Acting and Stage Work
After finishing her degree, Jo worked as an actress across Yorkshire and London. She performed in theatre productions and appeared in well-known British television dramas including Heartbeat and Bodies.
Her work in Bodies connected her with the production of one of the UK’s most critically acclaimed medical dramas of the early 2000s.
Jo also appeared in films during this period. Her IMDb profile lists credits including The Art of Love (2022), Chasing Robert Barker, and Hi-Lo Joe. These acting credits show a career that continued to develop even as her focus later shifted toward presenting and voiceover work.
She also took part in radio drama work, including PROPS, a series of six radio plays written by award-winning writers and based on real-life interviews. In that production, Jo played the character Fishwife, a matronly mermaid guardian spirit.
Presenting Career and Major Events
Over the following fifteen years, Jo built a career as a live event presenter. She covered the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, an experience she later described as once-in-a-lifetime.
The London 2012 Park Live site, where she presented, went on to win the Best Live Site award. She also covered the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Jo presented across the Volvo Ocean Race on two separate occasions, learning the sport from scratch despite having no sailing background at the time. She also presented at Taste of London, the Big Feastival, Tom Kerridge’s Pub in the Park, and the World Cheese Awards. Her work with Chris Evans at Carfest became another regular fixture in her schedule.
She served as the stadium announcer for England’s women’s football team, the Lionesses, presenting at live international matches.
Jo also presented at a wide range of awards ceremonies and charity auction events throughout this period.
Voiceover Career and Omaze UK
When Jo met her husband and returned to North Yorkshire, she shifted her professional focus toward voiceover work. She launched her own voiceover business, building a professional home studio in the outbuildings of the family farm in Nunnington.
Her voiceover credits include productions for Netflix, including Athena and The Girl from Oslo. She has also recorded for ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Volvo, gaming titles, and animation projects.
Her studio is equipped with a professional-grade soundproofed VO booth, a Neumann U87Ai microphone, and Source-Connect Standard, which allows her to record in real-time for clients worldwide.
In 2021, Jo entered the Ultimate VO Survivor competition, a major North American voice acting contest. Out of 1,800 initial competitors, she reached the final six and won the Best Commercial category, making her the first British winner. That same year, she became the face and voice of Omaze UK.
Since the launch of the Omaze UK campaigns in 2020, Jo has helped raise over £8.3 million for nine different charities, including appearing in hundreds of national television commercials and revealing charity totals in emotional on-screen announcements.
In 2022, New York City Journal named Jo one of its Top 30 Inspiring Women of the year. Jo also mentors five women from underrepresented minorities in the voiceover industry, using her platform to open doors for others coming into the profession.
Jo Pickard Awards and Recognition
Jo Pickard won the Best Commercial category at the Ultimate VO Survivor, a competitive North American voiceover contest that drew over 1,800 entrants. She was the only British finalist in the competition.
In 2022, New York City Journal named her one of its Top 30 Inspiring Women.
Her work with Omaze UK has also raised her public profile considerably, with multiple national advertising campaigns reaching millions of viewers across the UK.
Jo Pickard Husband
Jo Pickard is married to Stephen Rooke, a Yorkshire potato farmer. The couple lives at Lodge Farm in Nunnington, North Yorkshire.
Stephen farms in partnership with his brother Tim at Manor Farm, Stonegrave, and their business covers around 2,000 acres of arable land with potatoes as their main crop.
Jo has described Stephen as her best friend and soulmate. The couple share their home with two dogs, a red Labrador named Babes and another dog named Hendricks.
Stephen built Jo’s professional home studio in the outbuildings of the farm. That studio has become the base for her entire voiceover business. Jo has said returning to Yorkshire to be with Stephen was what brought her back to her roots after years of international travel for work.
Jo Pickard Children
Jo Pickard has two stepdaughters, whom she has described as a source of great pride. She adores them and follows their achievements closely. A more recent report has also noted that Jo became a step-grandmother, adding a new generation to the family.
She and Stephen do not have children together, though their family life, shared with two dogs and the stepdaughters, remains central to how Jo describes her personal world.
Jo Pickard Net Worth
Jo Pickard’s estimated net worth is $5 million as of 2026.
Her income flows from several distinct areas of her entertainment career: acting roles in film and television, live event presenting across major sporting and cultural events, and a busy professional voiceover practice.
Her voiceover studio records national advertising campaigns, Netflix productions, gaming titles, and animation projects. As the face of Omaze UK since 2020, Jo has been featured in hundreds of national television commercials.
These ongoing campaign appearances represent a significant and steady income stream alongside her other work.
Jo Pickard Social Media
Jo Pickard is active on Instagram under the handle @jopickardactor. She uses the platform to share updates about her work, behind-the-scenes glimpses from recording sessions, and personal moments from her life on the farm in North Yorkshire.
Her official website is joannepickard.co.uk, which covers her voiceover work, acting credits, and presenting experience.
The Bottom Line
Jo Pickard became the face of Omaze UK in 2020 and has since appeared in hundreds of national television campaigns that collectively raised over £8.3 million for UK charities.
She also won the Best Commercial category at the Ultimate VO Survivor in 2021, beating 1,800 competitors from the US and Canada.
Jo grew up above a pub on the North Yorkshire Moors in the village of Gillamoor and trained as an actress and dancer at the University of Central Lancashire, graduating with a first-class Honours Degree.
Her career has spanned television drama, live Olympic presenting, and international voice work across Netflix, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5.
In 2026, she continues to record from her home studio in Nunnington, taking on voiceover projects for international clients while also remaining active as a presenter and mentor to aspiring voice actors from underrepresented backgrounds.
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