Jan Pearson

Pearson was born on 12 April 1959 in Wollaston, West Midlands. She learned ballet from a young age until she was 16 since her mother wanted her to be a dancer. Pearson attended High Park School in Wollaston, then went to Kidderminster College to do her A-levels. She studied biology in an attempt to be a surgeon, but failed, as well as not being able to pursue it due to having shaky hands. Pearson then studied Combined Arts at the Crewe and Alsager College of Higher Education, where she learned theatre, dance, writing, fine art and music. Her year was the first place in the UK to offer the course. Pearson did not want to go to drama school as she was worried that the people would be "luvvies". However, Pearson found that since most of the staff were fresh to their positions, the teaching was poor quality who did not offer real acting training.

After she left Crewe and Alsager, she applied to do a post-graduate course at the University of Bristol. However, they could only offer her a place in a two-year course, and since she only wanted to study for one year, she turned it down and instead chose to work. At the time, Pearson was living in Wales, working in bars and a paper factory. She also worked in the Royal Exchange pub on Enville Street in Wollaston. She was insistent on wanting to work in the acting industry and kept applying for positions. Due to having no experience or contacts, she found it difficult, but eventually landed a gig playing a princess for £25. She then worked as a dancer for a year.

Without an agent, Pearson made her acting debut in an episode of The Chief. She then ventured into theatre and despite not having an agent, got numerous roles in stage productions. These productions included Grimm Tales and The Norman Conquests. Pearson then yearned to work in television, for which she attained an agent. She was eventually cast as Kath Fox in the BBC medical drama series Holby City in 1999. She opted to leave the series in 2004 after feeling that her character had nowhere left to go. Alongside her appearances in Holby City, she played the recurring role of Maggie Hayes in The Cops from 1999 to 2001. She wanted to return to theatre, but found it difficult to enter back into the industry following her television appearances. Pearson then appeared in films such as Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence and Terror! Robespierre and the French Revolution.

On 23 February 2009, Pearson made her debut appearance in the role of receptionist Karen Hollins in the BBC soap opera Doctors. At the 2010 British Soap Awards, Pearson and Chris Walker, who played her on-screen husband Rob Hollins, won the award for Best On-Screen Partnership. In 2012, Pearson was nominated for Best Comedy Performance. She was later nominated for the British Soap Award for Best Actress and Best Leading Performer. On 30 March 2023, Pearson made her final appearance as Karen when the character dies. She explained that she wanted a break from her career after 14 consecutive years on the series. Pearson admitted that she asked producers to kill Karen off, to which they were surprisingly obliging. She was pleased with her exit scenes and stated: "they gave me a lovely death, actually, I was very pleased with it. Chris was extraordinary. It was great. I was very, very pleased." Following Doctors, she appeared in an episode of the BBC daytime drama series Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators in 2025.