Emma Appleton as Nancy Spungen | Pistol on FX
Emma Appleton
Nancy Spungen

Emma Appleton portrays Nancy Spungen. Disliked by almost everyone she meets; most dismiss Nancy as a groupie. But there’s more to her than that. Strangled by her umbilical cord at birth, Nancy excelled academically but was diagnosed schizophrenic at age 15. Punk Juliet to Sid’s Romeo - her bond with Sid is chaotic, violent, dysfunctional and unbreakable.
Career Highlights
British actress Appleton has garnered international attention for her roles across film and television. With each challenging and diverse role, she continues to firmly position herself as one of the most exciting young actors to watch.
In 2022, Appleton can be seen in the highly anticipated adaptation of Dolly Alderton’s best-selling memoir, Everything I Know About Love, as the lead opposite Bel Powley. The series, produced by Working Title Television for BBC One and distributed internationally by NBCUniversal, is directed by China Moo-Young with Alderton writing the screenplay and serving as executive producer.
In August 2021, Appleton portrayed best friend “Hannah” opposite Felicity Jones in Netflix’s romantic drama The Last Letter from Your Lover, based on Jojo Moyes’ novel of the same name. She played “Mya Miller” in the final two episodes of the sci-fi series Intergalactic in April 2021, marking her first collaboration with director China Moo-Young.
In 2019, Appleton starred as protagonist “Feef Symonds” alongside Keeley Hawes, Luke Treadaway and Jamie Blackley in Channel 4’s period espionage drama Traitors, a six-part series created and written by Bathsheba Doran and helmed by Dearbhla Walsh and Alex Winckler. The Times described her performance as “a potentially star-making turn” and The Radio Times called her “a mesmerizing heroine.” The same year, she appeared alongside Henry Cavill in Netflix’s The Witcher, based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s novel series.
In April 2017, Appleton appeared in two episodes of the Golden Globe®-nominated show Genius, created by Kenneth Biller and Noah Pink and starring Antonio Banderas and Clémence Poésy. She made her on-screen debut in March 2017 as “Fay Brookstone” in BBC Three thriller Clique, created by Jess Brittain and co-starring Synnove Karlsen and Aisling Franciosi.
Other notable credits include Netflix series The End of the F***ing World with Jessica Barden and Alex Lawther; popular ITV series Grantchester with James Norton; and Dreamlands, a short film which was shown at Cannes Film Festival in 2016.