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Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson was born in Paris, France, to British parents, Jacqueline Luesby and Chris Watson, both lawyers. She moved to Oxfordshire when she was five, where she attended the Dragon School. From the age of six, Emma knew that she wanted to be an actress and, for a number of years, she trained at the Oxford branch of Stagecoach Theatre Arts, a part-time theatre school where she studied singing, dancing and acting. By the age of ten, she had performed and taken the lead in various Stagecoach productions and school plays.
In 1999, casting began for Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone (2001), the film adaptation of British author J.K. Rowling's bestselling novel. Casting agents found Emma through her Oxford theatre teacher. After eight consistent auditions, producer David Heyman told Emma and fellow applicants, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, that they had been cast for the roles of the three leads, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. The release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) was Emma's cinematic screen debut. The film broke records for opening-day sales and opening-weekend takings and was the highest-grossing film of 2001. Critics praised the film and the performances of the three leading young actors. The highly distributed British newspaper, 'The Daily Telegraph', called her performance "admirable". Later, Emma was nominated for five awards for her performance in the film, winning the Young Artist Award for Leading Young Actress in a Feature Film.
After the release of the first film of the highly successful franchise, Emma became one of the most well-known actresses in the world. She continued to play the role of Hermione Granger for nearly ten years, in all of the following Harry Potter films: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010), and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011). Emma acquired two Critics' Choice Award nominations from the Broadcast Film Critics Association for her work in Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban and Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire. The completion of the seventh and eight movies saw Emma receive nominations in 2011 for a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award, and for Best Actress at the Jameson Empire Awards. The Harry Potter franchise won the BAFTA for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema in February 2011.
2011 saw Emma in Simon Curtis's My Week with Marilyn (2011), alongside a stellar cast of Oscar nominees including Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe and Kenneth Branagh as Sir Laurence Olivier, in addition to Eddie Redmayne, Dame Judi Dench, Dougray Scott, Zoe Wanamaker, Toby Jones and Dominic Cooper. Chronicling a week in Marilyn Monroe's life, the film featured Emma in the supporting role of Lucy, a costume assistant to Colin Clark (Redmayne). The film was released by The Weinstein Company and was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical. In 2012 Emma was seen in Stephen Chbosky's adaptation of his coming-of-age novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), starring opposite Logan Lerman and Ezra Miller. This independent drama centered around Charlie (Lerman), an introverted freshman who is taken under the wings of two seniors (Watson and Miller) who welcome him to the real world. The film premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and received rave reviews. The film won the People's Choice Award for Favourite Dramatic Movie and Emma also picked up the People's Choice Award for Favourite Dramatic Movie Actress. Emma was awarded a second time for this role with the Best Supporting Actress Award at the San Diego Film Critics Society Awards where the film also won the Best Ensemble Performance Award.
In summer 2013, Emma starred in Sofia Coppola's American satirical black comedy crime film, The Bling Ring (2013), opposite Katie Chang and Israel Broussard. The film took inspiration from real events and followed a group of teenagers who, obsessed with fashion and fame, burgled the homes of celebrities in Los Angeles. The film opened the Un Certain Regard section of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Emma also appeared in a cameo role as herself in Seth Rogen's apocalypse comedy This Is The End (2013). The film tells the story about what happens to some of Hollywood's best loved celebrities when the apocalypse strikes during a party at James Franco's house.
In 2014, Emma was seen in Darren Aronofsky's Noah (2014), opposite Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Douglas Booth, Logan Lerman, and Anthony Hopkins. The film told the epic, biblical tale of Noah and the ark. Emma plays the role of Ila, a young woman who develops a close relationship with Noah's son, Shem (Booth). Noah made an outstanding $300m since its release in March. In 2015, Emma starred in Regression (2015), written and directed by Alejandro Amenábar and Occultum Luciferus. Also headlined by Oscar-nominated Ethan Hawke, and set in Minnesota in 1990, Regression tells the story of Detective Bruce Kenner (Hawke), who investigates the case of young Angela, played by Emma, who accuses her father of sexual abuse.
In 2012, Emma was honored with the Calvin Klein Emerging Star Award at the ELLE Women in Hollywood Awards. In 2013, Emma was awarded the Trailblazer Award at the MTV Movie Awards in April and was honored with the GQ Woman of the Year Award at the GQ Awards in September. Further to her acting career, Emma is a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN, promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women. Emma graduated from Brown University in May 2014.
In 2017, Emma starred in the live-action Disney fantasy Beauty and the Beast (2017), one of the biggest movies of all time in the U.S., and the dramatic thriller The Circle (2017).- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Kate Beckinsale was born on 26 July 1973 in Hounslow, Middlesex, England, and has resided in London for most of her life. Her mother is Judy Loe, who has appeared in a number of British dramas and sitcoms and continues to work as an actress, predominantly in British television productions. Her father was Richard Beckinsale, born in Nottingham, England. He starred in a number of popular British television comedies during the 1970s, most notably the series Rising Damp (1974), Porridge (1974) and The Lovers (1970). He passed away tragically early in 1979 at the age of 31.
Kate attended the private school Godolphin and Latymer School in London for her grade and primary school education. In her teens she twice won the British bookseller W.H. Smith Young Writers' competition - once for three short stories and once for three poems. After a tumultuous adolescence (a bout of anorexia - cured - and a smoking habit which continues to this day), she gradually took up the profession of acting.
Her major acting debut came in a TV film about World War II called One Against the Wind (1991), filmed in Luxembourg during the summer of 1991. It first aired on American television that December. Kate began attending Oxford University's New College in the fall of 1991, majoring in French and Russian literature. She had already decided that she wanted to act, but to broaden her horizons she chose university over drama school. While in her first year at Oxford, Kate received her big break in Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (1993). Kate worked in three other films while attending Oxford, beginning with a part in the medieval historical drama Royal Deceit (1994), cast as Ethel. The film was shot during the spring of 1993 on location in Denmark, and she filmed her supporting part during New College's Easter break. Later in the summer of that year she played the lead in the contemporary mystery drama Uncovered (1994). Before she went back to school, her third year at university was spent at Oxford's study-abroad program in Paris, France, immersing herself in the French language, Parisian culture and French cigarettes.
A year away from the academic community and living on her own in the French capital caused her to re-evaluate the direction of her life. She faced a choice: continue with school or concentrate on her flourishing acting career. After much thought, she chose the acting career. In the spring of 1994 Kate left Oxford, after finishing three years of study. Kate appeared in the BBC/Thames Television satire Cold Comfort Farm (1995), filmed in London and East Sussex during late summer 1994 and which opened to spectacular reviews in the United States, grossing over $5 million during its American run. It was re-released to U.K. theaters in the spring of 1997.
Acting on the stage consumed the first part of 1995; she toured in England with the Thelma Holts Theatre Company production of Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull". After turning down several mediocre scripts "and going nearly berserk with boredom", she waited seven months before another interesting role was offered to her. Her big movie of 1995 was the romance/horror movie Haunted (1995), starring opposite Aidan Quinn and John Gielgud, and filmed in West Sussex. In this film she wanted to play "an object of desire", unlike her past performances where her characters were much less the siren and more the worldly innocent. Kate's first film project of 1996 was the British ITV production of Jane Austen's novel Emma (1996). Her last film of 1996 was the comedy Shooting Fish (1997), filmed at Shepperton Studios in London during early fall. She played the part of Georgie, an altruistic con artist. She had a daughter, Lily, in 1999 with actor Michael Sheen.- Actress
- Producer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Keira Christina Knightley was born March 26, 1985 in the South West Greater London suburb of Richmond. She is the daughter of actor Will Knightley and actress turned playwright Sharman Macdonald. An older brother, Caleb Knightley, was born in 1979. Her father is English, while her Scottish-born mother is of Scottish and Welsh origin. Brought up immersed in the acting profession from both sides - writing and performing - it is little wonder that the young Keira asked for her own agent at the age of three. She was granted one at the age of six and performed in her first TV role as "Little Girl" in Royal Celebration (1993), aged seven.
It was discovered at an early age that Keira had severe difficulties in reading and writing. She was not officially dyslexic as she never sat the formal tests required of the British Dyslexia Association. Instead, she worked incredibly hard, encouraged by her family, until the problem had been overcome by her early teens. Her first multi-scene performance came in A Village Affair (1995), an adaptation of the lesbian love story by Joanna Trollope. This was followed by small parts in the British crime series The Bill (1984), an exiled German princess in The Treasure Seekers (1996) and a much more substantial role as the young "Judith Dunbar" in Giles Foster's adaptation of Rosamunde Pilcher's novel Coming Home (1998), alongside Peter O'Toole, Penelope Keith and Joanna Lumley. The first time Keira's name was mentioned around the world was when it was revealed (in a plot twist kept secret by director George Lucas) that she played Natalie Portman's decoy "Padme" to Portman's "Amidala" in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). It was several years before agreement was reached over which scenes featured Keira as the queen and which featured Natalie!
Keira had no formal training as an actress and did it out of pure enjoyment. She went to an ordinary council-run school in nearby Teddington and had no idea what she wanted to do when she left. By now, she was beginning to receive far more substantial roles and was starting to turn work down as one project and her schoolwork was enough to contend with. She reappeared on British television in 1999 as "Rose Fleming" in Alan Bleasdale's faithful reworking of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist (1999), and traveled to Romania to film her first title role in Walt Disney's Princess of Thieves (2001) in which she played Robin Hood's daughter, Gwyn. Keira's first serious boyfriend was her Princess of Thieves (2001) co-star Del Synnott, and they later co-starred in Peter Hewitt's 'work of fart' Thunderpants (2002). Nick Hamm's dark thriller The Hole (2001) kept her busy during 2000, and featured her first nude scene (15 at the time, the film was not released until she was 16 years old). In the summer of 2001, while Keira studied and sat her final school exams (she received six A's), she filmed a movie about an Asian girl's (Parminder Nagra) love for football and the prejudices she has to overcome regarding both her culture and her religion). Bend It Like Beckham (2002) was a smash hit in football-mad Britain but it had to wait until another of Keira's films propelled it to the top end of the US box office. Bend It Like Beckham (2002) cost just £3.5m to make, and nearly £1m of that came from the British Lottery. It took £11m in the UK and has since gone on to score more than US$76m worldwide.
Meanwhile, Keira had started A-levels at Esher College, studying Classics, English Literature and Political History, but continued to take acting roles which she thought would widen her experience as an actress. The story of a drug-addicted waitress and her friendship with the young son of a drug-addict, Pure (2002), occupied Keira from January to March 2002. Also at this time, Keira's first attempt at Shakespeare was filmed. She played "Helena" in a modern interpretation of a scene from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" entitled The Seasons Alter (2002). This was commissioned by the environmental organization "Futerra", of which Keira's mother is patron. Keira received no fee for this performance or for another short film, New Year's Eve (2002), by award-winning director Col Spector. But it was a chance encounter with producer Andy Harries at the London premiere of Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) which forced Keira to leave her studies and pursue acting full-time. The meeting lead to an audition for the role of "Larisa Feodorovna Guishar" - the classic heroine of Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago (2002), played famously in the David Lean movie by Julie Christie. This was to be a big-budget TV movie with a screenplay written by Andrew Davies. Keira won the part and the mini-series was filmed throughout the Spring of 2002 in Slovakia, co-starring Sam Neill and Hans Matheson as "Yuri Zhivago". Keira rounded off 2002 with a few scenes in the first movie to be directed by Blackadder and Vicar of Dibley writer Richard Curtis. Called Love Actually (2003), Keira played "Juliet", a newlywed whose husband's Best Man is secretly besotted with her. A movie filmed after Love Actually (2003) but released before it was to make the world sit up and take notice of this beautiful fresh-faced young actress with a cute British accent. It was a movie which Keira very nearly missed out on, altogether. Auditions were held in London for a new blockbuster movie called Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), but heavy traffic in the city forced Keira to be tagged on to the end of the day's auditions list. It helped - she got the part. Filming took place in Los Angeles and the Caribbean from October 2002 to March 2003 and was released to massive box office success and almost universal acclaim in the July of that year.
Meanwhile, a small British film called Bend It Like Beckham (2002) had sneaked onto a North American release slate and was hardly setting the box office alight. But Keira's dominance in "Pirates" had set tongues wagging and questions being asked about the actress playing "Elizabeth Swann". Almost too late, "Bend It"'s distributors realized one of its two stars was the same girl whose name was on everyone's lips due to "Pirates", and took the unusual step of re-releasing "Bend It" to 1,000 screens across the US, catapulting it from no. 26 back up to no. 12. "Pirates", meanwhile, was fighting off all contenders at the top spot, and stayed in the Top 3 for an incredible 21 weeks. It was perhaps no surprise, then, that Keira was on producer Jerry Bruckheimer's wanted list for the part of "Guinevere" in a planned accurate telling of the legend of "King Arthur". Filming took place in Ireland and Wales from June to November 2003. In July, Keira had become the celebrity face of British jeweller and luxury goods retailer, Asprey. At a photoshoot for the company on Long Island New York in August, Keira met and fell in love with Northern Irish model Jamie Dornan. King Arthur (2004) was released in July 2004 to lukewarm reviews. It seems audiences wanted the legend after all, and not necessarily the truth. Keira became the breakout star and 'one to watch in 2004' throughout the world's media at the end of 2003.
Keira's 2004 started off in Scotland and Canada filming John Maybury's time-travelling thriller The Jacket (2005) with Oscar-winner Adrien Brody. A planned movie of Deborah Moggach's novel, "Tulip Fever", about forbidden love in 17th Century Amsterdam, was canceled in February after the British government suddenly closed tax loopholes which allowed filmmakers to claw back a large proportion of their expenditure. Due to star Keira and Jude Law in the main roles, the film remains mothballed. Instead, Keira spent her time wisely, visiting Ethiopia on behalf of the "Comic Relief" charity, and spending summer at various grandiose locations around the UK filming what promises to be a faithful adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel Pride & Prejudice (2005), alongside Matthew Macfadyen as "Mr. Darcy", and with Donald Sutherland and Judi Dench in supporting roles. In October 2004, Keira received her first major accolade, the Hollywood Film Award for Best Breakthrough Actor - Female, and readers of Empire Magazine voted her the Sexiet Movie Star Ever. The remainder of 2004 saw Keira once again trying a completely new genre, this time the part-fact, part-fiction life story of model turned bounty hunter Domino (2005). 2005 started with the premiere of The Jacket (2005) at the Sundance Film Festival, with the US premiere in LA on February 28th. Much of the year was then spent in the Caribbean filming both sequels to Pirates Of The Caribbean. Keira's first major presenting role came in a late-night bed-in comedy clip show for Comic Relief with presenter Johnny Vaughan. In late July, promotions started for the September release of Pride & Prejudice (2005), with British fans annoyed to learn that the US version would end with a post-marriage kiss, but the European version would not. Nevertheless, when the movie opened in September on both sides of the Atlantic, Keira received her greatest praise thus far in her career, amid much talk of awards. It spent three weeks at No. 1 in the UK box office.
Domino (2005) opened well in October, overshadowed by the death of Domino Harvey earlier in the year. Keira received Variety's Personality Of The Year Award in November, topped the following month by her first Golden Globe nomination, for Pride & Prejudice (2005). KeiraWeb.com exclusively announced that Keira would play Helene Joncour in an adaptation of Alessandro Baricco's novella Silk (2007). Pride & Prejudice (2005) garnered six BAFTA nominations at the start of 2006, but not Best Actress for Keira, a fact which paled soon after by the announcement she had received her first Academy Award nomination, the third youngest Best Actress Oscar hopeful. A controversial nude Vanity Fair cover of Keira and Scarlett Johansson kept the press busy up till the Oscars, with Reese Witherspoon taking home the gold man in the Best Actress category, although Keira's Vera Wang dress got more media attention. Keira spent early summer in Europe filming Silk (2007) opposite Michael Pitt, and the rest of the summer in the UK filming Atonement (2007), in which she plays Cecilia Tallis, and promoting the new Pirates movie (her Ellen Degeneres interview became one of the year's Top 10 'viral downloads'). Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) broke many box office records when it opens worldwide in July, becoming the third biggest movie ever by early September. Keira sued British newspaper The Daily Mail in early 2007 after her image in a bikini accompanied an article about a woman who blamed slim celebrities for the death of her daughter from anorexia. The case was settled and Keira matched the settlement damages and donated the total amount to an eating disorder charity. Keira filmed a movie about the life of Dylan Thomas, The Edge Of Love (2008) with a screenplay written by her mother Sharman Macdonald. Her co-star Lindsay Lohan pulled out just a week before filming began, and was replaced by Sienna Miller.
What was announced to be Keira's final Pirates movie in the franchise, Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End (2007), opened strongly in June, rising to all-time fifth biggest movie by July. Atonement (2007) opened the Venice Film Festival in August, and opened worldwide in September, again to superb reviews for Keira. Meanwhile, Silk (2007) opened in September on very few screens and disappeared without a trace. Keira spent the rest of the year filming The Duchess (2008), the life story of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, based on Amanda Foreman's award-winning biography of the distant relation of Princess Diana. The year saw more accolades and poll-topping for Keira than ever before, including Women's Beauty Icon 2007 and gracing the covers of all the top-selling magazines. She won Best Actress for Atonement (2007) at the Variety Club Of Great Britain Showbiz Awards, and ended the year with her second Golden Globe nomination. Christmas Day saw - or rather heard - Keira on British TV screens in a new Robbie The Reindeer animated adventure, with DVD proceeds going to Comic Relief. At the start of 2008, Keira received her first BAFTA nomination - Best Actress for Atonement, and the movie wins Best Film: Drama at the Golden Globes. Seven Academy Award nominations for Atonement soon follow. Keira wins Best Actress for her role as Cecilia Tallis at the Empire Film Awards. In May, Keira's first Shakespearean role is announced, when she is confirmed to play Cordelia in a big-screen version of King Lear, alongside Naomi Watts and Gwyneth Paltrow, with Sir Anthony Hopkins as the titular monarch. After two years of rumours, it is confirmed that Keira is on the shortlist to play Eliza Doolittle in a new adaptation of My Fair Lady. The Edge Of Love opens the Edinburgh Film Festival on June 18th, and opens on limited release in the UK and US. A huge round of promotions for The Duchess occurs throughout the summer, with cast and crew trying to play down the marketers' decision to draw parallels between the duchess and Princess Diana. Keira attends the UK and US premieres and Toronto Film Festival within the first week of September. The Duchess opens strongly on both sides of the Atlantic. Two more movies were confirmed for Keira during September - a tale of adultery called Last Night (2010), and a biopic of author F Scott Fitzgerald entitled The Beautiful and the Damned.
Keira spent October on the streets of New York City filming Last Night alongside Sam Worthington and Guillaume Canet. Keira helped to promote the sixtieth anniversary of the UN's Declaration of Human Rights, by contributing to a series of short films produced to mark the occasion. In January 2009 it was announced Keira had signed to play a reclusive actress in an adaptation of Ken Bruen's novel London Boulevard (2010), co-starring Colin Farrell. Keira continues her close ties with the Comic Relief charity by helping to launch their British icons T-shirts campaign. In the same week King Lear was revealed to have been shelved, it was announced that Keira would instead star alongside her Pride & Prejudice co-star Carey Mulligan in an adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel Never Let Me Go (2010). A new short film emerges in March, recorded in the January of 2008 in which Keira plays a Fairy! The Continuing and Lamentable Saga of the Suicide Brothers (2009) was written by Keira's boyfriend Rupert Friend and actor Tom Mison. It went to be shown at the London Film Festival in October and won Best Comedy Short at the New Hampshire Film Festival. Keira continued to put her celebrity to good use in 2009 with a TV commercial for WomensAid highlighting domestic abuse against women. Unfortunately, UK censors refused to allow its broadcast and it can only be viewed on YouTube. May and June saw Keira filming Never Let Me Go (2010) and London Boulevard (2010) back-to-back. In October, a new direction for Keira's career emerged, when it was announced she would appear on the London stage in her West End debut role as Jennifer, in a reworking of Moliere's The Misanthrope, starring Damian Lewis and Tara Fitzgerald. More than $2m of ticket sales followed in the first four days, before even rehearsals had begun! The play ran from December to March at London's Comedy Theatre.- Actress
- Composer
- Music Department
Pixie Lott was born on 12 January 1991 in Bromley, London, England, UK. She is an actress and composer, known for Beastly (2011), The Inbetweeners (2011) and Fred: The Movie (2010). She has been married to Oliver Cheshire since 6 June 2022. They have one child.- Actress
- Composer
- Costume Designer
Victoria Beckham was born Victoria Caroline Adams on 17 April 1974 in Harlow, Essex, England, to Jacqueline Doreen (Cannon), an insurance clerk and hairdresser, and Anthony William Adams, an electronics engineer. She does not like being called Vicky. Instead, call her Posh, which stands for the best of everything (an old luxury liner term, P.O.S.H. stood for "Port Out, Starboard Home"-- the best rooms). Growing up, she didn't like being driven to school in her father's Rolls Royce (they were very wealthy; later, as Posh, she would have an image of someone who revels in wealth). Victoria began as a dancer before eventually landing a spot as a member of Spice Girls. While in college, Victoria was briefly in another band. After completing the 3-year course at Lanie Arts, she answered an ad in "The Stage" magazine, which was looking for 5 girls who could sing and dance. Victoria was picked, history was about to be made. (Victoria had met: Emma who had been in a play with her when they were kids; Geri while auditioning for a role in Tank Girl (1995); Mel C. attended a rival school when they were 15; and Mel B. at the audition for the forming of the band.) The Spice Girls became fantastically successful, achieving international fame. The wildly popular Spice Girls performed at sold-out concerts, did tours, and of course the Spice World (1997) movie. Victoria married soccer player David Beckham. The couple has four children.- Actress
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Louise was born on 4 November 1974 in Lewisham, London. Her full name is Louise Elizabeth Nurding but, after marrying long-time friend and football star Jamie Redknapp, she took his surname.
Louise started her music career very early after studying at the Italia Conti Stage School. While she was still a teen, she was spotted dancing in a club by her future manager Denis. He was looking for girls to be a part of new girl group. Louise introduced her school friend Kéllé Bryan to Denis and she also got into group. At the same time, Denis met Vernie Bennett, who later called her sister Easther Bennett to join the group, too. Not long after, the group Eternal was born. Eternal was, and still is, the greatest girl group in Europe since 5 Star. While the group was the most successful while Louise was still with them, near the end of 1995 she decided that she wanted to move on. Citing the desire to sing and produce different kinds of music, Louise left Eternal to begin a solo career. Happily, she never had a falling out with her fellow members Kelle, Vernie and Easther, and they are all still good friends today.
It wasn't long before Louise became the most successful female artist in Europe, mostly in the UK. She has had 3 solo-albums thus far and they have all been very successful. Lou was voted the "sexiest woman in world" by the men's magazine FHM and every year still scores high in the FHM charts.
Oddly, the biggest media problem for Louise is that she just isn't very controversial. Intrinsically a good girl, she hasn't had a huge series of boyfriends, seems indifferent to the press and media attention she gets, and is genuinely a nice person! As a result, the only major publicity that she got in the interim period was from the FHM Top 100 Sexiest Women poll and her marriage to the Liverpool footballer Jamie Redknapp.
In a relatively quiet affair on a yacht in Bermuda with friends and family present, they made their vows and their marriage has been as steady as a rock. The only controversy came when some sections of the media claimed that her father-in-law, Harry Redknapp, had said that he thought Louise should spend all her time at home and in the kitchen and not pursuing a career of her own. However this quickly blew over. She has re-entered the music scene with a bang and is starting her Changing Faces tour in early 2002.- Actress
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Hannah was born on 1 April 1981 at Great Yarmouth, England. At the age of 3 she modelled in a Mothercare catalogue. At school she liked sports but at 12 she decided she wanted to be a performer. She landed a part in a local production of Annie. Hannah enjoyed it so much she decided to join the National Youth Music Theatre production of Pendragon where she met S Club 7 member Paul. She also appeared in English TV shows such as Blue Peter and the National Lottery. Then at age 18 she joined the pop group S Club 7.- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Emily Olivia Leah Blunt is a British actress known for her roles in The Devil Wears Prada (2006), The Young Victoria (2009), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), and The Girl on the Train (2016), among many others.
Blunt was born on February 23, 1983, in Roehampton, South West London, England, the second of four children in the family of Joanna Mackie, a former actress and teacher, and Oliver Simon Peter Blunt, a barrister. Her grandfather was Major General Peter Blunt, and her uncle is MP Crispin Blunt. Emily received a rigorous education at Ibstock Place School, a co-ed private school at Roehampton. However, young Emily Blunt had a stammer, since she was a kid of 8. Her mother took her to relaxation classes, which did not do anything. She reached a turning point at 12, when a teacher cleverly asked her to play a character with a different voice and said, "I really believe in you". Blunt ended up using a northern accent, and it did the trick, her stammer disappeared.
From 1999 - 2001, Blunt went to Hurtwood House, the top co-ed boarding school where she would excel at sport, cello and singing. She also had two years of drama studies at Hurtwood's theatre course. In August 2000, she was chosen to perform at the Edinburgh Festival. She was signed up by an agent, Kenneth Mcreddie, who led her to the West End and the BBC, scoring her roles in several period dramas on stage as well as on TV productions, such as Foyle's War (2002), Henry VIII (2003) and Empire (2005). In 2001, she appeared as "Gwen Cavendish" opposite Dame Judi Dench in Sir Peter Hall's production of "The Royal Family" at Haymarket Theatre. For that role, she won the Evening Standard Award for Best Newcomer. In 2002, she played "Juliet" in "Romeo and Juliet" at the prestigious Chichester Festival.
Blunt's career ascended to international fame after she starred as "Isolda" opposite Alex Kingston in Warrior Queen (2003). A year later, she won critical acclaim for her breakout performance as "Tamsin", a well-educated, cynical and deceptive 16-year-old beauty in My Summer of Love (2004), a story of two lonely girls from the opposite ends of the social heap. Emily Blunt and her co-star, Natalie Press, shared an Evening Standard British Film award for Most Promising Newcomer. In 2005, she spent a few months in Australia filming Irresistible (2006) with Susan Sarandon and Sam Neill. Blunt gave an impressive performance as "Mara", a cunning young destroyer who acts crazy and surreptitiously provokes paranoia in others. She also continued her work on British television, starring as "Natasha" in Stephen Poliakoff's Gideon's Daughter (2005), opposite Bill Nighy, a role that won her a 2007 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role.
She continued the line of playing manipulative characters as "Emily", a caustic put-upon assistant to Meryl Streep's lead in The Devil Wears Prada (2006). Blunt's performance with a neurotic twist added a dimension of sarcasm to the comedy, and gained her much attention as well as new jobs: in two dramas opposite Tom Hanks, then in the title role in the period drama, The Young Victoria (2009). Her most recent works include appearances as antiques dealer "Gwen Conliffe" in The Wolfman (2010) and as the ballerina in The Adjustment Bureau (2011).
Emily is a highly versatile actress and a multifaceted person. Her talents include singing and playing cello; she is also skilled at horseback riding.
On August 28, 2009, Blunt and Krasinski announced their engagement. The couple married on July 10, 2010, at the estate of their friend, George Clooney, on Lake Como in Italy. Blunt and Krasinski live in the Los Angeles area, California, and have two children.- Actress
- Writer
Sophie Winkleman was born on 5 August 1980 in London, England, UK. She is an actress and writer, known for Wonka (2023), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) and Peep Show (2003). She has been married to Lord Frederick Windsor since 12 September 2009. They have two children.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Welsh Superstar Mezzo Soprano Katherine Jenkins OBE officially became the world's most successful classical singer after she was crowned 'The Biggest Selling Classical Artist of the Century' by Classic FM. She further cemented her title by gaining her 13th Number 1 Album - smashing the record books since signing to Universal Classics at the tender age of 23. Then a school teacher, Katherine burst onto the music scene in 2003 when she performed at Westminster Cathedral in honour of Pope John Paul II's Silver Jubilee, became the mascot for her much beloved Welsh Rugby Team, singing the anthem before important international matches & had her debut performance at the Sydney Opera House. Awards and accolades followed as well as invitations to sing for Popes, Presidents and Princes. Jenkins is a firm favourite of the British Royal Family having been invited to sing 'God Save The Queen' at Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee, perform at The Queen's Coronation Concerts at Buckingham Palace and more recently at Her Majesty's 90th Birthday celebrations at Windsor Castle.
Born in South Wales, Katherine learned to sing as a chorister of St. David's Church choir, Neath. Her love of music was well nurtured in the Welsh Valleys, where she had the opportunity to join choral groups, perform with Welsh Male Voice Choirs as well as participate in Eisteddfods and other musical events. She has always accredited her down to earth nature to her Welsh roots and her amazing family who she lovingly calls 'The Taffia'. Sadly, Katherine's father Selwyn passed away from cancer when she was just 15 and since then his memory has been a driving force in her life every album, every award has been dedicated to him.
Within months of graduating from the Royal Academy of music, Katherine signed the 'biggest recording deal in UK classical music history' and released her debut album 'Premiere', which became her first classical number one album. 6 months later, her second album, 'Second Nature' also reached number 1 and went on to earn Katherine her first Classic BRIT Award for best album in 2005. The following year brought Katherine her second Classic BRIT award 'Album of the Year' for 'Living A Dream'.
Sold out tours followed, as did performances and recordings with Placido Domingo, Andrea Bocelli, Jose Carreras, David Foster, Dame Kiri te Kanawa, Sir Bryn Terfel, Rolando Villazon, Juan Diego Florez, Valery Gergiev & Il Divo. Not afraid of stepping outside of her comfort zone, Katherine has appeared as a mentor in ITV's 'Popstar to Operastar', played the role of Abigail in the BBC's iconic Dr Who Christmas Special, tap danced her way through 'Viva la Diva' with Prima Ballerina Darcey Bussell as well as, most notably, winning 2nd place in the U.S. hit TV show 'Dancing with the Stars' in 2012. After years as a guest performer, Katherine was delighted to officially join the BBC 'Songs of Praise' family as a regular presenter of the weekly religious programme.
Also known as the 'Forces Sweetheart', Charity work has always played an important role for Jenkins. After singing 'We'll Meet Again' with Dame Vera Lynn at the 60th Anniversary of VE Day, she travelled to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Cyprus & Northern Ireland to entertain the troops. She was presented with an OBE by HRH Prince of Wales for services to Music and charity in 2013.
2017 saw Jenkins's debut on the West End stage playing Julie Jordan in Carousel with English National Opera at the London Coliseum, her performance earning her rave reviews from both the British and International press. In 2019, Katherine made her film role debut alongside Jonny Depp and Bill Nighy in 'Minamata', a movie scheduled for release later this year.
2020 will see new music from Katherine in the form of her 14th studio album as well as performances in Dubai, Tokyo, tours of Australia & New Zealand and a special one off performance on the Great Wall of China.- Actress
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Born in 1983, British singer Cheryl Cole studied dance, modeled and appeared in advertisements as a child. Her crowd-pleasing performances on Popstars: The Rivals (2002) won her membership to the pop group Girls Aloud and vaulted her into music stardom, virtually overnight. Cole has also enjoyed some success as a solo artist and appeared as a judge on The X Factor UK (2004).Born Cheryl Ann Tweedy in Newcastle upon Tyne, England on June 30, 1983. Cole showed an early interest in dance and was enrolled at The Royal Ballet's summer school at 9 years of age. She also won several modeling competitions and appeared in advertisements, including a pair of nationally televised commercials for British Gas. Cole's breakout moment, however, came in 2002 when, at age 19, she auditioned for the United Kingdom talent show Popstars: The Rivals (2002). After weeks of competition, the show's audience selected her along with four other female contestants: Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. Together they formed the group Girls Aloud, and Cole would spend the next seven years accumulating 20 Top 10 singles, including four songs and two albums that topped the U.K. charts. Cole began her solo trajectory in June 2008, when she signed on to be a judge on Simon Cowell's TV talent show, The X Factor UK (2004). She also released a single, "Cheryl Cole: Fight for This Love (2009)" which quickly rose to No. 1 on the charts. In December 2009, 5 million viewers tuned in to watch Cole host a one-hour special, Cheryl Cole's Night In (2009). Cole had signed on for the American version of The X Factor UK (2004).in 2011, but she was dropped from the show early on.- Actress
- Director
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Karen Sheila Gillan was born and raised in Inverness, Scotland, as the only child of Marie Paterson and husband John Gillan, who is a singer and recording artist. She developed a love for acting very early on, attending several youth theatre groups and taking part in a wide range of productions at her school, Charleston Academy.
At age 16, Karen decided she wanted to pursue her acting career further and, studied under the renowned theatre director Scott Johnston at the Performing Arts Studio Scotland. She later attended the prestigious Italia Conti Academy in London. During her first year, she landed a role on Rebus (2000) and soon appeared in a variety of programs including Channel 4's Stacked (2008) and The Kevin Bishop Show (2008), as well as a two-year stint on the long-running series Doctor Who (2005). Karen also stars in the film Outcast (2010), starring James Nesbitt. Her most recent starring role is as Eliza Dooley on the situation comedy Selfie (2014).- Ola Jordan was born on 30 September 1982 in Poland. She has been married to James Jordan since 12 October 2003.
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Shona McGarty was born on 14 October 1991 in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for EastEnders (1985), EastEnders: Last Tango in Walford (2010) and Neighbours 30th Anniversary Tribute: Ramsay Square (2015).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Ashley is another Doll who hails from Phoenix, Arizona. She started dancing at 3 and singing at 8, and both have remained her strongest passions in life. Two years ago during auditions for the infamous Roxy shows, Ashley found her home with the Dolls. Being able to support being a confident and sexy woman is Ashley's favorite part of being a Pussycat Doll. Her outside experience includes American Dreams, MTV's Scratch and Burn, commercials for Eclipse Gum, AT & T, and she appears in fellow Doll Carmen Electra's Strip Tease video.- Irish actress Katie McGrath did not intend to make a career for herself in the acting profession. Upon graduating from Trinity College in Dublin she became interested in fashion journalism and worked for lifestyle and fashion magazine, Image. She left after a while, as it was not her calling. After this, her mother's best friend, an assistant director, helped get her a job as a wardrobe assistant on the series The Tudors (2007). Whilst working on the production some of the staff suggested she try acting. A cast driver on the series passed her a list with the actors' agents on it, so she wrote and sent photos to them, and was signed shortly after.
In television, she is best known for portraying Morgana on the BBC One series Merlin (2008-2012), Lucy Westenra on the British-American series Dracula (2013-2014), Sarah Bennett in the first season of the Canadian horror anthology series Slasher (2016) and for her role as Lena Luthor on the American superhero series Supergirl (2016). Her film roles include Lady Thelma Furness in the drama film W.E. (2011), Zara with one of the most iconic scenes in the whole franchise in the science fiction adventure film Jurassic World (2015) and Elsa in the epic fantasy film King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017).
McGrath was raised in Ashford, County Wicklow, Ireland, by Paul, who works with computers, and Mary, who works for an Irish designer. She has two older brothers, Sean, an online media manager, and Rory, who is a post-production producer. She studied the International Baccalaureate at St. Andrew's College before graduating from Trinity College, Dublin with a degree in history with a focus in Russian history.
McGrath was cast in Damage, an Irish TV-movie in 2007. She also starred in the play La Marea at the Dublin Theatre Festival in the same year. She appeared in the feature films Eden and Freakdog in 2008, before being cast as Morgana Pendragon in Merlin.
In 2009, McGrath starred in a five-part docudrama for Channel 4 exploring the life of Queen Elizabeth II, The Queen, in which she played a young Princess Margaret. Emilia Fox portrayed Elizabeth II in the same episode in which McGrath appeared; the two had previously worked together as sisters Morgause and Morgana in Merlin. In 2010, McGrath was cast in Madonna's directorial debut W.E., an Edward VIII biopic. McGrath played Lady Furness, the king's former mistress who introduces him to Wallis Simpson.
2011 saw McGrath film the comedy-drama A Princess for Christmas in Romania. In September 2011, McGrath lent her voice to the characters in the Irish animated short film Tríd an Stoirm (Through the Storm). Later that month, McGrath was cast as Oriane Congost in Labyrinth.
McGrath was reunited with her The Tudors co-star and friend Jonathan Rhys Meyers in NBC and Sky Living's horror drama TV series Dracula; she portrayed Lucy Westenra. In June 2013, McGrath co-starred in episode four of the Channel 4 show Dates as a young lesbian on the dating scene alongside Gemma Chan. In November 2014, McGrath co-starred in a Hozier music video for the song "From Eden".
In 2015, McGrath had a supporting role as Zara in the film Jurassic World and starred in the Crackle original spy-thriller, The Throwaways.
McGrath portrayed the lead role in the first season of Chiller's original horror series Slasher, which premiered on 4 March 2016.
In 2016, it was announced that McGrath would play the recurring role of Lena Luthor in the second season of Supergirl. She appeared in the season two premiere episode entitled "The Adventures of Supergirl" and was promoted to a series regular in March 2017 for the third season. She appeared as Elsa in Guy Ritchie's fantasy film King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, which was released in May 2017.
In 2016-2017 McGrath was featured in the first two seasons of Frontier, alongside Jason Momoa. In 2019 she starred in the Australian TV show Bridesmaids, alongside Georgina Haig and Abbie Cornish. In 2020 McGrath narrated the audio book for Islands of Mercy by Rose Tremain.
After wrapping up the sixth and final season of Supergirl in 2021, McGrath traveled to Budapest, where she shot the John Wick spin-off series The Continental. McGrath can be seen as The Adjudicator in The Continental, which aired its three episodes in 2023. - Actress
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Kimberley Walsh was born on 20 November 1981 in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for I Used to Be Famous (2022), Dream (2001) and Horrid Henry: The Movie (2011). She has been married to Justin Scott since 30 January 2016. They have three children.- Actress
- Producer
- Executive
Dervla (meaning "Daughter of a poet") Kirwan was born in October 1971 in Churchtown, Dublin. Her father worked in insurance and her mother was a French and English teacher. She has two older sisters. She was just 15 when she landed her first role in the BBC Drama Troubles (1988) and a year later she got a part in the first part of Billy Roche's "Wexford Trilogy," which ran from 15 Feb-19 Mar 1988 at the Bush Theatre, London. She played this role again when the plays were made into a TV series broadcast 31 July 1993. Her stage work continued with "Poor Beast In The Rain," the second part of the Wexford Trilogy, (Bush theatre 13 Nov-22 December 1992/TV 7 August 1993), "Hush" (Royal Court Theatre 10 Aug-7 Sept. 1992), "Water Music" (Cockpit Theatre 23 Sept-17 October 1992), "Once A Catholic" (Tricycle Theatre 18 December 1992) and "An Absolute Turkey" (Globe Theatre 27 Dec 1993). Her only feature film to date is December Bride (1990) although she is currently waiting to hear about 3 or 4 film projects. On television she has appeared in A Time to Dance (1992) (12 Jan-2 February 1992), Goodnight Sweetheart (1993) (which she quit at the end of the 1996 series, handing over the character to Elizabeth Carling), and Ballykissangel (1996). On October 8th 1996 she won the National Television Award for 'Most Popular Actress' for her role as Assumpta in Ballykissangel.- Actress
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Parminder Nagra was born in Leicester, Leicestershire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Bend It Like Beckham (2002), ER (1994) and The Blacklist (2013). She was previously married to James Stenson.- Music Artist
- Actress
- Composer
Joscelyn Eve Stoker (born 11 April 1987), better known by her stage name Joss Stone, is an English singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to fame in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album, The Soul Sessions, which made the 2004 Mercury Prize shortlist. Her second album, the similarly multi-platinum Mind Body & Soul (2004), topped the UK Albums Chart for one week and spawned the top ten hit "You Had Me", Stone's most successful single on the UK Singles Chart to date.
Both the album and single received one nomination at the 2005 Grammy Awards, while Stone herself was nominated for Best New Artist, and in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2004, was ranked fifth as a predicted breakthrough act of 2004. She became the youngest British female singer to top the UK Albums Chart. Stone's third album, Introducing Joss Stone, released in March 2007, achieved gold record status by the RIAA and yielded the second-ever highest debut for a British female solo artist on the Billboard 200, and became Stone's first top five album in the US. She released her fourth album, Colour Me Free!, on 20 October 2009, which reached the top 10 on Billboard. Stone released her fifth album, LP1, on 22 July 2011, which reached the top 10 on Billboard. Throughout her career, Stone has sold 14 million records worldwide, establishing herself as one of the best-selling soul artists of the 2000s, and the best-selling British artists of her time. Her first three albums have sold over 2,722,000 copies in the US, while her first two albums have sold over 2 million copies in the UK. Stone has earned numerous accolades, including two Brit Awards and one Grammy Award out of five nominations.
She made her film acting debut in 2006 with the fantasy adventure film Eragon, and made her television debut portraying Anne of Cleves in the Showtime series The Tudors in 2009. Stone was the youngest woman on the 2006 Sunday Times Rich List-an annual list of the UK's wealthiest people. In 2012, her net worth was estimated to be 10 million, making her the fifth richest British musician under 30. The Soul Sessions Vol. 2 (2012) is her fourth consecutive album to reach the top 10 on the Billboard 200.
Joscelyn Eve Stone was born on 11 April 1987 at Buckland Hospital in Dover, Kent and spent her teenage years in Ashill, a small pastoral village near Cullompton in Devon. She is the third of four children born to Wendy (Skillin) and Richard Stoker. Her father owns a fruit and nut import-export business; her mother worked as Stone's manager until October 2004. Stone made her first public appearance at the Uffculme Comprehensive School-which she attended-in Uffculme, Devon, with a cover version of Jackie Wilson's 1957 song "Reet Petite". Stone has dyslexia and left school at age sixteen with only three GCSE qualifications. "It wasn't that I was stupid. I'm just a little bit dyslexic and I wasn't very academic. I'm more artistic", she says. Stone grew up listening to a wide variety of music including 1960s and 1970s American R&B and soul music performed by such artists as Dusty Springfield and Aretha Franklin. As a result, she developed a soulful style of singing like her idols. "My first CD that I owned was Aretha Franklin: Greatest Hits. And I saw the advert on TV and it was just like little clips of her songs. I had no idea who she was-I was only like 10 so. I said, 'Oh yeah, that looks really good', so I wrote it down and I said to my mum, 'Can I have that for Christmas?' So she told my friend Dennis, who always gets me good music anyway, and he got that for me. So that was one of my first albums that I loved."
She would later tell MTV News: "I kind of clicked into soul music more than anything else because of the vocals. You've got to have good vocals to sing soul music and I always liked it ever since I was little." Stone possesses the vocal range of a mezzo-soprano and contralto. She's famous for performing barefoot and has been described as "the white Aretha Franklin" since her debut in music industry. However, Stone was the subject of some contention in the United States, where her audience expected soul artists to have been born in poverty and have had a rough and painful life in order to sing soul music due to its emotional nature. People also expected someone with a voice like hers to be black. In 2004, Stone began dating Beau Dozier, with whom she co-wrote the song "Spoiled". Dozier is the son of Motown producer Lamont Dozier, who is best known as part of Holland-Dozier-Holland. The couple ended their relationship in November 2005.
In a 2016 interview, Stone revealed that she was in a relationship with music promoter SiChai for three years. Stone is a lifelong vegetarian, and has taken part in various campaigns for animal rights group PETA, Stone also owns a number of rescue dogs.- Actress
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Michelle Ryan was born on April 22nd, 1984 in Enfield, Middlesex, England.
She started her career performing in a Dance Gala at The London Palladium with "Wayne Sleep" (1998), with her first television role being "Dolores" in the children's program, Fair Is Foul and Fouls Are Fair (2000).
She then went on to play "Zoe Slater" in the BBC Soap, EastEnders (1985) (2000-2005), with a two hander episode in which her character, "Zoe Slater", shared the screen with her mother, "Kat Slater", drawing in 19 million viewers and winning "Best Single Episode" at the British Soap Awards (2002). Ryan was also nominated in the category of Best Actress at the British Soap Awards (2005).
Her first movie role came in 2005 with Sean Ellis' Cashback (2004). Then appearing, alongside Faye Dunaway, in Flick (2008), which was nominated for the Raindance Award at the British Independent Film Awards, and I Want Candy (2007) with Carmen Electra. She has taken other independent movie roles in Noel Clarke's 4.3.2.1. (2010); Girl Walks Into a Bar (2011) with Josh Hartnett, Danny DeVito and Carla Gugino; The Man Inside (2012) with Ashley Walters and Peter Mullan (2012); and Cockneys vs Zombies (2012) with Harry Treadaway (2012).
Ryan has appeared in a number of UK television series, including Jekyll (2007), for the BBC as psychiatrist "Katherine Reimer", with James Nesbitt, Mansfield Park (2007) for ITV as "Maria Bertram" opposite Rory Kinnear before being cast as "Jaime Sommers" in the title role for NBC's 2007 remake of Bionic Woman (2007). Other TV roles include "Nimueh" in Merlin (2008) for the BBC (2008), "Lady Christina de Souza" in Planet of the Dead (2009) for the BBC (2009) and as "Saz Paley" with Olivia Colman in Mister Eleven (2009) for ITV (2009).
Alongside her TV and Film work, she has appeared in theatre productions "Who's the Daddy" (2005) at the Kings Head Theatre in Islington, "The Talented Mr. Ripley" at The Royal Derngate Theatre in Northampton (2010) playing the role of "Marge", opposite Kyle Soller, and as the lead role of "Sally Bowles" in "Cabaret" at The Savoy Theatre, London (2012).
Ryan joined Piper Perabo for a 6-episode arc as "CIA agent Helen Hanson" in Covert Affairs (2010) for the USA Network (2013).
Michelle can also be seen in Andron (2015), starring Alec Baldwin and Danny Glover.- Actress
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Born In England, raised in Canada. BFA Acting University of Windsor. Amanda spent 12 seasons on Stargate SG-1 (1997) and its spin-offs, Stargate: Atlantis (2004) and Stargate Universe (2009), as "Samantha Carter". She then took on the lead role of "Dr. Helen Magnus" on the television series Sanctuary (2008), a project she had been nurturing from its inception on the internet.
Tapping has come to secure a strong and direct influence on her projects from behind the lens. She was an Executive Producer of Sanctuary (2008) and also sat in the director's chair for several episodes. She previously directed the Stargate SG-1 (1997) episode, Resurrection (2004), in 2004, which garnered her a Leo Award nomination for Best Director. She has also directed three episodes each of Primeval: New World (2012), Arctic Air (2012) and Continuum (2012). She has also directed Strange Empire (2014), Olympus (2015), Dark Matter (2015) and X Company (2015). Tapping has also earned four Leo Awards for Best Actress, has been nominated for two Gemini Awards and four Saturn Awards and won the 2005 Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Amanda's love of comedy lead her to co-found the all female Canadian comedy troupe, Random Acts. Her work in the short film Breakdown (2006) earned her the Canadian Comedy Award in 2007. She also did films like Space Milkshake (2012), Random Acts of Romance (2012), Taken Back: Finding Haley (2012) and Kid Cannabis (2014). She was Naomi on 7 episodes of the 8th season of Supernatural (2005). She also played a recurring character on the sitcom Package Deal (2013).
Tapping has had the pleasure of supporting various charities and organizations such as The Coast Foundation, a support agency for people with mental disabilities, The Canadian Cancer Society, UNICEF and V-Day by performing in "The Vagina Monologues" to help end violence against women and girls worldwide. She also sits on the leadership council for The Waterkeeper Alliance. Amanda launched the charitable foundation "Sanctuary for Kids" in 2009 to support both local and global children's charities helping children in crisis. To date they have raised over $650,000. Their work takes them to Nepal, Haiti and the downtown east side of Vancouver. She was honored with Women in Film's "Woman of Vision" award. She also received the YWCA Women of Distinction "Connecting the Community" Award. She was awarded The Jules Verne Award in Paris for her humanitarian work. She was offered an Honorary Life Membership from the University College of Dublin Law Society and received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from The University of Windsor.- Actress
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Emma Willis was born on 20 March 1976 in Birmingham, West Midlands, England, UK. She is an actress, known for EastEnders (1985), The Keith and Paddy Picture Show (2017) and Emma Willis: Delivering Babies (2018). She has been married to Matt Willis since 5 July 2008. They have three children.- Actress
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Emma Lee Bunton was born on the 21st January 1976 in Finchley, North London to parents Pauline, a karate instructor, and Trevor, a milkman. They split up when Emma was 11, and she stayed with her mum. She also has a younger brother, P.J. (Paul) who she is very close to. Emma's career began at an early age when she started doing modeling work for such things as Mothercare, Mentadent P toothpaste and Polly Pocket. She attended the famous Sylvia Young Drama School in London, during which time she auditioned for several TV parts including that of "Bianca" in EastEnders (1985), but none of them really panned out. She can be seen briefly in both EastEnders (1985) and The Bill (1984), but only in minor parts. It wasn't long after she left Sylvia Young's that she joined the Spice Girls (after the original 5th Spice Girl, Michelle Stephenson, left). 2 albums, 8 No. 1 singles and a film later and the Spice Girls are still going strong. Emma is due to appear in the BBC musical drama Sleeping Beauty (1987), which is filming at the moment and will be out by the end of the year. The Spice Girls' 3rd album, "Forever", was released in November 2000 and reached the #2 spot on the UK charts. It also features the Spice Girls' 9th #1 single, "Holler/Let Love Lead The Way". Since then, the Spice Girls haven't worked together again. In April 2001, Emma released her first solo album, "A Girl Like Me", which featured her 1999 cover of Edie Brickell's "What I Am" and Emma's own #1 hit "What Took You So Long". In 2003, Emma released her second solo album, "Free Me", which includes her four hits "Free Me", "Maybe", "I'll Be There" and "Crickets Sing For Anamaria". Her promo tour lead her to the US in early 2005, where a remix of "Free Me" was a popular club track.- Actress
- Producer
Gemma Atkinson was born on 16 November 1984 in Bury, Greater Manchester, England, UK. She is an actress and producer, known for Hollyoaks (1995), Devil's Pass (2013) and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (2008).- Actress
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Jennifer Ellison was born on 30 May 1983 in Liverpool, England, UK. She is an actress, known for The Phantom of the Opera (2004), The Cottage (2008) and Hotel Babylon (2006). She has been married to Rob Tickle since 10 October 2009. They have three children.- Actress
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Davina McCall was born on 16 October 1967 in Wimbledon, London, England, UK. She is an actress and director, known for Dead Set (2008), Doctor Who (2005) and A Bear's Christmas Tail (2004). She was previously married to Matthew Robertson and Andrew Leggett.- Aliona Vilani was born on 1 May 1984 in Kazakhstan. She has been married to Vincent Kavanagh since 7 April 2014. They have one child.
- Sonya Walger is a British actress who also holds American citizenship. She had starring roles in the short-lived sitcoms The Mind of the Married Man (2001-2002) and Coupling (2003) before landing her role as Penny Widmore in the ABC drama series Lost (2006-2010). Walger later starred on Tell Me You Love Me (2007), FlashForward (2009-2010), Common Law (2012), The Catch (2016-2017) and For All Mankind (2019-2022).
- Actress
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- Music Department
Jameela Alia Jamil was born on February 25, 1986 in Hampstead, London, England. She was discovered at 22 years old when she was teaching English in London, UK. Her first job in media was a main host on T4, the UK's leading youth entertainment show where she made a name for herself interviewing famous actors and musicians. She also became a journalist for Cosmopolitan Magazine and the Huffington Post. After 2 years she became the face of Maybelline and Nails Inc and in 2012, she released her own clothing line after much success in the fashion industry and having shot for both British and American Vogue, Glamour Magazine, Cosmopolitan Magazine and Japanese teen vogue. 2012 also saw her nominated for the PPA and BSME awards for her writing. Later that year she was recruited by BBC Radio 1, to host her own show on their network, which would lead to a promotion in 2013, where she made history as the first woman in its 60 years on air, to host the Official Chart on the esteemed radio station. With much success, including several awards for radio and a growing DJ career she stayed on at the network until 2015, when she left to pursue a writing career in the United States. After signing as a comedy writer at 3ARTS and being taken on by UTA, in spite of never having acted before, she was sent to audition for Michael Schur's latest project on NBC, The Good Place (2016), to star opposite Ted Danson and Kristen Bell. The comedy series will air in the fall of 2016 for 13 episodes.- Actress
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India de Beaufort was born in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England, UK. She is an actress and producer, known for Run Fatboy Run (2007), Slumberland (2022) and Kimi (2022). She has been married to Todd Grinnell since 29 August 2015. They have one child.- Actress
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Catherine Zeta-Jones was born September 25, 1969 in Swansea, Wales (and raised in the nearby town of Mumbles), the only daughter of Patricia (nee Fair) and David James "Dai" Jones, who formerly owned a sweet factory. She attended Dumbarton House School (Swansea). Her father (the son of Bertram (1912-1970) and Zeta Davies Jones (1917-2008)) is of Welsh descent and her mother (the daughter of William (1921-2000) and Catherine O'Callaghan Fair (1920-2001) ) is of English, Irish, and Welsh ancestry. Her brothers are David Jones (born 1967), a development executive, and Lyndon Jones (born 1972), who works at her production company. Her birth name was simply Catherine Jones, but she added her paternal grandmother's name ("Zeta") so as to stand out from the many other young women with the exact same name.
She showed an interest early on in entertainment. She starred on stage in "Annie", "Bugsy Malone" and "The Pajama Game". At age 15, she had the lead in the British revival of "42nd Street". She was originally cast as the second understudy for the lead role in the musical but when the star and first understudy became sick the night the play's producer was in the audience, she was given the lead for the rest of the musical's production. She first made a name for herself in the early 1990s when she starred in the Yorkshire Television comedy/drama series The Darling Buds of May (1991). The series was a success and made her one of the United Kingdom's most popular television actresses.
She subsequently played supporting roles in several films including Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992), the miniseries Catherine the Great (1995) and a larger role as the seductive Sala in The Phantom (1996) before landing her breakthrough role playing the fiery Elena opposite Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas in The Mask of Zorro (1998). She starred in many big-budget blockbusters like Entrapment (1999), The Haunting (1999) and Traffic (2000), for which many believed she was robbed of an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as murderous vaudevillian Velma Kelly in the musical comedy Chicago (2002). She then appeared opposite George Clooney in Intolerable Cruelty (2003), Ocean's Twelve (2004) and reprised her starring role in the sequel The Legend of Zorro (2005).
In November 2000, she married actor Michael Douglas. She gave birth to their son Dylan Michael in August 2000 followed by daughter, Carys, in April 2003. She was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to drama.- Actress
- Producer
Indira Anne Varma (born 27 September 1973) is a British actress. Her film debut and first major role was in Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love. She has gone on to appear in the television series The Canterbury Tales, Rome, Luther, Human Target, and Game of Thrones (as Ellaria Sand). In September 2016, she began starring in the ITV/Netflix series Paranoid, as DS Nina Suresh.
Varma was born in Bath, Somerset, the only child of an Indian father and a Swiss mother who was of part Genoese Italian descent; her parents were relatively elderly and were often mistaken for her grandparents. She was a member of Musical Youth Theatre Company and graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, in 1995.
Varma has had a number of television and film roles, including Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love in 1997 and Bride and Prejudice in 2004, and the young Roman wife Niobe during the first season of BBC/HBO's historical drama series Rome. Her character appeared briefly in the second season of the award-winning series when it aired on 14 January 2007.
In 2006, she played Suzie Costello in the first and eighth episodes, "Everything Changes" and "They Keep Killing Suzie", of BBC Three's science-fiction drama series Torchwood. She appeared as Dr Adrienne Holland in the CBS medical drama 3 lbs which premiered on 14 November 2006 and was cancelled on 30 November 2006 due to poor ratings. Varma guest starred in the fourth-season premiere of hit US detective drama Bones as Scotland Yard Inspector Cate Pritchard. She also played the role of Zoe Luther in the first series of the BBC drama Luther.
Varma played the role of Ilsa Pucci in the second season of the Fox series Human Target until the show was cancelled on 10 May 2011.
Varma played the role of Ellaria Sand, the paramour of Oberyn Martell in season 4 of the HBO show Game of Thrones, and reprised the role in seasons 5, 6 and 7.
She lent her voice to the Circle mage Vivienne, in the 2014 role-playing video game Dragon Age: Inquisition.
In 2016, she played the lead role of DC Nina Suresh in the eight-episode British television drama Paranoid, streamed worldwide on Netflix.
In 1997, Varma played Bianca in Shakespeare's Othello at the National Theatre, London. In 2000 to 2001, she appeared in Harold Pinter and Di Trevis's NT stage adaptation of Pinter's The Proust Screenplay, Remembrance of Things Past, based on À la recherche du temps perdu, by Marcel Proust. In the summer of 2001, she played Gila in One for the Road, by Harold Pinter, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City.
In 2002, she played Sasha Lebedieff in Ivanov by Anton Chekhov at the National Theatre and Bunty Mainwaring in The Vortex by Noël Coward at the Donmar Theatre, London. In 2004, she played Sabina in The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder at the Young Vic Theatre Theatre, London. In 2008, she played Nadia Baliye in The Vertical Hour by David Hare at the Royal Court Theatre London. In 2009, she played Olivia in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night with Donmar West End at Wyndham's Theatre, London. In 2012, she played Jessica in Terry Johnson's Hysteria at the Theatre Royal, Bath. In 2013 she played Miss Cutts in The Hothouse by Harold Pinter in the Trafalgar Transformed season at Trafalgar Studios.
In 2014, Varma played Tamora, Queen of the Goths, in Lucy Bailey's "gore-fest" production of Titus Andronicus at Shakespeare's Globe. In 2015, she appeared alongside Ralph Fiennes in George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman at the National Theatre.- Actress
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Suranne Jones was born on 27 August 1978 in Greater Manchester, England, UK. She is an actress and writer, known for Doctor Foster: A Woman Scorned (2015), Scott & Bailey (2011) and Coronation Street (1960). She has been married to Laurence Akers since 4 August 2015. They have one child.- Actress
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Angela Griffin was born on 19 July 1976 in Cottingley, Leeds, Yorkshire, England, UK. She is an actress and director, known for Waterloo Road (2006), Help (2021) and Crime (2021). She has been married to Jason Milligan since 27 July 2006. They have two children.- Actress
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She passed her 9 GCSEs with A* and A grades in between working for several terms away from school on the Famous Five. From there she went to 6th form college where she got 3 grade A levels and an academic prize in the Arts. Her parents are both freelance broadcasters and she has two cousins who are young film directors - one of them the promising Serbian director Stevan Filipovic.- Actress
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Thandiwe Newton was born in London. She is the daughter of Zimbabwean mother Nyasha, a health-care worker from the Shona tribe, and British father Nick Newton, who worked as a lab technician. She lived in Zambia until political unrest caused her family to move back to the UK, where she lived in Cornwall (in southwest Britain) until she was 11 and enrolled in London's Art Educational School to study modern dance until a back injury forced her to quit dancing. This led to her auditioning for films. Her first role was in John Duigan's Flirting (1991). She then moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue acting. When her British accent limited the amount of work she was getting, she returned to Britain, studied at Cambridge University, and earned a degree in anthropology. Between semesters she continued acting and became noticed in in- demand for future film roles.- Actress
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Naomi Scott is a multi-talented actor, singer, and songwriter. She stars as "Jasmine" in Disney's blockbuster live-action remake Aladdin (2019), alongside Mena Massoud and Will Smith, directed by Guy Ritchie. Disney released the film in May 2019, and it became one of the biggest films of the year.
Naomi was born in London, England to Usha (Joshi) and Christopher Scott, who are pastors of the Bridge Church, Woodford in Redbridge. Her father is British and her mother, who is from Uganda, is from a Gujarati Indian family.
Naomi appeared in "The 33," directed by Patricia Riggen. Starring Juliette Binoche, Gabriel Byrne, and Antonio Banderas, the film is based on the 2010 rescue of 33 Chilean miners after being trapped for 69 days in a gold and copper mine. Naomi plays "Escarlette", the daughter of Banderas' character who is the leader of the miners. Additional credits include a series regular role in Steven Spielberg's television series "Terra Nova" for DreamWorks and FOX, a lead role in the hit Disney Channel movie "Lemonade Mouth", and a lead role in Lee Toland Krieger's short film "Modern/Love" produced by Roman Coppola.
In 2017, Scott was seen in Lionsgate's Power Rangers (2017), directed by Dean Israelite, which tells the story of a group of teenagers who transform into a uniformed team of superheroes ready to protect the world from evil. Naomi plays "Kimberly" aka 'The Pink Ranger', a girl unconventionally cool in a way all the popular girls wish they were.
Naomi is in production on "Charlie's Angels," which Elizabeth Banks is helming for Sony; she won the highly-coveted leading role of "Elena" opposite Kristen Stewart. Sony is set to release the film in November 2019.
Naomi resides in London.- Mitra was born in Paddington, London, England, the daughter of Nora Downey and Anthony Mitra, a cosmetic surgeon. She has an older and a younger brother. Her father is of Bengali Indian and English descent, and her mother is Irish. In 1984, when Mitra was eight, her parents divorced, and she was sent to boarding school. She spent several years at two different schools, including Roedean, but Mitra claims she was eventually expelled from both of them.
Mitra's first main role came as Scott Wolf's illicit love interest on Party of Five (1994). In 2000, Mitra had a small, key role in the film Hollow Man (2000), as the rape victim of Kevin Bacon, an incident that drives his character insane. She had a main role in the medical drama Gideon's Crossing (2000), as "Dr. Alejandra Ollie Klein". Mitra then had roles in Ali G Indahouse (2002); Sweet Home Alabama (2002); Stuck on You (2003), and leading roles in Highwaymen (2004) and Spartacus (2004). Mitra appeared in the final season of The Practice (1997) as "Tara Wilson", and continued that role into its spin-off Boston Legal (2004), but left not long into the second season. In 2005, Mitra played the role of "Kit McGraw" during Season 3 of Nip/Tuck (2003). Mitra then went on to appear in Skinwalkers (2006), The Number 23 (2007) and Shooter (2007). In 2008, Mitra starred in the lead role of the science fiction/action film Doomsday (2008) as "Major Eden Sinclair", and, in 2009, went on to star in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009) as "Sonja", the daughter of the powerful vampire elder, "Viktor" (played by Bill Nighy).
Mitra appeared as the live action model for "Lara Croft", the lead character in Eidos Interactive's Tomb Raider video game series. She was ranked #46 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2001. - Actress
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Lena Headey is a Bermudian-British actress. Headey is best known for her role as "Cersei Lannister" in Game of Thrones (2011) (2011-2019) and The Brothers Grimm (2005), Possession (2002), and The Remains of the Day (1993). Headey stars as "Queen Gorgo", a heroic Spartan woman in the period film, 300 (2006), by director Zack Snyder.
Headey was born in Hamilton, Bermuda, to British parents Sue and John Headey. Her father, a Yorkshire police cadet, was stationed in the Bermuda Police Service. She was raised there until age five, when her family returned to England. She was brought up in Yorkshire before moving to London in her teens. Headey had not gone to drama school before she became an actress. At the age of seventeen, Headey's performance in a one-off show in the company of six school friends caught the attention of a casting agent, who took a photo and asked her to audition. Eventually, Headey was cast in Waterland (1992), which became her big-screen debut. She honed her natural acting talent while filming and also took archery classes and horse training. She also took boxing classes in clubs in south London, where a former boxer had been teaching her to spar. During her film career, spanning over 15 years, Headey has shown her range in a variety of roles, playing characters from Amazon-type warriors and action-minded women in The Cave (2005) and The Brothers Grimm (2005), to a lesbian florist in Imagine Me & You (2005).
Headey's film career has taken her all over the world. She was in India for the filming of The Jungle Book (1994), then in St. Petersburg, Russia, for filming Onegin (1999), and in Norway for filming of Aberdeen (2000). In 2005 Headey was filming in Romania and in Mexico, then spent four months in Prague, Czech Republic, where a forest was designed and built for filming The Brothers Grimm (2005), with Matt Damon and Heath Ledger. During 2006 Headey was in Canada for the filming of 300 (2006), then went to locations in Bulgaria for shooting The Contractor (2007), and Germany and in Czech Republic for the filming of The Red Baron (2008).
She also played Gina McVey in the horror thriller The Broken (2008), and Elizabeth in Tell Tale (2009). In addition to her film-work, Heady appeared as Sarah Connor in a TV spin-off of the popular "Terminator" film franchise, the FOX's television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008).
Outside of her acting profession, Headey continued taking boxing lessons in London. She is a vegetarian and also remains loyal to yoga, which she discovered during her work in India. She has never been back to her birthplace in Bermuda; she shares her time between her homes in London, England, and Los Angeles, California.- Actress
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Emma Pierson was born on 30 April 1981 in Plymouth, Devon, England, UK. She is an actress and director, known for Absolutely Anything (2015), Guest House Paradiso (1999) and The Last King (2003).- Actress
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- Music Department
Sheridan Smith was born on 25 June 1981 and grew up in Epworth. While Sheridan was growing up, her parents, Colin and Marilyn, performed as a Country and Western duo called The Daltons and it wasn't long before Sheridan got into it. She was dancing from the age of 4 and singing with her parents when she was about 7. At 14 she made her professional debut in the production of Annie, playing the lead role. She then went on to star in many big stage roles such as: The Go-Between, Little Red Riding Hood in the 1998 Donmar Warehouse production of Into The Woods, Talullah in National Youth Theatre's production of Bugsy Malone, Doll the Moll in Tin Pan Ali, Mrs Hardcastle in The Kissing Dance or She Stoops To Conquer, Pendragon and Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz.
Sheridan appeared on Blue Peter, Newsround, Children in Need, Olivier Awards and Theatreland with the NYMT (National Youth Music Theatre) of which she was a member.
Sheridan's first TV appearance came in 1999 when she played Matilda in ITV's Dark Ages (1999). Since then Sheridan has made many guest appearances, including roles in Wives and Daughters, Anchor Me, Peaches, Hawk, Heartbeat, Doctors, Where the Heart Is (1997), Holby City, Blood Strangers, Fat Friends, The Royal, Mile High and The Bill.
She is perhaps best known for her roles in The Royle Family (1998) from 1999-2000 were she played Emma, Anthony Royle's (Ralf Little) girlfriend, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps (2001), again playing Ralf's girlfriend, and Rudi in three series of Gavin & Stacey (2007).
Sheridan lives in London with flatmate Jason. Her brother Damien is a member of the band Indie Manned.- Lacey Turner was born on 28 March 1988 in Hendon, London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for EastEnders (1985), Our Girl (2013) and Our Girl (2013). She has been married to Matt Kay since 2 September 2017. They have two children.
- Daniela Denby-Ashe was born on 9 August 1978 in London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for North & South (2004), My Family (2000) and Waterloo Road (2006).
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Marsha Thomason is a British television and film actress who is known for playing Sara Evers in Disney's The Haunted Mansion, Naomi Dorrit on the ABC series Lost, FBI agent Diana Berrigan on the USA Network series White Collar, Francine Bridge on Sky's Cobra and DS Jenn Townsend in ITV crime series The Bay.- Actress
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Gugu Mbatha-Raw was born Gugulethu Sophia Mbatha in the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, England. Her father, Patrick Mbatha, is a Black South African doctor, and her mother, Anne Raw, is a Caucasian English nurse. Her parents separated when she was a year old, and she was brought up by her mother in the town of Witney, Oxfordshire (she is still close to her father). She joined the local acting group Dramascope and, from the age of eleven, appeared in the pantomime at Oxford Playhouse every year. A talented singer and dancer as well as playing the saxophone, she joined the Oxford Youth Music Theatre in her teens.
In 2001, she won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. Since graduation in 2004, she has appeared in all media, including as an acclaimed Juliet Capulet in "Romeo and Juliet" at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre in 2005, opposite Andrew Garfield as Romeo Montague. Mbatha-Raw was nominated for Best Actress in the Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards for her portrayal of Juliet Capulet. She also appeared as Octavia in "Antony and Cleopatra" at the same theatre in 2005. In 2009, she was cast as Ophelia in "Hamlet" on London's West End and Broadway, opposite Jude Law as the title role.
Mbatha-Raw appeared on such varied television series as Bad Girls (1999), Doctor Who (2005), Marple (2004) and Touch (2012). She had a supporting role in the romantic comedy Larry Crowne (2011), written and directed by Tom Hanks, who also played the title role. She was acclaimed for her performance of Dido Elizabeth Belle in Amma Asante's Belle (2013), which earned her a British Independent Film Award for Best Actress, and a nomination as Most Promising Newcomer. She was also nominated for a Satellite Award for Best Actress.
She starred in the romantic drama Beyond the Lights (2014) and was nominated for a Gotham Award for Best Actress for her performance. In 2015, she was nominated for a BAFTA Rising Star Award. That same year, she had a supporting role in Jupiter Ascending (2015), played Prema Mutiso, the wife of Dr. Bennet Omalu (played by Will Smith) in the biopic Concussion (2015), and the title role in Jessica Swale's play "Nell Gwynn", playing the actress who became the mistress of King Charles II of England. She was nominated for an Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in the play.
She played Rachel in Newton Knight's biopic Free State of Jones (2016), directed by Gary Ross, playing Knight's common-law wife, a freedwoman he had a family with after the Civil War. She also played Esme Manucharian in Miss Sloane (2016), Sophie on Netflix's series Easy (2016), and played Kelly, one of the leads in "San Junipero", the fourth episode of Season 3 of Black Mirror (2011). Her other films are the live-action remake Beauty and the Beast (2017), playing Plumette, A Wrinkle in Time (2018), directed by Ava DuVernay, and The Cloverfield Paradox (2018).
Gugu Mbatha-Raw was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2017 Birthday Honours for her services to drama.- Actress
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Jenna Coleman is best known for her BAFTA-nominated performance as Clara in 'Doctor Who' and for playing the title role in ITV's Emmy-nominated series 'Victoria'. She was most recently seen in a lead role as Marie-Andrée Leclerc in the dark crime drama 'The Serpent' for BBC and Netflix opposite Tahar Rahim, and in the critically acclaimed miniseries 'The Cry' for the BBC/Sundance. On-stage, she was most recently seen at The Old Vic in 'All My Sons' alongside Bill Pullman and Sally Field. Upcoming is Neil Maskell's feature debut 'Klokkenluider' and Warner Brothers'/Netflix anticipated series, 'The Sandman' as Johanna Constantine- Actress
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Billie Piper studied at the prestigious Sylvia Young Theatre School. She caught the eyes of record producers who were interested in signing a young vocalist when she was the poster girl for the ad campaign of a British pop music magazine, "Smash Hits". She released her first single, "Because We Want To", which debuted at #1 at age 15. Her second single, "Girlfriend", was also a #1 hit. By the time she turned 16, Billie had released 4 singles that all made the top three on the charts. She has been labeled the "Pop Princess" of England, UK.- Michelle Keegan was born on 3 June 1987 in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Coronation Street (1960), Our Girl (2013) and Drunk History: UK (2015). She has been married to Mark Wright since 24 May 2015.
- Standing at an average 5ft 5in, with a cheeky glint in her deep brown eyes we have Kara Tointon - a girl who is anything but average. She was brought into the world on August 5th 1983 in a large Essex town called Southend-On-Sea.. Ambitious and confident from an early age, Kara often made up her own words for things and was always amusing those around her with her random and creative moods. If she wasn't an actress she would have attended art college. During her teenage years she attended a private school with only 12 people in her entire year. It was here she made friends for life.
At the tender age of 7 Kara began her acting career. She attended speech and drama lessons at school and she also took part in LAMDA examinations, entering local musical festivals doing poetry recital. Her first proper acting experience came when she played the part of Birgita in The Sound of Music at the Cliffs Pavillion. Shortly after that her first paid job was as one of the children in the pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Her first appearance on television was as an extra in Eastenders.
Not only is she a wonderful actress but she is also highly trained in dance, specializing in Aerobics, Ballet, Bass-Baritone, Cabaret Singing, Choreography, Contemporary, Jazz and Tap. In her spare time she enjoys painting, swimming and skiing. She is a girl with endless talents.
But Kara often likes to take a step back from the limelight to spend time with her family and friends who she strives to spend as much time with as possible. Her mother and younger sister Hannah in particular, who recently moved away from Essex to London to be closer to her. Kara is also a keen shopper and likes to spend hours at a time rooting around London for rare, one-off outfits. Fading into the background isn't her style.
2004 has been a great year for Kara. Not only did she appear in Mile High but she has recently returned to her former Dream Team role as Gina Milliano. Kara longed for a regular role in a hit TV show and it looks like her dream maybe have come true. - Actress
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Sarah-Jane Potts was born on 30 August 1976 in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, UK. She is an actress and producer, known for The Magician. (2022), Kinky Boots (2005) and Sugar Rush (2005). She has been married to Joseph Millson since 31 December 2013. She was previously married to Tony Denman.- Alison King was born on March 3, 1973 in Leicester, Leicestershire, England. at Leicester Royal Infirmary to Alex and June King, who were both nurses at the hospital. She was their fifth child and third daughter. She went to Markfield Mercenfeld Primary School and South Charnwood High School, where she first took an interest in acting. She continued to act while attending Groby Community College, where a teacher would offer drama and dance classes to students in their free time. Alison was raised as a Christadelphian and attended the Christadelphian Church at Westleigh, Leicester, where she was baptised as a teenager. At the age of 18, she moved to Newquay, Cornwall, and worked at Fat Willys Surf Shack. While on holiday in the Mediterranean, in a Tenerife bar in March 1995, she met Philip Middlemiss, who became her boyfriend for five years and encouraged her to become an actress. At the age of 22, she enrolled at the North Cheshire Theatre School. In the 1990s, King was described as a regular on the Manchester party scene while dating Middlemiss, and commented in 2007 about her party animal days, saying "it seems like another life time ago. That gap from 25 to 34 is a long time. Sometimes I meet somebody from 10 years ago and I can't remember anything." During her time at drama school, she got her first television role, playing Helen, a hair salon crimper, in two episodes of Brookside (1982). Before the conclusion of her three-year diploma, she was cast in the major role of Lynda Block in Sky One's Double Team (1997) for three years before the character was sent to prison. She reprised the role some years later.
During her break from working on Dream Team, she worked on several projects abroad including appearing as an extra in the American feature film Shanghai Knights (2003) as a prostitute in a scene alongside Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson. She gained supporting roles in BBC comedy-drama Help (2005), a Steven Seagal direct-to-video film Submerged (2005) and the little-seen feature film Final Contract: Death on Delivery (2006). She talked of her enthusiasm for filming action scenes "I always think you should do the slap for real. They always have a safety guy on set anyway. I've done a lot of action films actually - I like getting involved. I've kicked people, shot them and all kinds of things."
She played Frenchie in a production of Grease (1978) in Edinburgh Festival Theatre, and narrated a production of Blood Brothers in the London Palladium. In 2000, she appeared in an episode of Cold Feet (1997) as "Girlpower", a seductive Internet avatar. In the early 2000s, she made one-episode appearances in several television shows, including the final episode of Mile High (2003), playing the wife of Captain Nigel Croker's, and Coupling (2000) in the episode "The Man with Two Legs", as Chrissy with whom Jeff Murdock becomes infatuated on his morning train ride. She also appeared in the second episode of the fourth series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (1983) in 2004. She played one of the prominent roles for two independent films, Save Angel Hope (2007) and Back in Business (2007).
In 2006, she was cast as Carla Connor in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street (1960), which proved to be her breakout role. She made her first appearance in the role in the episode broadcast on 1 December 2006. She had previously appeared in the soap in 2004 as an unrelated character named Mrs Fanshaw. Her one-episode role was part of a larger storyline to "sex up" Ryan Thomas's character, builder Jason Grimshaw. She later joked "I was Mrs Fanshaw - or Fanny. What a nightmare!" She said that she initially found the role difficult, as she "was uncomfortable playing a constant bitch at first. I'm getting into it now but I'm not as nasty or as cocky as Carla. She's horrible to anyone she perceives to be a rival. I couldn't be like that." In November 2010, she admitted her character "annoys the hell" out of her, and she has also said she hates the voice she chose for the character.
After becoming pregnant in 2008, Alison went on maternity leave in 2009. In a November 2008 interview, when asked about filming scenes while pregnant, she joked "Yeah, I'm big and fat at the minute. I'm just getting fatter. It's a competition between my boobs, my bump and my ass! I think my bum's slightly ahead at the minute! I look like Humpty Dumpty with leggings."
Alison's role in the soap involved high-profile storylines. In 2010 she was involved in the death of Tony Gordon storyline, in which she had to be kidnapped in the Underworld factory. For these scenes, she had to be tied to a chair with her hands tied behind her back and have her mouth gagged with gaffer tape. Of filming the scenes, she said "We were tied up and gagged for a week and a half. I was gaffa-taped for a little while and tied up for most of it. My wrist was sore at the end! It was a different experience anyway, acting for two weeks with your hands tied behind your back on a chair." Alison said the Siege Week was "great television and I'm really pleased to be part of it", and performed all stunts herself, except one that consisted of a jump from a balcony. The storyline was a hit with audiences and critically acclaimed.
Alison participated in a live episode to commemorate the show's 50th anniversary in late 2010. In September 2011, her character Carla was raped by her fiancée Frank Foster, whom she was unaware was a sexual predator. The storyline was announced in June, and producers insisted they had consulted domestic abuse charities. This storyline had a massive public impact and saw a high rise in reported rapes across the United Kingdom. Alison spoke of how there was an 800% increase in calls to support organisations after the storyline had aired, and that people had contacted her about their real-life experiences, some of whom she has kept in communication with. She said that she was "proud" of the storyline. Her performance in the rape storyline led to a Best Actress award at the 2012 British Soap Awards. When her nomination was announced, King called it "lovely, it was really nice to hear. I'm delighted." She said that she got "choked up" when she won. She admitted the rape storyline left her "physically and mentally exhausted", but in a January 2016 Q&A called it her favourite storyline of her own from the show. In January 2015, she was involved in a high-profile storyline involving a mini-bus where she almost dies, escaping from the mini-bus before it falls from a cliff.
In May 2015, it was announced she would be taking an extended break from Coronation Street to pursue other projects. She also initially stated her intention was to take a break from the show and return. However, in January 2016, it was confirmed that the departure would be permanent. She said of her reason to leave: "I've probably only ever done about 20 pick-ups or drop-offs in all the time my daughter's been at school, which is quite sad. And creatively, I miss being other people. It's what I went to drama school for. I love playing diverse characters and meeting new people. And, truthfully, I also want to be able to get my voiceover career going again. There's all sorts of things that I used to do, which I can't do while I'm on Coronation Street. So, those are the reasons, really." She departed on 26 May 2016 and in an interview said that she would be looking for new types of roles and projects, and saying said she would continue to watch Coronation Street. Before leaving, she was nominated for Best Serial Drama Performance at the 2016 National Television Awards, but lost to Danny Dyer. In August 2017, after numerous rumours earlier in the year, it was officially announced that Alison would return to her role as Carla Connor in December that year after being lured back by the show's new producer Kate Oates. She returned to filming Coronation Street on 10 October 2017. While on her break from Coronation Street, she filmed four episodes as Superintendent Henchy in the second series of Sky Atlantic comedy Sick Note (2017).
Alison is considered by the British press and public as a sex symbol. Her physical appearance and personality is considered popular within the United Kingdom male demographic. In December 2008, she was voted the top 'Sexiest Soap Babe Of 2008' in an online poll of the British public by MSN Entertainment, followed by Lacey Turner and Roxanne McKee in second and third place. She has been voted sexiest female for her role as Carla Connor on Coronation Street (1960), was nominated for Sexiest Soap Star at the TV Now Awards in 2008, and Sexiest Female at the 2011 British Soap Awards but lost to her Coronation Street co-star Michelle Keegan. She has been named as one of the "sexiest soap females". In August 2012, Maxim named her number one of the Top Ten Sexiest UK Soap Stars. Scottish Daily Record has called her "dreamy", while Daily Mirror has referred to her as "effortlessly gorgeous", and its readers voted her as one of the Sexiest Female soap stars. Columnist Grace Dent described her as "an alluring vision, raven haired, classy, sultry and replete with guile".
Alison has said she is "flattered" to be considered a sex symbol, speaking in 2010 of her surprise "I don't know that I am - but yeah, why not? I've just turned 37, so way to go! They can call me a sex symbol if they want." She spoke in 2007 that she hoped to remain popular with male viewers, saying "I'm thankful that people think I'm sexy, especially as I'm getting on a bit. But if they saw me first thing in the morning they may change their minds!" When asked about her nomination for Sexiest Female at British Soap Awards, she laughed "If I win it, I'll eat my own hat. I don't think Carla is sexy, I think she's just a bit gobby. I don't really see her as a sexpot."
In April 2004, Alison was chosen as the face of Boddingtons beer, taking over from Melanie Sykes. She launched the ad campaign at The Circle Club in Manchester. She said she was "thrilled to be chosen as the girl to deliver that infamous endline in a Boddingtons ad. As a girl who spends so much time in Manchester, it's great to be able to be part of a campaign for a brand such as Boddingtons, especially as I love a creamy pint of Bodds down my local." She made appearances in a series of recurring television adverts for Daz.
During her five-year relationship with Philip Middlemiss, Alison was the subject of press attention due to his fame on Coronation Street, which she would join a decade later, such as when in August 1996, Middlemiss and Alison, then 23-years old, were spotted staying at the Dromoland Castle in Newmarket-on-Fergus, prompting speculation that they they would get engaged. In November 1996, Middlemiss told Scottish Daily Record of his relationship with King "I've never been happier. She is a wonderful girl. I love her to death." Middlemiss has said the couple did not break up but drifted apart. In a July 2000 interview, he said of their relationship "I was in love with Allie. She's the only person I've ever really loved. But she was working in London and I was in Manchester. In another life, if I had been a bus driver and she had worked at the local baker's shop, we would have got married and had kids by now." In 2006, she became engaged to fellow actor Jim Alexander who co-starred in several series of Dream Team with her, as well as the Daz adverts. The couple shared a flat in London. However, the pair split in early 2007. The breakup was reported to be because of King's new role on Coronation Street as Carla Connor, as their relationship became strained when she moved to Manchester in order to star in the soap opera. In January that year, she had said "He's making me very happy and bounding up between London and Manchester. He's coming up for a month in a few days, so I'm looking forward to that very much." A friend of King's said she was "devastated" by the breakup and that she had thrown herself into her work to cope with the loss.
She dated Adam Huckett, a Coronation Street sound technician from April 2007, just two weeks after breaking off her engagement to Jim Alexander. She gave birth to their daughter, Daisy Mae, on 11 February 2009, in a Manchester hospital. She delivered the baby by Caesarean section. King has also stated that she wishes to have more children in the future, and loves being a mother. King admitted she initially struggled with motherhood and "cried down the phone to Julia Haworth for hours. She was sweet." In a 2010 interview with Scottish Daily Record, she said "I love motherhood. My daughter is hilarious. She just makes me laugh every day." When asked in October 2009 if she and Huckett would marry, she said "Probably. Eventually. If he gets a ring!" She became engaged to Huckett in September 2011 while on a trip to Paris. However, on 16 October 2012 it was reported that the engagement was off as they had split up. King had taken a four-month break from Coronation Street between June and October to go on holiday with Huckett and their daughter. They claimed they had split as they "weren't making each other happy anymore". They said they were "determined" to remain friends, denied anyone else was involved, and confirmed they would still work together on Coronation Street. Since 2016, she has been dating Hollyoaks (1995) assistant director Paul Slavin. The relationship was revealed after they were photographed by the press and there was speculation as to his identity. She said of the relationship: "I'm seeing somebody. It's very early days so I don't want to say anything more, but I'm happy."
Alison fronted a campaign to raise money for Breast Cancer Campaign with thermal manufacturer Damart in 2007, and in November 2015, wrote a column for The Mail on Sunday describing a holiday to Villa Irida, Corfu with her daughter and best friend. - Actress
- Producer
Claire Forlani was born in the United Kingdom and grew up in London. Educated at Arts Educational School, she moved to the United States with her parents Pier Luigi and Barbara Forlani when she was 19 and began starring in films.
Claire has had leading roles in such films as Meet Joe Black (1998), Basquiat (1996), The Rock (1996), Mystery Men (1999), Mallrats (1995), Antitrust (2001), Boys and Girls (2000), The Medallion, Hallam Foe (2007), Flashbacks of a Fool (2008) and Green Street Hooligans (2005).
Claire is now starring in the Sky International show Domina, about ancient Rome .She appeared with Christopher Plummer in the television series Departure . Other television appearances include STARZ original series Camelot (2011) playing Queen Igraine, The Pentagon Papers (2003), Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King (2006), and she has had recurring roles on NCIS: Los Angeles (2009) and CSI: NY (2004).
Claire has also appeared in campaigns for Dewars, L'Oréal, Banana Republic, Shiesido and Dior.
She is married to actor Dougray Scott in 2007 and welcomed their son Milo Thomas Scott born 12.27.14- Natalie Casey was born on 15 April 1980 in Rawtenstall, Rossendale, Lancashire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps (2001), Hollyoaks (1995) and Things I Know to Be True (2017).
- Scarlett Alice Johnson was born on 7 April 1985 in Stroud Green, London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for The Good Karma Hospital (2017), Pramface (2012) and Bruno (2019).
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Since a young age, Louisa has had a love of performing, having been a pupil at London's iconic Sylvia Young Theatre School. Here, she learnt from some of the best tutors, and was able to develop her skills as both an actress, and an all-round performer. It was this platform that led to Louisa securing her first professional role, as the innocent schoolgirl Ruby Allen in BBC1's BAFTA award winning EastEnders. Here, Louisa became an overnight sensation, racking up column inches and piles of critical acclaim as she tackled the many controversial storylines that the EastEnders writers through her way.
Since leaving EastEnders, Louisa's star continued to rise, as she joined another iconic British television show, The Bill. Here, she played the inexperienced and shy police officer Beth Green. Following this, Louisa has enjoyed a whole host of varied roles, from parts in the internationally successful American Pie franchise, to the British Shakespeare Company's productions of both A Midsummer Night's Dream and Much Ado About Nothing.
Away from acting, Louisa is also an accomplished dancer, having competed in the fourth series of Strictly Come Dancing, where she successfully reached the quarter-finals. Following on from this, Louisa toured the country as part of the sold-out Strictly Come Dancing arena tour, and represented the United Kingdom in the 2008 Eurovision Dance Contest.
Currently, Louisa is busy as a result of her role in the new ITV comedy drama The Edge of Heaven; an exciting new prime-time comedy based around the trials and tribulations of a family running a guest house in Margate. For this part, Louisa is working alongside a talented cast that includes Blake Harrison (The Inbetweeners, Him and Her) and Camille Coduri (Doctor Who, Midsomer Murders), and her character's name is Michelle.- Actress
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Marina Sirtis was born in London, England, to Greek parents, Despina (Yianniri), a tailor's assistant, and John Sirtis. Her parents did not want her to become an actress. As soon as Marina completed high school, she secretly applied to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. After her graduation, she worked in musical theater, repertory and television. In 1986, she moved to Los Angeles, California to boost her career. For six months, she auditioned for roles but was unsuccessful. Just before she planned to go back home, she got the role of Counselor Deanna Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). After the series ended, she reprised her role for a string of successful Star Trek films: Star Trek: Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). In 1992, Sirtis married rock guitarist Michael Lamper. She occasionally attends Star Trek conventions so that her loving fans can meet her, and she can meet the fans.- Actress
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Myleene Klass was born on 6 April 1978 in Norfolk, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Igor (2008), My Family (2000) and Killing Clovis Dardentor. She was previously married to Graham Quinn.- Actress
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Shelley Conn is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Dean Indira Shetty in Amazon's No.1 show, Gen V (2023), as Beelzebub in Good Omens 2 (2023), and as Lady Mary Sharma in the hugely successful Netflix series, Bridgerton (2022). Other notable appearances include Isabella in the film Love Sarah (2020), and as Dr Elizabeth Shannon in the Steven Spielberg series Terra Nova (2011). Shelley Conn was born in Barnet in north London to Anglo-Indian parents. As the daughter of a British Army Officer, she moved home and countries many times as a child, living in Germany and Gibraltar before settling in Hampshire. She is of mixed heritage, which includes Indian, Portuguese, Burmese and English. After being a student at Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke, she trained at Bretton Hall College of Performing Arts and Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. She began her career on London stages and in small roles on British television. After appearing in independent films and two seasons at the RSC including All's Well That Ends Well (2003/2004) with Judi Dench she landed a breakthrough role as Ashika Chandirimani in the BBC political drama Party Animals (2007) which has led to a long and varied career in theatre film and television, both in the UK and the US. She lives in London.- Actress
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Rita Simons was born on 10 March 1977 in Essex, England, UK. She is an actress, known for EastEnders (1985), The Krays: Dead Man Walking (2018) and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (2016). She was previously married to Theo Silveston.- Sarah Cawood was born on 7 August 1972 in London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Velvet Goldmine (1998), Fat Slags (2004) and The Basil Brush Show (2002).
- Nikki Sanderson was born on 28 March 1984 in Bury, Lancashire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Hollyoaks (1995), Coronation Street (1960) and Heartbeat (1992).
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Jane Leeves has made her mark in the entertainment world, acting in television, theater, and film over the past 20 years.
She is most famous for her role as "Daphne" in the award-winning show Frasier (1993). Leeves played one of the five main characters of the sitcom, a live-in physical therapist hired to take care of Frasier Crane's father. Leeves' character added a comical element to many scenes between Frasier and his family with her wit, down-to-earth remarks, and part-time, self-determined psychic abilities. Frasier Crane's brother becomes instantly smitten with her smile and Mancunian accent, which she had to fake for the whole duration of the show.
She became very good friends with the cast, including Peri Gilpin, David Hyde Pierce and John Mahoney, who are all godparents to her children.
Her role as Daphne Moon was awarded numerous awards nominations during the course of the TV series :- In 1994 she was nominated for the "Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film" Golden Globe Award.
- In 1995, she won the Q Award for "Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Comedy Series". She was nominated five more times in that same category (1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000).
- In 1998, she was nominated for the "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series" Primetime Emmy Award.
- In 1999 and 2003, she was nominated for the "Best Supporting Actress - Television Series, Musical or Comedy" Satellite Award.
- In 2001, she was nominated for the "Supporting Actress of the Vear in a Comedy Series" TV Guide Award.
Leeves stars in the Emmy® Award-winning TV Land series, Hot in Cleveland (2010), which in 2011 was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award® for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. Leeves plays eyebrow archer to the stars, "Joy Scroggs". The comedy revolves around three fabulous LA women of a certain age, and best friends (Leeves, Valerie Bertinelli and Wendie Malick) whose lives are changed forever when their plane, bound for Paris, unexpectedly lands in Cleveland.
She graced the world of theater by starring as "Sally Bowles" in the Roundabout production of "Cabaret" on Broadway. Leeves has also lent her voice to various animated television series, including The Penguins of Madagascar (2008), Phineas and Ferb (2007), and The Simpsons (1989), as well as the major motion picture, James and the Giant Peach (1996). Leeves also appeared in the film, Music of the Heart (1999), which co-starred Meryl Streep. On June 16, 2011, Leeves -- along with Hot in Cleveland (2010) co-stars Valerie Bertinelli, Wendie Malick and Betty White -- was presented with the key to the city of Cleveland by the mayor.
She recently started the "Tellurian Foundation", a line of all-natural skin care and baby products. A portion of the profits will be donated to those who strive to provide help to those in need, most recently "Food Share".- Actress
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Dani Harmer is an actress famous for her lead role as Tracey Beaker in its various incarnations and Dani's House for BBC. She has been nominated for a BAFTA for her role as Tracey Beaker and nominated for a Welsh BAFTA for Best Actress in Tracey Beaker's Movie of Me. When Tracey Beaker was first transmitted via iPlayer, it received over 550K requests in it's first 3 days. Dani reached the finals of BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing.- Roxanne Carrion (née Pallett) is an English actress, best known and loved for playing Jo Stiles (Sugden) in ITV's 'Emmerdale' (2005-2008). With mocha brown skin and almond eyes from her Persian and Italian descent, she is an exotic mix of ethnicity which sets her apart from other actresses in the UK. Born and raised in the north of England with her mother and grandmother, she still maintains a very humble nature and credits her working class background for strengthening her in preparation for success.
She grabbed the nation's attention in her soap opera screen debut and later broke millions of hearts as the victim of 2010's biggest domestic abuse storyline on screen. The dramatic performances earned the actress 6 nominations and huge critical acclaim for her emotional portrayal as the vulnerable Jo. Carrion chose to leave the show in 2009 to "earn her stripes and find new characters". She immediately starred in ITV's 'Dancing On Ice' Season 4, wowing audiences with her impressive daredevil moves such as the 'head-banger'. Carrion then treaded the boards in three lead consecutive theatre roles, 1950's musical 'Rock Around The Clock', Eve Ensler's UK tour 'The Vagina Monologues' and the two-hander play "Satin 'n' Steel", winning as much credibility and popularity on stage as she previously did on screen. She then surprised the nation by playing 17 year old troubled school girl Shelby Dixon in BBC's Waterloo Road, a role that was ten years younger than the actress herself in real life.
2012 was a huge year for Carrion when she was cast as the lead role of Sarah McColl in British film 'Devil's Tower' when she originally walked in to audition for a smaller part as the friend. After shooting the intense horror film, Carrion then began filming an urban comedy for Kaleidoscope Pictures, 'It's A Lot' playing the quirky college misfit Louise. In 2013 Carrion beat a whole host of musical theatre talent to the lead role of Janet Weiss in the 40th anniversary UK tour of 'The Rocky Horror Show' which saw her transform yet again, this time into a 1950's blonde All-American sweetheart. Carrion then went straight into her next stage role as Shelley for The Royal Court in 'Ladies Day'. The play proved to be her biggest on stage challenge to date, due to the role being Scouse and Carrion being the only non Liverpudlian actor in the cast. She won rave reviews for her comedic timing and flawless Scouse accent.
The actress began shooting British film 'The Violators' in 2014 and then flew straight out to shoot for 20th Century Fox in American horror film 'Wrong Turn 6' in the spring of 2014. Despite already having a successful career on both stage and screen, Carrion embarked on a summer training course at RADA during her summer, majoring in Contemporary Drama at the prestigious Royal Academy. She has been working with the BAFTA acclaimed playwright John Godber on his play 'On The Piste' which toured theatres in the UK and once again, in her lead role of Bev, she won rave reviews for her comedic performance.
Carrion began shooting British indie film 'Habit' early 2016, a thriller based on the novel by Stephen McGeagh set in Manchester. She then soon began a lead stage role at the highly acclaimed Park Theatre in London for the Tony Award winning play 'Some Girls', a dark comedy written by Neil LaBute. Roxanne then won rave reviews for her lead stage role as wild child New Jersey girl Holly in 'The Wedding Singer' UK Tour 2017, an eighties musical based on the cult classic Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore movie, originally produced for Broadway. - Actress
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Catherine was born in London, but she moved to California with her Iranian mother at the age of two. Her mother still acts as her personal assistant. As a girl, she acted in various TV advertisements. She went to UCLA to study biology/ pre-medicine, but she dropped out to become a model in Japan. She moved back into acting with a Mexican commercial for American Express, and then she followed that up by being Isabella Rossellini's nude body double in Death Becomes Her (1992), when she also met her future husband, Adam Beason, who was the director's Robert Zemeckis's assistant. As of 2018, the two reside near Los Angeles with their daughter Gemma Beason and son Ronan Beason.- Actress
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Charlie Brooks was born on 3 May 1981 as Charlene Brooks in Hertfordshire, England and raised in Barmouth, Wales. All her life she had dreamed of becoming an actress and at the age of 13, she traveled without her parents to London to fulfill her dreams of a career in acting. After finding work appearing as bit parts in a few episodes of popular television series, Charlie went on to audition for the role of Janine Butcher in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders (1985). She impressed the casting crew so much that on her 18th birthday in May 1999, she discovered that she had been awarded the coveted role of the cocaine-addicted prostitute. She became a television icon for her villainous role and it led to nominations for awards like Villain Of The Year (which she won in 2004). An accomplished television actress by the age of 20, Charlie took a break to make her stage debut in 'Office Games' in 2003 at the age of 22 at the Pleasance Theatre in London, for which she became an instant success. Having decided not to get her contract renewed as she wanted to try new things, Charlie left EastEnders (1985) and the role of Janine behind her in May 2004 after her character got arrested for the murder of Laura Beale, who was played by her close friend Hannah Waterman. By this point, Charlie had been engaged to Jon Newman in 2001, but had since broken off the engagement and in 2003, she began dating party organiser Tony Truman and in March 2004, she fell pregnant by him. Having left EastEnders (1985), she put her career on hold and after getting engaged to Tony, she gave birth to their daughter Kiki Truman on 8 December 2004 at the age of 23. Although happy with the fact that she was now a mother, Charlie still missed her career and, having had to refuse numerous roles on television, she finally took up the chance to appear on radio, giving her voice to the character Mary Dixon on the BBC Radio show 'Dixon Of Dock Green'. Although she was not highly noticed for her work on radio, she was content enough for the time being. Then, feeling that the time was right for her to return to her much anticipated acting career, Charlie immediately went on to star in the adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House (2005) in 2005, which was a miniseries on BBC1, in which she starred as Jenny. Having then released the smash hit workout DVD titled Charlie Brooks: Before and After Workout (2005) in December 2005, she went on to receive critical acclaim starring in the docu-drama Angel of Death: The Beverly Allitt Story (2005) in the title role of the nurse who killed several children. With her career back on top form, Charlie's love life began to dwindle and in Spring 2006, she ended her engagement with Tony Truman, father of their then 18-month-old daughter Kiki, before making her film debut with the independent film Take 3 Girls (2006) at the age of 25. In 2007, Charlie went on to renew her stage career with the high-budget production of 'Our Country's Good', which ran for 3 weeks at the Liverpool Playhouse. The 26-year-old television and stage actress now resides in Thames Ditton with her daughter Kiki.- Actress
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Alex Kingston was born on 11 March 1963 in London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for ER (1994), Doctor Who (2005) and Alpha Dog (2006). She has been married to Jonathan Stamp since 18 July 2015. She was previously married to Florian Haertel and Ralph Fiennes.- Davinia Taylor was born on 11 November 1977 in Wigan, Lancashire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Hollyoaks (1995), St George's Day (2012) and Dark Realm (2000). She was previously married to Dave Gardner.
- Laila Rouass was born in London to Moroccan/Indian parents. Laila studied in Britain but decided to drop her studies and travel in India for a few months. A few months turned into six years. Whilst living in Bombay, she worked for MTV, BBC, and TNT. Her step into movies came when she was spotted by Italian director Aditya Bhattacharya and whisked off to Messina to shoot Senso unico (1999).
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Kym Marsh was born on 13 June 1976 in Whiston, Merseyside, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Coronation Street (1960), Downboy Cartoon and The Loss Adjuster (2020). She was previously married to Scott Ratcliff, Jamie Lomas and Jack Ryder.- Jayne Middlemiss was born on 5 January 1971 in Northumberland, England, UK.
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Minnie Driver was born January 31, 1970 in London and raised in Barbados until she was seven. Her mother, Gaynor Churchward, was a designer and former couture model. Her father, Charles Ronald "Ronnie" Driver, was a businessman. Minnie's mother was her father's mistress while he was still married to his wife. Minnie's sister, Kate Driver, is a manager and producer.
Her breakout role was in the 1995 film Circle of Friends. Minnie then appeared briefly in the James Bond picture Goldeneye. Since then, she has focused on working in a wide tonal range of films. These include several cult classics: Grosse Point Blank, Big Night, and Owning Mahowny; the painted romance of Good Will Hunting (earning an Oscar nomination for best actress in a supporting role); musicals like The Phantom of the Opera; period comedies like the Oscar Wilde classic An Ideal Husband; and Princess Mononoke, the seminal animated Japanese film by Hayao Miyazaki. Minnie has also starred in several family films such as Tarzan, Ella Enchanted, and the 2021 live action Cinderella.
Minnie has a wide-range of television work in place from FX's dark comedy classic The Riches, in which she co-starred with Eddie Izzard, to starring in two network sitcoms including NBC's About A Boy adaptation as well as ABC's Speechless. Both of which ran for several seasons. Minnie also pops up in key guest-starring roles such as her turn as Lorraine Finster on Will & Grace which lasted almost fifteen years and as Cath on the current BBC / HBO comedy Starstruck. Minnie is also starring in the Amazon anthology Modern Love which is on air now (2021).
On September 5, 2008, she gave birth to a boy named Henry Story Driver. She is in a long-term relationship with Addison O'Dea.- Actress
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Jane Danson was born on 8 November 1978 in Bury, Greater Manchester, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Coronation Street (1960), G.B.H. (1991) and In Suspicious Circumstances (1991). She has been married to Robert Beck since 10 December 2005. They have two children.- Actress
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Jenny Powell was born on 8 April 1968 in Ilford, Essex, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Lemon La Vida Loca (2012), Stars in Their Eyes (1990) and No Limits (1985). She was previously married to Toby Baxendale.- Actress
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Her father is Tariq Anwar and her mother is Shireen Anwar. Anwar attended Laleham Church of England Primary and Middle School from 1975 to 1982. Trinian's sketch in the school concert of 1982 gave an early indication of her theatrical leanings. She studied at the London drama and dance school, "Italia Conti". She appeared in many British television productions before making her film debut in Manifesto (1988).
Her first American movie was If Looks Could Kill (1991), in which she played the daughter of a murdered British Agent (played by Roger Daltrey). In 1992, she made a guest appearance on Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990) as "Tricia Kinney". She followed that with the films, Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken (1991) (inspired by "A Girl and Five Brave Horses"), Scent of a Woman (1992), Body Snatchers (1993), For Love or Money (1993) and The Three Musketeers (1993). In 1994, People magazine named her one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. One of her most memorable moments on screen came in 1992's Scent of a Woman (1992), when she danced a tango with Al Pacino, whose character was blind.- Actress
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Elize du Toit was born on 21 February 1980 in Grahamstown, South Africa. She is an actress and director, known for Skyfall (2012), Doctor Who (2005) and The Line of Beauty (2006). She has been married to Rafe Spall since 14 August 2010. They have three children.- Actress
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Camilla Luddington was born in Ascot, Berkshire, England. She has traveled to the U.S. as a teenager and has lived in Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, and California.
She was educated at an all-girls school in Ascot, Berkshire, later attending the American School in England at Thorpe in Surrey. She also lived in suburban Austin, Texas for a year when she was fourteen, and attended Westwood High School.
When she was eighteen, she enrolled in Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania, before moving to New York City, and studying at New York Film Academy. She then moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting.
She has since appeared at several high profile TV shows, before rising to prominence as Catherine Princess of Wales in the Lifetime TV movie, William & Kate (2011). She went on to appear in Californication (2007) and True Blood (2008). Luddington was a guest star during the ninth season of ABC's Grey's Anatomy (2005) as Dr. Jo Wilson. She was upgraded to series regular for the tenth season. In June 2012, Crystal Dynamics confirmed Luddington would voice Lara Croft in the new Tomb Raider (2013) video game reboot. She did both the voice and the motion capture in the course of three years. She is set to appear in The Pact II (2014) in 2014. She is also returning to the role of Lara Croft for the latest Tomb Raider Game, Rise of the Tomb Raider (2015).- Madeline Duggan has been acting from a very early age. In 2003, at the age of 9, she secured her first acting role, playing young Cosette in Les Miserables at the Palace Theatre, London. In 2004, she played lead role Amanda in the short film Between Us and in 2005 took on another lead role in a short film this time playing Ellie in Spoilt Eggs.
In May 2006 she was cast as Lauren Branning in the UK soap opera EastEnders, a role she played for four years until June 2010. In December 2010, she played Emily in Rules of Love and in July 2011 Madeline filmed a part in Silent Witness and also secured the role of Laura in a new film Everyone's Going to Die. In 2013 she was in BBC drama By Any Means. In 2014 she appeared in The Smoke on Sky 1. - Actress
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Sarah Alexander was born on 3 January 1971 in London, England, UK. She is an actress and writer, known for Stardust (2007), Green Wing (2004) and Coupling (2000). She is married to Peter Serafinowicz. They have two children.- Actress
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Anna Friel is an English actress, born in Rochdale. She has been acting since the age of 13, appearing in a number of British television programmes. She made her West End stage debut in London in 2001, and has subsequently appeared on stage in several productions, including an adaptation of Breakfast at Tiffany's and as Yelena in a 2012 production of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. She is the recipient of a number of awards including National Television Award (1995), Drama Desk Award (1999), and the Royal Television Society Award (2009). She has also appeared in music videos and television and print media advertising campaigns and is the recipient of an honorary degree from the University of Bolton.- Actress
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Catherine Zeta-Jones was born September 25, 1969 in Swansea, Wales (and raised in the nearby town of Mumbles), the only daughter of Patricia (nee Fair) and David James "Dai" Jones, who formerly owned a sweet factory. She attended Dumbarton House School (Swansea). Her father (the son of Bertram (1912-1970) and Zeta Davies Jones (1917-2008)) is of Welsh descent and her mother (the daughter of William (1921-2000) and Catherine O'Callaghan Fair (1920-2001) ) is of English, Irish, and Welsh ancestry. Her brothers are David Jones (born 1967), a development executive, and Lyndon Jones (born 1972), who works at her production company. Her birth name was simply Catherine Jones, but she added her paternal grandmother's name ("Zeta") so as to stand out from the many other young women with the exact same name.
She showed an interest early on in entertainment. She starred on stage in "Annie", "Bugsy Malone" and "The Pajama Game". At age 15, she had the lead in the British revival of "42nd Street". She was originally cast as the second understudy for the lead role in the musical but when the star and first understudy became sick the night the play's producer was in the audience, she was given the lead for the rest of the musical's production. She first made a name for herself in the early 1990s when she starred in the Yorkshire Television comedy/drama series The Darling Buds of May (1991). The series was a success and made her one of the United Kingdom's most popular television actresses.
She subsequently played supporting roles in several films including Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992), the miniseries Catherine the Great (1995) and a larger role as the seductive Sala in The Phantom (1996) before landing her breakthrough role playing the fiery Elena opposite Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas in The Mask of Zorro (1998). She starred in many big-budget blockbusters like Entrapment (1999), The Haunting (1999) and Traffic (2000), for which many believed she was robbed of an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as murderous vaudevillian Velma Kelly in the musical comedy Chicago (2002). She then appeared opposite George Clooney in Intolerable Cruelty (2003), Ocean's Twelve (2004) and reprised her starring role in the sequel The Legend of Zorro (2005).
In November 2000, she married actor Michael Douglas. She gave birth to their son Dylan Michael in August 2000 followed by daughter, Carys, in April 2003. She was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to drama.- Actress
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British actress Emilia Clarke was born in London and grew up in Oxfordshire, England. Her father was a theatre sound engineer and her mother is a businesswoman. Her father was working on a theatre production of "Show Boat" and her mother took her along to the performance. This is when, at the age of 3, her passion for acting began. From 2000 to 2005, she attended St. Edward's School of Oxford, where she appeared in two school plays. She went on to study acting at the prestigious Drama Centre London, where she took part in 10 plays. During this time, Emilia first appeared on television with a guest role in the BBC soap opera Doctors (2000).
In 2010, after graduating from the Drama Centre London, Emilia got her first film role in the television movie Triassic Attack (2010). In 2011, her breakthrough role came in when she replaced fellow newcomer Tamzin Merchant on Game of Thrones (2011) after the filming of the original pilot episode. From March to April 2013, she played Holly Golightly in a Broadway production of "Breakfast at Tiffany's". She played Sarah Connor in Terminator Genisys (2015), opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jai Courtney and Jason Clarke. She played the lead role of Louisa Clark in the romantic comedy blockbuster Me Before You (2016) and went on to star in Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) as Qi'ra.
Since her rise to prominence, Emilia has contributed to various charitable organisations. In 2018, she was named as the ambassador to the Royal College of Nursing because of her efforts in raising awareness about the working condition of the nurses in the UK. In 2019, she was named as the first ambassador for the global Nursing Now campaign. In 2019, in a personal essay published in The New Yorker, Emilia revealed that she had suffered from two life threatening brain aneurysms in 2011 and 2013. She launched her own charity SameYou in 2019, which aims to broaden neurorehabilitation access for young people after a brain injury or stroke.- Actress
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Amanda Holden was born on 16 February 1971 in Bishop's Waltham, Hampshire, England, UK. She is an actress and writer, known for Wild at Heart (2006), Marple (2004) and Jonathan Creek (1997). She has been married to Chris Hughes since 10 December 2008. They have three children. She was previously married to Les Dennis.- Actress
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Welsh Superstar Mezzo Soprano Katherine Jenkins OBE officially became the world's most successful classical singer after she was crowned 'The Biggest Selling Classical Artist of the Century' by Classic FM. She further cemented her title by gaining her 13th Number 1 Album - smashing the record books since signing to Universal Classics at the tender age of 23. Then a school teacher, Katherine burst onto the music scene in 2003 when she performed at Westminster Cathedral in honour of Pope John Paul II's Silver Jubilee, became the mascot for her much beloved Welsh Rugby Team, singing the anthem before important international matches & had her debut performance at the Sydney Opera House. Awards and accolades followed as well as invitations to sing for Popes, Presidents and Princes. Jenkins is a firm favourite of the British Royal Family having been invited to sing 'God Save The Queen' at Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee, perform at The Queen's Coronation Concerts at Buckingham Palace and more recently at Her Majesty's 90th Birthday celebrations at Windsor Castle.
Born in South Wales, Katherine learned to sing as a chorister of St. David's Church choir, Neath. Her love of music was well nurtured in the Welsh Valleys, where she had the opportunity to join choral groups, perform with Welsh Male Voice Choirs as well as participate in Eisteddfods and other musical events. She has always accredited her down to earth nature to her Welsh roots and her amazing family who she lovingly calls 'The Taffia'. Sadly, Katherine's father Selwyn passed away from cancer when she was just 15 and since then his memory has been a driving force in her life every album, every award has been dedicated to him.
Within months of graduating from the Royal Academy of music, Katherine signed the 'biggest recording deal in UK classical music history' and released her debut album 'Premiere', which became her first classical number one album. 6 months later, her second album, 'Second Nature' also reached number 1 and went on to earn Katherine her first Classic BRIT Award for best album in 2005. The following year brought Katherine her second Classic BRIT award 'Album of the Year' for 'Living A Dream'.
Sold out tours followed, as did performances and recordings with Placido Domingo, Andrea Bocelli, Jose Carreras, David Foster, Dame Kiri te Kanawa, Sir Bryn Terfel, Rolando Villazon, Juan Diego Florez, Valery Gergiev & Il Divo. Not afraid of stepping outside of her comfort zone, Katherine has appeared as a mentor in ITV's 'Popstar to Operastar', played the role of Abigail in the BBC's iconic Dr Who Christmas Special, tap danced her way through 'Viva la Diva' with Prima Ballerina Darcey Bussell as well as, most notably, winning 2nd place in the U.S. hit TV show 'Dancing with the Stars' in 2012. After years as a guest performer, Katherine was delighted to officially join the BBC 'Songs of Praise' family as a regular presenter of the weekly religious programme.
Also known as the 'Forces Sweetheart', Charity work has always played an important role for Jenkins. After singing 'We'll Meet Again' with Dame Vera Lynn at the 60th Anniversary of VE Day, she travelled to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Cyprus & Northern Ireland to entertain the troops. She was presented with an OBE by HRH Prince of Wales for services to Music and charity in 2013.
2017 saw Jenkins's debut on the West End stage playing Julie Jordan in Carousel with English National Opera at the London Coliseum, her performance earning her rave reviews from both the British and International press. In 2019, Katherine made her film role debut alongside Jonny Depp and Bill Nighy in 'Minamata', a movie scheduled for release later this year.
2020 will see new music from Katherine in the form of her 14th studio album as well as performances in Dubai, Tokyo, tours of Australia & New Zealand and a special one off performance on the Great Wall of China.- Actress
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Denise Van Outen was born on 27 May 1974 in Basildon, Essex, England, UK. She is an actress and writer, known for Run for Your Wife (2012), Crossbow (1987) and Gloves Off (2017). She was previously married to Lee Mead.- Actress
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Claire comes from a small family and was brought up in Liverpool by her mother, Kathleen, and butcher father, Ken along with her brother, Shaun She found school work a little difficult particularly Math but did well in singing and acting. Her first job had nothing to do with acting though as she worked as a butchers assistant in her fathers shop. Claire trained at the Elliott-Clarke Drama School in Liverpool, before winning a place at London's famous Italia Conti stage school in London when she was 18. She was determined to be a singer after she left school and was booked up for a succession of summer seasons and pantos, before landing a brief appearance in Brookside as Lindsey in 1991. It was only a brief appearance (two episodes) and Claire decided she wanted to see the world, so she joined a cruise ship as a singer for four years. After her stint at sea, Claire felt it was time to come home and decided to write the producer of Brookside to see if there was a place for her on the show. It just happened that the day the producer got her letter was the day the production staff were meeting to discuss long term storylines so they decided it was time to bring back Lindsey Corkhill. Claire returned to work at Brookside in 1995.- Actress
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Dawn O'Porter was born on 23 January 1979 in Scotland, UK. She is an actress and producer, known for Torn (2010), Skins (2007) and Will Sliney's Storytellers (2021). She has been married to Chris O'Dowd since 26 August 2012. They have two children.- Actress
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Caroline Flack was born on 9 November 1979 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Bo' Selecta! (2002), Love Advent (2011) and Bo Selecta: Proper Crimbo (2003). She died on 15 February 2020 in London, England, UK.- Actress
- Producer
Cat Deeley was born on 23 October 1976 in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, England, UK. She is an actress and producer, known for So You Think You Can Dance (2005), Deadbeat (2014) and Life's Too Short (2011). She has been married to Patrick Kielty since 30 September 2012. They have two children. She was previously married to Mark Whelan.- Elizabeth Jane Hurley was born in Basingstoke, Hampshire, to Angela Mary (Titt), a teacher, and Roy Leonard Hurley, an army major. Wanting to be a dancer, Hurley went to ballet boarding school at 12, but soon returned home. When it came time to go to college, Hurley won a scholarship to the London Studio Centre which taught courses for dance and theater. Soon, Hurley wore the punk rock look with pink hair and a nose ring, but to get work, she had to change her image to one that was castable. After college, Hurley worked in the theater and made her screen debut in Aria (1987). Roles in Television and a film, Rowing with the Wind (1988), which included a young actor named Hugh Grant, soon followed. European films followed her appearance in the BBC serial Christabel (1988). Her film debut in a Hollywood movie was in the Wesley Snipes action drama Passenger 57 (1992). When Hugh Grant was picked up with Divine Brown, Hurley became headline news. Added to this was the fact that she was the model representing top cosmetics house Estée Lauder, and there was nowhere Hurley could go to get away from the press. In 1994, Hurley and Hugh Grant set up Simian Films in partnership with Castle Rock Entertainment. As Head of Development, Hurley found the script and produced her first film Extreme Measures (1996), which stars Hugh Grant.
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Ask Kate Winslet what she likes about any of her characters, and the word "ballsy" is bound to pop up at least once. The British actress has made a point of eschewing straightforward pretty-girl parts in favor of more devilish damsels; as a result, she's built an eclectic resume that runs the gamut from Shakespearean tragedy to modern-day mysticism and erotica.
Kate Elizabeth Winslet was born in Reading, Berkshire, into a family of thespians -- parents Roger Winslet and Sally Anne Bridges-Winslet were both stage actors, maternal grandparents Oliver and Linda Bridges ran the Reading Repertory Theatre, and uncle Robert Bridges was a fixture in London's West End theatre district. Kate came into her talent at an early age. She scored her first professional gig at eleven, dancing opposite the Honey Monster in a commercial for a kids' cereal. She started acting lessons around the same time, which led to formal training at a performing arts high school. Over the next few years, she appeared on stage regularly and landed a few bit parts in sitcoms. Her first big break came at age 17, when she was cast as an obsessive adolescent in Heavenly Creatures (1994). The film, based on the true story of two fantasy-gripped girls who commit a brutal murder, received modest distribution but was roundly praised by critics.
Still a relative unknown, Winslet attended a cattle call audition the next year for Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility (1995). She made an immediate impression on the film's star, Emma Thompson, and beat out more than a hundred other hopefuls for the part of plucky Marianne Dashwood. Her efforts were rewarded with both a British Academy Award and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Winslet followed up with two more period pieces, playing the rebellious heroine in Jude (1996) and Ophelia in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996).
The role that transformed Winslet from art house attraction to international star was Rose DeWitt Bukater, the passionate, rosy-cheeked aristocrat in James Cameron's Titanic (1997). Young girls the world over both idolized and identified with Winslet, swooning over all that face time opposite heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio and noting her refreshingly healthy, unemaciated physique. Winslet's performance also garnered a Best Actress nomination, making her the youngest actress to ever receive two Academy Award nominations.
After the swell of unexpected attention surrounding Titanic (1997), Winslet was eager to retreat into independent projects. Rumor has it that she turned down the lead roles in both Shakespeare in Love (1998) and Anna and the King (1999) in order to play adventurous soul searchers in Hideous Kinky (1998) and Holy Smoke (1999). The former cast her as a young single mother traveling through 1970s Morocco with her daughters in tow; the latter, as a zealous follower of a guru tricked into a "deprogramming" session in the Australian outback. The next year found her back in period dress as the Marquis de Sade's chambermaid and accomplice in Quills (2000). Kate holds the distinction of being the youngest actor ever honored with four Academy Award nominations (she received her fourth at age 29). As of 2016, she has been nominated for an Oscar seven times, winning one of them: she received the Best Actress Oscar for the drama The Reader (2008), playing a former concentration camp guard.
For her performance of Joanna Hoffman in Steve Jobs (2015), she received her seventh Academy Award nomination.
Off camera, Winslet is known for her mischievous pranks and familial devotion. She has two sisters, Anna Winslet and Beth Winslet (both actresses), and a brother, Joss.
In 1998, she married assistant director Jim Threapleton. They had a daughter, Mia Honey Threapleton, in October 2000. They divorced in 2001. She later married director Sam Mendes in 2003 and gave birth to their son, Joe Alfie Winslet-Mendes, later that year. After seven years of marriage, in February 2010 they announced that they had amicably separated, and divorced in October 2010. In 2012, Kate married Ned Rocknroll, with whom she has a son. She was awarded Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in the 2012 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to Drama.- Actress
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Julia Sawalha was born in London. She has received due honor for her acting talents. Starring as Lynda Day in Press Gang winning the BAFTA award for Best Drama series. She played the role of Saffy in [Absolutely Fabulous 1992-2016], for which she won the RTS award for Best Actress, Lydia Bennett in the miniseries of [Pride and Prejudice BBC] and the role of Dorcas Lane in the BBC costume drama Lark Rise To Candleford, for which she was nominated Best Actress for the RTS Awards. She created and voiced the character Ginger in Aardman's Oscar nominated feature film Chicken Run, which is the highest grossing stop-motion animated film in history. She has completed two projects for mainstream TV due to be broadcast in 2024.- Actress
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Rachel was born 9 April 1978 in London. Rachel started drama school at the age of 5. At age 15, she was picked from 5000 people to win a modelling competition organised by "Just 17" magazine. She did some modelling work and she then went to the London School of Fashion to study the fashion business. She got a diploma and then moved into fashion PR. Then, at age 21, she joined the pop group, S Club 7.- Madeline Duggan has been acting from a very early age. In 2003, at the age of 9, she secured her first acting role, playing young Cosette in Les Miserables at the Palace Theatre, London. In 2004, she played lead role Amanda in the short film Between Us and in 2005 took on another lead role in a short film this time playing Ellie in Spoilt Eggs.
In May 2006 she was cast as Lauren Branning in the UK soap opera EastEnders, a role she played for four years until June 2010. In December 2010, she played Emily in Rules of Love and in July 2011 Madeline filmed a part in Silent Witness and also secured the role of Laura in a new film Everyone's Going to Die. In 2013 she was in BBC drama By Any Means. In 2014 she appeared in The Smoke on Sky 1. - Freema Agyeman is a British actress who is known for playing Martha Jones in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who (2007-2010), Alesha Phillips in crime procedural drama Law & Order: UK (2009-2011), Amanita Caplan in the Netflix science fiction drama Sense8 (2015-2018), and Dr. Helen Sharpe in the NBC medical procedural series New Amsterdam (2018-2022).
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Kelly Adams was born on 16 October 1979 in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Bronson (2008), Hustle (2004) and Holby City (1999). She has been married to Chris Kennedy since February 2011.- Actress
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Erin Richards was born on 17 May 1986 in Penarth, Wales, UK. She is an actress and director, known for Gotham (2014), The Crown (2016) and Breaking In (2011).- Actress
- Producer
Georgia Tennant was born on 25 December 1984 in London, England, UK. She is an actress and producer, known for Staged (2020), Bonkers (2007) and Doctor Who (2005). She has been married to David Tennant since 30 December 2011. They have five children.- Actress
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Martine McCutcheon was born Martine Kimberley Sherri Ponting on the 14th of May 1976 in Hackney, East London, to Jenny Tomlin (née Jeanette Lilian Ponting) and Thomas Hemmings. She has a younger brother called L.J.
She studied at the renowned Italia Conti stage school in London from the age of 10. She appeared in several billboard ads as a child, then won a part in the BBC children's series Bluebirds in '89, after which further TV and theatre roles followed. At 15 she was picked to front the all-girl band 'Milan', who went on tour with East 17, but they disbanded in April '94.
McCutcheon's big break came in January '95 with the part of Tiffany Raymond in 'EastEnders'. During her 4 years on the soap, Tiffany married Grant (Ross Kemp), had a daughter, and found a place in the nation's heart. However, her departure from the series was marked by controversy, with executive producer Matthew Robinson later saying in an interview "Martine McCutcheon didn't "decide to leave the show". She demanded the BBC allow her to come and go within the series at her behest, making it impossible for storyliners to write coherently for her character. So we had little choice but to kill Tiffany. Yes, the character was popular; yes, Martine had talent. But no one is bigger than the show - executive producers included."
McCutcheon went on to pursue a singing career. She went on to release six hit singles and three albums, two of which reached Gold and Platinum status.