Actors - Michelle Collins

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	Actors - Michelle Collins

Michelle Collins (born May 28 1963 in Hackney East London) is a British actress best known for her roles on television in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, as Cindy Beale, and BBC drama Sunburn. At one time, she was also a TV presenter on The Word.

Life and Career

Michelle’s acting roots are firmly theatrical, having trained at the Royal Court Activists and Cockpit Youth Theatre from the age of fourteen and progressing to Kingsway Princeton College, where she studied drama and theatre.

After graduating, she landed a role in Bulgakov’s 'The Crimson Island' at The Gate Theatre, directed by Lou Stein. Her career changed direction when, having performed in the video for the Squeeze song 'Up The Junction', she joined Mari Wilson and The Wilsations as the backing singer, “Candide”. The band spent eighteen months touring the country, working with artists such as Marc Almond, Level 42, Altered Images and Kid Creole and the Coconuts. When the band broke up in 1982, she went back into acting and with the help of her friend, the British actor Tim Roth, she successfully gained a part in a musical with the late Gary Hutton and Gary Shail known as H.M.V.

Michelle’s first TV appearance was with Gary Oldman in the BBC drama 'Morgan's Boy'. Other TV credits included: two series of the sitcom 'Running Wild', where she played Ray Brooks daughter; a part in ITV drama The Bill; a Screen Two production 'Lucky Sunil', directed by Michael Caton Jones and a BBC play 'Pressures'. She later appeared in three films: 'Personal Services', Empire State' and Poliakov’s 'Hidden City'.

While she filiming the BBC play 'Pressures' in 1988, Michelle was spotted by EastEnder’s producer Julia Smith, and she was asked to audition for the role of Cindy, who was due to feature in eleven epiosodes of the soap. However Michelle excelled in her role, and the manipulative, wreckless nature of her character was a hit with viewers so Michelle's contract was extended and the character became one of the most renown villians in soap history. She played Cindy Beale, the unfaithful wife of EastEnders stalwart Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt), from 1988 - 1998. However there were breaks from filming in that time and on one hiatus she filmed the drama 'Real Women' for the BBC, with Pauline Quirke and Frances Barber. The drama was a success and it helped to confirm Michelle as a versatile actress of considerable stature. During her earlier breaks she also featured starred in the popular comedy show 'Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge' ( played by Steve Coogan; 1994) as well as in the American television shows Baywatch (1992) and Blossom (1993).

After leaving EastEnders in the 1998 (when her character met an untimely demise), her career flourished with a series of highly acclaimed drama roles, making hers one of the most successful post-EastEnders careers. These include: two series of 'Real Women' (BBC1); two series of 'Sunburn' (BBC1), which Michelle also sang the theme song to and had a minor hit in the UK Singles Chart in 1999; 'Daylight Robbery' (ITV); 'The Sleeper' (BBC1); 'Uprising' (ITV): three series of 'Two Thousand Acres Of Sky' (BBC1): the 2-part series 'Perfect' (ITV); 'Lloyd And The Hill' (ITV) and 'Ella And The Mothers' (BBC1). In 2003 Michelle played Sarah Barton in 'Single', which further established Michelle’s reputation for playing tough, contemporary women who also have a touching vulnerability.

In 2003 Michelle also filmed the BBC drama 'Sea Of Souls' and she then went on to star in a film for Granada/Channel 4 called 'The Illustrated Mum', which told the story of two girls coping with the unpredictable behaviour of their depressed, alcoholic mother. The film based on the children’s novel of the same name, written by Jacqueline Wilson. It was screened to great acclaim over Christmas 2003 and has gone on to win an Emmy Award and two BAFTA's.

In 2004 she starred in a episode of the British comic sketch show French and Saunders and she also starred alongside fellow EastEnder Martin Kemp in the ITV drama 'Can't Buy Me Love', which was watched by nearly 8 million viewers. The programme was inspired by the real-life story of Howard Walmsley, who was jalied for fraud after pretending to win the lottery in order to keep his wife Donna (played by Michelle) from leaving him. Theur lives and marriage were subsiquently turned upside down by the events that unfolded.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Michelle Collins ]

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