Hollie-Jay Bowes is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 actress best known for her role as Michaela McQueen

Michaela McQueen

Michaela McQueen is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Hollie-Jay Bowes. Michaela was the first of the McQueen family to be seen on-screen in 2006, when she was credited as Michaela Jones. On 8 June 2010, Hollie-Jay Bowes announced that she had quit...

 in Channel 4

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

 soap opera

Soap opera

A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

 Hollyoaks

Hollyoaks

Hollyoaks is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...

. Her parents changed her name from Billie Jean to Hollie Jean as her father thought she would get bullied at school and be called 'Billie Bowes', and at 13, she changed her name to Hollie-Jay. Her previous roles include Dawn O'Malley in CBBC

CBBC

CBBC is one of two brand names used for the BBC's children's television strands. Between 1985 and 2002, CBBC was the name given to all the BBC's programmes on TV for children aged under 14...

's Grange Hill

Grange Hill

Grange Hill is a British television drama series originally made by the BBC. The show began in 1978 on BBC1 and was one of the longest running programmes on British television...

and she was also in The Courtroom

The Courtroom

The Courtroom is a British legal drama created by Phil Redmond, which aired between June and December 2004.The programme was notable for starring many former British soap stars, particularly those who starred in Redmond's other productions Brookside and Hollyoaks....

and Basil Brush

Basil Brush

Basil Brush is a fictional anthropomorphic fox raconteur, best known for his appearances on daytime British children's television. He is primarily portrayed by a glove puppet, but has also been depicted in animated cartoon shorts and comic strips...

.

She is good friends with co-stars Ashley Slanina-Davies

Ashley Slanina-Davies

Ashley Slanina-Davies is an English actress born in Standish, near Wigan, who is notable for playing the role of Amy Barnes on Channel 4's teen soap, Hollyoaks...

 and Kieron Richardson

Kieron Richardson

Kieron Mark Richardson is an English actor best known for playing the role of Ste Hay in Hollyoaks.-Career:...

. In his backstage video, Richardson stated that he and Bowes are looking for a flat together.
In 2009, Bowes admitted in an interview with Inside Soap

Inside Soap

Inside Soap is a weekly UK magazine, released every Tuesday. It covers current and future storylines in soap operas shown in the United Kingdom....

that she is a distant relation to Hollyoaks co-star Tony Hirst

Tony Hirst

Tony Hirst is a British actor and theatre director, best known for playing Mike Barnes on the British soap opera Hollyoaks and currently stars in Coronation Street as the love interest of Eileen Grimshaw.- Filmography :...

, who plays Mike Barnes

Mike Barnes (Hollyoaks)

Michael "Mike" Barnes is a fictional character from the long-running Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Tony Hirst. He first appeared in 2006. In 2010, soap opera magazine Inside Soap reported that the character would leave in late January with love interest Zoe Carpenter...

.

On 24 June 2010, Bowes announced on Twitter that she was fired from Hollyoaks after four years.

Bowes has also recorded a song with the Hollyoaks music show winners Redtrack, performed the song "Pretty Boy" with the band at Leeds Festival on 28 August 2010. Bowes is also in a band called Jeanie In The Radiator and they performed their debut gig mid-October.

In September 2011, Hollie-Jay reprised her role as Michaela McQueen

Michaela McQueen

Michaela McQueen is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Hollie-Jay Bowes. Michaela was the first of the McQueen family to be seen on-screen in 2006, when she was credited as Michaela Jones. On 8 June 2010, Hollie-Jay Bowes announced that she had quit...

 in the series Hollyoaks Later and will return to the main series in October.