Laurie Brett
Encyclopedia
Laurie Brett is a Scottish actress, currently known for her role as Jane Beale in EastEnders
, in which she has starred since 2004.
. She has participated in various charity events.
Brett was in a relationship with a musician named Dave Evans for six years. The couple met on a blind date in 2001 and got engaged; however, they split in 2007 before the wedding. Laurie told the Sunday Mirror
, "It's an amicable split and we remain good friends."
Brett speaks with a Scottish accent, however, on moving to London, she adopted a London accent - fitting for her EastEnders role. She says she has always had a "knack" with accents and has admitted that speaking with a Scottish accent becomes handy when people ask if she is Jane from EastEnders. She has admitted that when asked that question she speaks with a Scottish accent and people then assume they are mistaken.
Brett has admitted to being a bit of a wild child in her youth, drinking heavily for 20 years.
Brett revealed in January 2011 that she is pregnant with her first child. In June it was announced that she had given birth to a baby girl, Erin Anne Millie Brett.
was required. The Stage
newspaper offered one to actors signing up with Circo Magico Italiano so Brett signed to join.
She has toured with Circo Magico Italiano, a travelling circus, in Mexico
and Central America
, played a prostitute in the London
production of the musical Les Misérables
(her singing and dancing skills have made her a regular in the musical theatre
), starred in fringe theatre
productions and she has appeared in the UK Tour of The Rocky Horror Show
as Magenta, starring alongside Jason Donovan
as Frank. She has appeared in the musical Smokey Joe's Cafe
.
Brett made her television debut in London's Burning
(as an office girl) in 1992. She has appeared in several television advertisement
s, including most notably Learn Direct Scotland commercials.
Brett has made appearances on The Bill
, My Hero, Family Affairs
. It was when she was performing in Les Misérables
that she was spotted by an EastEnders
casting director.
She made her first appearance in EastEnders
in June 2004, at which time the character was known as Jane Collins. She initially signed a three-year contract, and in 2010 she signed a further one-year contract. She also appears as Jane in the 2010 spin-off series EastEnders: E20
.
Brett has made various television appearances in aid of charity. She participated in the 2007, 2008 and 2009 telethon appeals for Children in Need
where she sang alongside the rest of the EastEnders
cast. In the 2008 appeal, she was cast as Mary Poppins
. She also participated in the 2010 telethon appeal for Children in Need
where she appeared as Jane in the EastEnders and Coronation Street crossover episode
"East Street
". On 19 February 2010 Brett appeared on The Weakest Link
alongside her co-stars and former co-stars, Adam Woodyatt
, Laila Morse
, Larry Lamb
, Todd Carty
, Ricky Groves
, John Partridge
, John Altman and Charlie G. Hawkins
. She won and donated her winnings to Breast Cancer
campaign and Alzheimers Research.
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, in which she has starred since 2004.
Personal life
Brett was born in Hamilton, Scotland, and studied at the London Studio Centre. She is fluent in SpanishSpanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. She has participated in various charity events.
Brett was in a relationship with a musician named Dave Evans for six years. The couple met on a blind date in 2001 and got engaged; however, they split in 2007 before the wedding. Laurie told the Sunday Mirror
Sunday Mirror
The Sunday Mirror is the Sunday sister paper of the Daily Mirror. It began life in 1915 as the Sunday Pictorial and was renamed the Sunday Mirror in 1963. Trinity Mirror also owns The People...
, "It's an amicable split and we remain good friends."
Brett speaks with a Scottish accent, however, on moving to London, she adopted a London accent - fitting for her EastEnders role. She says she has always had a "knack" with accents and has admitted that speaking with a Scottish accent becomes handy when people ask if she is Jane from EastEnders. She has admitted that when asked that question she speaks with a Scottish accent and people then assume they are mistaken.
Brett has admitted to being a bit of a wild child in her youth, drinking heavily for 20 years.
Brett revealed in January 2011 that she is pregnant with her first child. In June it was announced that she had given birth to a baby girl, Erin Anne Millie Brett.
Career
Brett has admitted that she was a self-starter in the entertainment business. As a child she had ballet lessons but was later forced to give this up due to a knee injury. At age 17 she left Scotland to attend drama school in London, whilst at drama school she earned a living working as a bouncer at a club, an usherette and also as a stage technician. However Brett wished to act full time and for this an Equity CardEquity Card
An Equity Card is proof of membership in an organization of stage actors such as the Actors' Equity Association of the United States or the British Equity...
was required. The Stage
The Stage
The Stage is a weekly British newspaper founded in 1880, available nationally and published on Thursdays. Covering all areas of the entertainment industry but focused primarily on theatre, it contains news, reviews, opinion, features and other items of interest, mainly to those who work within the...
newspaper offered one to actors signing up with Circo Magico Italiano so Brett signed to join.
She has toured with Circo Magico Italiano, a travelling circus, in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
, played a prostitute in the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
production of the musical Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
(her singing and dancing skills have made her a regular in the musical theatre
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
), starred in fringe theatre
Fringe theatre
Fringe theatre is theatre that is not of the mainstream. The term comes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which name comes from Robert Kemp, who described the unofficial companies performing at the same time as the second Edinburgh International Festival as a ‘fringe’, writing: ‘Round the fringe...
productions and she has appeared in the UK Tour of The Rocky Horror Show
The Rocky Horror Show
The Rocky Horror Show is a long-running British horror comedy stage musical, which opened in London on 19 June 1973. It was written by Richard O'Brien, produced and directed by Jim Sharman. It came eighth in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of the "Nation's Number One Essential Musicals"...
as Magenta, starring alongside Jason Donovan
Jason Donovan
Jason Donovan is an Australian actor and singer. He initially achieved fame in the Australian soap opera Neighbours, before beginning a career in music in 1988. In the UK he has sold over 3 million records, and his début album Ten Good Reasons was one of the highest-selling albums of 1989...
as Frank. She has appeared in the musical Smokey Joe's Cafe
Smokey Joe's Cafe
Smokey Joe's Cafe is a musical revue showcasing 39 pop standards, including rock and roll, rhythm and blues songs written by songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller...
.
Brett made her television debut in London's Burning
London's Burning
London's Burning was a British television drama programme produced by London Weekend Television for the ITV network that focused on the lives of members of the London Fire Brigade, principally those of the Blue Watch at a fictional fire station called Blackwall.It was broadcast between 1986 and...
(as an office girl) in 1992. She has appeared in several television advertisement
Television advertisement
A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...
s, including most notably Learn Direct Scotland commercials.
Brett has made appearances on The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
, My Hero, Family Affairs
Family Affairs
Family Affairs was a British soap opera broadcast on Five, from 1997 to 2005. It was the second programme to be broadcast on the channel on 30 March 1997, the channel's launch night...
. It was when she was performing in Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
that she was spotted by an EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
casting director.
She made her first appearance in EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
in June 2004, at which time the character was known as Jane Collins. She initially signed a three-year contract, and in 2010 she signed a further one-year contract. She also appears as Jane in the 2010 spin-off series EastEnders: E20
EastEnders: E20
EastEnders: E20 is a British Internet soap opera, which began airing on 8 January 2010. A spin-off from the established BBC soap EastEnders, it is set in EastEnders regular setting of Albert Square, a Victorian square in the fictional borough of Walford, in the East End of London...
.
Brett has made various television appearances in aid of charity. She participated in the 2007, 2008 and 2009 telethon appeals for Children in Need
Children in Need
Children in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million. The highlight of the Children in Need appeal is an annual telethon, held in November. A teddy bear named "Pudsey Bear" fronts the campaign, while Terry Wogan is a long...
where she sang alongside the rest of the EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
cast. In the 2008 appeal, she was cast as Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins (musical)
Mary Poppins is a Walt Disney Theatrical musical based on the similarly titled series of children's books by P. L. Travers and the Disney 1964 film. The West End production opened in December 2004 and received two Olivier Awards, one for Best Actress in a Musical and the other for Best Theatre...
. She also participated in the 2010 telethon appeal for Children in Need
Children in Need
Children in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million. The highlight of the Children in Need appeal is an annual telethon, held in November. A teddy bear named "Pudsey Bear" fronts the campaign, while Terry Wogan is a long...
where she appeared as Jane in the EastEnders and Coronation Street crossover episode
Fictional crossover
A fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, or because of unauthorized efforts by fans, or even amid common...
"East Street
East Street (Children in Need)
"East Street" is a charity crossover mini-episode between British soap operas Coronation Street and EastEnders. It was broadcast on 19 November 2010 as part of children's charity Children in Need's 2010 telethon on BBC One...
". On 19 February 2010 Brett appeared on The Weakest Link
The Weakest Link
The Weakest Link is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and will end its run in 2012 when its host Anne Robinson ends her contract. The original British version of the show airs around the world on BBC Entertainment...
alongside her co-stars and former co-stars, Adam Woodyatt
Adam Woodyatt
Adam Brinley Woodyatt is an English actor and media personality, best known for his role as Ian Beale in the long-running BBC soap opera EastEnders...
, Laila Morse
Laila Morse
Laila Morse is an English actress, best known for playing Mo Harris in BBC series EastEnders and Janet in the 1997 movie Nil by Mouth ."Laila Morse" is an anagram of an Italian phrase for "my sister" - a name she...
, Larry Lamb
Larry Lamb (actor)
Lawrence Douglas "Larry" Lamb is an English actor who has worked frequently in television. He is best known for playing one of the greatest villains of British soap Archie Mitchell in the BBC television soap EastEnders, Michael Shipman in the BBC television show Gavin & Stacey and Mischievous...
, Todd Carty
Todd Carty
Todd Carty is an Irish actor and director, who has grown up on television screens in a variety of roles. His stage work has varied from pantomime to serious drama, as well as radio plays, voiceovers, commercials, narrations, and films...
, Ricky Groves
Ricky Groves
Richard "Ricky" Groves is an English actor best known for playing Garry Hobbs in EastEnders from 2000–09. Before his role in EastEnders he appeared in the series Burnside, a spin-off from The Bill.-Other TV work:...
, John Partridge
John Partridge (performer)
John Partridge is an English actor, singer, dancer, panelist and television presenter, who is probably best known for the role of Christian Clarke in the long-running BBC television soap opera EastEnders, having joined the cast in January 2008...
, John Altman and Charlie G. Hawkins
Charlie G. Hawkins
Charlie George Hawkins is an English actor. He was raised in Islington where he has lived since birth.His most notable role is Darren Miller in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, which he has starred in since 2004, although he has had other roles in films, dramas, documentaries and advertisements...
. She won and donated her winnings to Breast Cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
campaign and Alzheimers Research.