Sue Cleaver 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. She is best known for her regular role in Coronation Street

Coronation Street

Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...

.

She studied at the Manchester Metropolitan School of Theatre

The Manchester Metropolitan School of Theatre

The Manchester Metropolitan School of Theatre is a drama school, situated in the city of Manchester, UK. It is part of The Manchester Metropolitan University. The school is one of the 22 members of the Conference of Drama Schools...

 (formerly Manchester Polytechnic) and her first television appearance was a small part in an episode of A Touch of Frost

A Touch of Frost (TV series)

A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield....

. She went on to star in the acclaimed drama series Band of Gold before landing a role in the film Girls' Night alongside Julie Walters

Julie Walters

Julie Walters, CBE is an English actress and novelist. She came to international prominence in 1983 for Educating Rita, performing in the title role opposite Michael Caine. It was a role she had created on the West End stage and it won her BAFTA and Golden Globe awards for Best Actress...

 and Brenda Blethyn

Brenda Blethyn

Brenda Anne Blethyn, OBE is an English actress who has worked in theatre, television and film. Blethyn has received two Academy Award nominations, two SAG Award nominations, two Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...

.

In the late 1990s she had recurring roles as Standish in The Cops

The Cops (TV series)

The Cops is a British television series made by World Productions for the BBC.The production, set in the fictional town of Stanton in Northern England, was noted for its documentary-style camerawork and uncompromising portrayal of the police force...

, and as Glenda in the Victoria Wood

Victoria Wood

Victoria Wood CBE is a British comedienne, actress, singer-songwriter, screenwriter and director. Wood has written and starred in sketches, plays, films and sitcoms, and her live stand-up comedy act is interspersed with her own compositions, which she accompanies on piano...

 penned sitcom Dinnerladies

Dinnerladies

Dinnerladies is a British sitcom written, co-produced by and starring Victoria Wood. It ran on BBC One for 16 episodes from 1998 to 2000.-Plot:...

. She also had a small part in the Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp

John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...

/Cate Blanchett

Cate Blanchett

Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...

 movie The Man Who Cried

The Man Who Cried

The Man Who Cried is an 2000 Anglo-French film, written and directed by Sally Potter. The film stars Christina Ricci, Cate Blanchett, Johnny Depp, Harry Dean Stanton, and John Turturro....

. It was after filming that role in 2000 that she was cast as Eileen Grimshaw

Eileen Grimshaw

Eileen Grimshaw, is a fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by Sue Cleaver, the character first appeared onscreen during the episode airing on 3 May 2000....

 in the top rated ITV1

ITV1

ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...

 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,...

 Coronation Street

Coronation Street

Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...

. Cleaver won praise for her portrayal of Eileen, the mother of a son - Todd - who struggles with his sexuality and announces he is gay. The character of Todd has since left the show but Eileen remains one of the more popular characters among fans.

In November 2010, Cleaver was a guest panellist on ITVs flagship Loose Women

Loose Women

Loose Women is a British lunchtime television programme, first broadcast in 1999 on ITV. It consists of a panel of four women who interview celebrities and discuss topical issues, ranging from daily politics and current affairs, to celebrity gossip...

to celebrate 50 Years of Coronation Street

Coronation Street

Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...

.

Cleaver is patron of the When You Wish Upon a Star charity.

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