Jennifer Ellison
Jennifer Ellison was born on 30 May 1983 in Liverpool, England, the daughter of Jane, an administrator, and her stepfather Peter, a taxi driver.
Ellison trained as a dancer since the age of three and won the National Ballet and Modern Dance Championships two years running (1996 and 1997), and even won world titles for several years. She trained with the Royal Ballet School until she was 16.
Jennifer Ellison's major acting breakthrough was playing Emily Shadwick O'Leary (1998-2003) in Brookside. Impressively, although she missed a lot of her studies, Jennifer still achieved 11 O-levels and four A-levels.
Through her role in Brookside, Jennifer Ellison had her first magazine shoot, whilst still a teenager, published in GQ, under the title, 'The Lolita Syndrome'.
Since leaving Brookside, Ellison has pursued both music and acting. Her debut single was, Baby I Don't Care and was followed by the Top 20 song, Bye Bye Boy.
In 2004, playing Meg she starred alongside Minnie Driver in a Hollywood version of Phantom of the Opera.
Jennifer Ellison was also cast as Roxie Hart in Chicago and toured extensively with the production.
Jennifer Ellison won Hell's Kitchen, the reality TV show that featured chef Gordon Ramsay.
She was also voted the sexiest blonde in the world by Nuts readers in 2004.
Jennifer Ellison is a loyal scouser - she told the BBC: "Everyone thinks that just because you have a Scouse accent, then you must be 'on the rob'. Back in Liverpool I've left my keys in my car with all kinds of expensive jewellery on show in the back by mistake and it has never been touched. I come up to London, my car is in a secure underground car park, and it gets broken into - two days in a row!"
Nevertheless, there were a couple of incidents in Liverpool, including in September 2003, when two bullet holes were spotted in the front door of Ellison's house which she shared with her then fiancé Tony Richardson.
In July and August 2007, The News of the World ran stories with revelations of Jennifer Ellison and Tony Richardson's relationship and reported that they had broken up.
Jennifer Ellison supports Everton, but she did at one point date Liverpool star, Steven Gerrard.
In Jennifer Ellison's interview with The Mirror, she gave some balanced advice to those with aspirations:
"If you want something badly enough, you'll get it. I did. But I also put in a lot of hard work, I always had a back-up plan and I didn't neglect my school work. You can dream, but you have to be realistic, too."
Along with the likes of Stan Collymore, Michael Portillo, Patsy Palmer, and Ingrid Tarrant, Jennifer Ellison was on the jury of the BBC Two's The Verdict.
At the end of 2006 Jennifer Ellison released a workout DVD, Jennifer Ellison's West End workout.
In February 2007, Jennifer Ellison played a football agent, Bethany Taylor, in the second series of BBC1's New Street Law.
In March 2007, ic Liverpool reported that young scousers were wanted to star alongside Jennifer Ellison, Liza Tarbuck and John Thomson in a comedy film, The Be All And End All, to be released in 2008.
In August 2007, the BBC reported that Jennifer Ellison would play an American air hostess, Gloria, in Boeing Boeing at the Comedy Theatre from 1 October.
Within the space of a week in November 2007, there were widely differing reports on Jennifer Ellison's love life. On the one hand, The People reported "Pals of actress Jennifer Ellison fear she is risking everything by dating brutal ex-lover Tony Richardson again."
On the other hand, The Star claimed: "Sexy Jennifer Ellison has washed Tony Richardson right out of her hair" and that she was dating Will Young's twin brother, Rupert.
However, when the dust settled, Ellison confirmed that she was no longer with Tony Richardson.
In 2008, Jennifer Ellison starred in the Britflick comedy-horror The Cottage.
In March 2008, Ellison told The Times:
"There are so many pictures of me out there now. I haven't done a shoot in three years and still I'm on the cover of Nuts and Loaded."
