Charlie Brooks(I)

Charlie Brooks was born on 3 May 1981 as Charlene Brooks in Hertfordshire, England and raised in Barmouth, Wales. All her life she had dreamed of becoming an actress and at the age of 13, she traveled without her parents to London to fulfill her dreams of a career in acting. After finding work appearing as bit parts in a few episodes of popular television series, Charlie went on to audition for the role of Janine Butcher in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders (1985). She impressed the casting crew so much that on her 18th birthday in May 1999, she discovered that she had been awarded the coveted role of the cocaine-addicted prostitute. She became a television icon for her villainous role and it led to nominations for awards like Villain Of The Year (which she won in 2004). An accomplished television actress by the age of 20, Charlie took a break to make her stage debut in 'Office Games' in 2003 at the age of 22 at the Pleasance Theatre in London, for which she became an instant success. Having decided not to get her contract renewed as she wanted to try new things, Charlie left EastEnders (1985) and the role of Janine behind her in May 2004 after her character got arrested for the murder of Laura Beale, who was played by her close friend Hannah Waterman. By this point, Charlie had been engaged to Jon Newman in 2001, but had since broken off the engagement and in 2003, she began dating party organiser Tony Truman and in March 2004, she fell pregnant by him. Having left EastEnders (1985), she put her career on hold and after getting engaged to Tony, she gave birth to their daughter Kiki Truman on 8 December 2004 at the age of 23. Although happy with the fact that she was now a mother, Charlie still missed her career and, having had to refuse numerous roles on television, she finally took up the chance to appear on radio, giving her voice to the character Mary Dixon on the BBC Radio show 'Dixon Of Dock Green'. Although she was not highly noticed for her work on radio, she was content enough for the time being. Then, feeling that the time was right for her to return to her much anticipated acting career, Charlie immediately went on to star in the adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House (2005) in 2005, which was a miniseries on BBC1, in which she starred as Jenny. Having then released the smash hit workout DVD titled Charlie Brooks: Before and After Workout (2005) in December 2005, she went on to receive critical acclaim starring in the docu-drama Angel of Death: The Beverly Allitt Story (2005) in the title role of the nurse who killed several children. With her career back on top form, Charlie's love life began to dwindle and in Spring 2006, she ended her engagement with Tony Truman, father of their then 18-month-old daughter Kiki, before making her film debut with the independent film Take 3 Girls (2006) at the age of 25. In 2007, Charlie went on to renew her stage career with the high-budget production of 'Our Country's Good', which ran for 3 weeks at the Liverpool Playhouse. The 26-year-old television and stage actress now resides in Thames Ditton with her daughter Kiki.