Heather Peace
| Heather Peace | |
|---|---|
| Born | 16 June 1975 Bradford, England |
| Occupation | Actress; Musician |
Heather Peace (born 16 June 1975, Bradford, Yorkshire) is an English actress and musician.
Heather Peace is a British actress and musician. Born in Bradford West Yorkshire, she lives in Brighton with her partner.
Heather decided to be an actress at an early age and credits her parents for the encouragement they gave her to achieve that goal.[1] She studied acting at Manchester Polytechnic where she obtained a BA (Hons). Her first professional role was in the 1997 Harrogate Theatre production of ‘My Fair Lady’ where Heather played Eliza Doolittle. Subsequent theatre performances included Miranda in Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ and the same character in the actor musician spoof of the same play titled ‘Return of the forbidden Planet.[2]
Heather then moved into television joining the cast of the long running TV series ‘Emmerdale’ playing the character Anne Cullen. After leaving ‘Emmerdale’ Heather made guest appearances in several TV series and movies, until in 1998 she landed the part of the only female fire fighter Sally ‘Gracie’ Fields in the TV series ‘London’s Burning’.
Produced by LWT, ‘London’s Burning’ was a major TV series attracting some 16 -17 million viewers per episode. http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/content/articles/2007/09/12/michael_garner_interview This series established Heather as an action heroine, which was firmly cemented with her next role as SAS sergeant Becca Gallagher in the 2005 series 'Ultimate Force' alongside Ross Kemp. Once again Heather played the only woman in an all male cast.
Following ‘Ultimate Force,' Heather starred - against type this time - in the TV series ‘The Chase’. Written by Kay Mellor, she played the part of Fiona Jones, a single mum.
There followed various roles in film, television and theatre, including Coronation Street, Empathy and 31 North 62 East, before she went on to star in the groundbreaking BBC 3 TV series ‘Lip Service’ as Detective Sergeant Sam Murray.
The series achieved an audience share of 4.4% with some 600,000 viewers watching each of the six episodes. [3] The series, about the loves and lives of thirty something lesbians in Glasgow, Scotland also starred Laura Fraser, Ruta Gedmintas and Fiona Button. Filming of the second series finished in July 2011 with a transmission date of Spring 2012. The only thing that creator and producer Harriet Braun has given away about series 2 is that ‘you’ll certainly be seeing a lot more of DS Murray – she’ll definitely be playing a big role.'[4]
Heather also recently finished filming a brand new role on flagship BBC One drama Waterloo Road. She will play a teacher with a military background for eight episodes of the seventh series of the show, also set for transmission in 2012. [5]
As the only openly lesbian cast member of Lip Service, Heather has become a source of inspiration for lesbians people around the world. She is a patron of Manchester Pride and the Diversity Role Models charity, plus she recorded a video for Stonewall's It Gets Better campaign.[6] In 2010 she was number 40 on the Independent On Sunday's Pink List, but shot to number 10 in 2011, [7] She was also voted number 12 on US website afterellen.com's Hot 100 list. She is also the only women to have ever appeared twice on the cover of DIVA Magazine in the space of six months.[8]
In addition to being a successful actress, Heather is also an accomplished singer/songwriter who has been playing piano since she was six years old and guitar since her teens. In 2000 audiences got a glimpse of Heather’s beautiful singing voice when she sang her version of the Bette Midler classic ‘The Rose’ in an episode of ‘London’s Burning’. The single was subsequently released by BMG and entered the UK charts. She decided to put her music career on hold to concentrate on acting but in 2011 she reignited her love of music with her first sell out UK tour and release of an acoustic album of covers and some original songs.
She is currently in the studio recording her full debut album with the oscar-nominated producer Nigel Wright with a release date and a European tour set for spring 2012.
It was announced that Peace will be joining the cast of award-winning drama Waterloo Road.
[edit] References
- ^ Yorkshire Post http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/people/Interview-Action-woman-gets-set.6349779.jp
- ^ http://www.heatherpeace.com
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lip_Service_(TV_series) 07/01/11
- ^ http://www.afterellen.com/video/great-lezbritain-lip-service-finale-party interview with Harriet Braun
- ^ http://www.afterellen.com/column/afternoon-delight/2011-09-02
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/user/HeatherPeaceOfficial#p/a/u/1/gismt-uOxek
- ^ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/the-ios-pink-list-2011-2374595.html
- ^ http://www.divamag.co.uk/diva/features.asp?PID=48083
Yorkshire Post http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/people/Interview-Action-woman-gets-set.6349779.jp http://www.heatherpeace.com http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/content/articles/2007/09/12/michael_garner_interview http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lip_Service_(TV_series) 07/01/11 http://www.afterellen.com/video/great-lezbritain-lip-service-finale-party interview with Harriet Braun
