Holly Willoughby
| Holly Willoughby | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | Holly Marie Willoughby 10 February 1981 Brighton, East Sussex, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Ethnicity | English |
| Occupation | TV Presenter, model |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Employer | ITV BBC |
| Television | Presenting: This Morning (2009–present) Dancing on Ice (2006–2011) Celebrity Juice (2008–present) The Voice UK (2012) |
| Spouse | Dan Baldwin (m. 2007) |
| Children | Harry James Baldwin (born 11 May 2009) Belle Baldwin (born 14 April 2011) |
| Website | |
| OffficialHollyWilloughby.com | |
Holly Marie Willoughby (born 10 February 1981)[citation needed] is an English television presenter and model, known for her work in presenting children's TV and entertainment shows. In her early career she modelled underwear and went on to present CD:UK. In 2006, she won a BAFTA and was chosen to present Dancing on Ice, a UK celebrity talent show, shown on the ITV network which drew in an average of 8.9 million viewers in the 2010 series. She later stepped down from the role in 2011 due to new commitments and was replaced by Christine Bleakley.[1] In July 2009, she was selected as a replacement for Fern Britton on This Morning.[2] She began presenting on This Morning on 14 September 2009, alongside Phillip Schofield. On 23 November 2011, it was announced that Holly would be hosting the singing show The Voice UK on the BBC along with Reggie Yates.[3]
Contents |
[edit] Early life
The younger of two daughters of the manager of a double-glazing company and an air stewardess,[4] Willoughby was educated at the independent Burgess Hill School For Girls in the town of Burgess Hill in West Sussex. She went on to attend The College of Richard Collyer in Horsham.[citation needed]
In 1995, at the age of 14, Willoughby was spotted by talent scouts at The Clothes Show Live exhibition. Storm Model Management signed her up.[5] She appeared in teen magazines for girls such as Mizz, Just Seventeen and More!. From 1998, at the age of 17, she started modelling underwear for various clients including Pretty Polly. She appeared in various adverts and posters.
[edit] Media career
[edit] Children's TV
In 2000, Willoughby won an audition for a show on CITV featuring S Club 7 called S Club TV.[6] In this show actors represented an alternative S Club.[7] She also acted in a show called S Club 7: Artistic Differences. She played a character called Zoe alongside the regular members of the band.[8] and after these shows, she worked as a receptionist for a while and then as a runner for the defunct shopping channel Auction World TV.
She also took on menial jobs and started an Open University course in psychotherapy. Then eventually she found work as assistant manager during which time she persuaded a friend to make a show reel of her. This show reel secured her an agent who then contacted the BBC.[6] Later in 2000, she presented a factual entertainment programme for children called Xchange. She went on to host several other children's shows for CBBC: X-perimental, and CBBC at the Fame Academy (CBBC's version of the BBC-TV talent show Fame Academy).
Her breakthrough as a children's entertainer came when she re-joined CITV in 2004 to co-present their flagship entertainment show Ministry of Mayhem which was aired on Saturday mornings. It was on this programme that she met her future husband Dan Baldwin, one of the show's producers. In 2006, the show's title was changed to Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown in order to reflect the popularity of its co-presenters, Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern. During the final episode of the show (1 July 2006), Willoughby accidentally revealed one of her breasts during a particularly energetic routine. CITV received a small number of complaints, though the wider audience merely wrote the occurrence off as unfortunate. In 2005 Holly presented Feel the Fear, a children's entertainment programme in which the presenters are set unnerving challenges. She has also had a number of minor appearances on other children's programmes and programmes relating to children. She co-presented the final of the children's version of Stars in Their Eyes in 2004. The programmes listed below were broadcast on CITV in 2000
- S Club TV (2000)
- S Club 7: Artistic Differences (2000)
The programmes listed below were broadcast on CBBC between 2000 and 2004
- Xchange (2000–2004)
- CBBC at the Fame Academy (2002–2003)
- X-perimental (2003)
The programmes listed below were broadcast on CITV between 2004 and 2006
- Ministry of Mayhem aka Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown (2004–2006)
- Stars in Their Eyes Kids (2004)
- Feel the Fear (2005)
- Tricky TV (2006)
[edit] Mainstream TV
Willoughby presented CD:UK for a short while in the spring of 2005, replacing Cat Deeley before Myleene Klass became the regular presenter. Her major breakthrough as a mainstream family entertainer came when she was chosen to co-present the flagship ITV talent show Dancing on Ice, alongside Phillip Schofield, in 2006.[9] In this show, celebrities from the UK are partnered with professional dancers to learn ice-dancing routines which are then judged by a panel of experts and voted on by the public. She stepped down from the role in 2011 due to new commitments. She was criticised for her choice of costume in January 2008.[10]
She has presented a number of other ITV programmes, especially spin-off show such as Celebrity Wrestling: Bring It On, Greased Lightnin and most recently, The Xtra Factor. She has also presented shows exploring celebrity gossip such as Lip Service and the comedy show Celebrity Juice. In 2007, she took over from Davina McCall as the presenter of Streetmate, a dating game show in the UK. She presented sections of The National Television Awards in 2007 and 2008.
She co-presents Holly & Fearne Go Dating alongside Fearne Cotton. In this show the two hosts, who are also best friends, attempt to find dates for single people that they meet in various situations in in UK. She has also presented Here Come the Boys, a show celebrating the achievements of popular UK male singers of the past 50 years.
Willoughby has co-presented ITV's morning show This Morning with Phillip Schofield since September 2009 after she took over the role from Fern Britton.
On 23 November 2011, it was announced that she would present The Voice UK in 2012, along with BBC Radio presenter Reggie Yates.
[edit] Credits
All programmes listed below are broadcast by ITV (ITV1 and ITV2 channels)
- United Kingdom in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004 (2004)
- CD:UK (2005)
- Celebrity Wrestling: Bring It On (2005)
- Dancing on Ice (2006–2011)
- Lip Service (2006)
- The Westlife Show: Live (December 2007)
- Greased Lightnin (2007)
- Streetmate (2007)
- Holly & Fearne Go Dating (2007)
- The Xtra Factor (2008–2009) 66 episodes
- Celebrity Juice (2008–present)
- The National Television Awards (2007 and 2008)
- Here Come the Boys (2008)
- This Morning (2009–present)
- Cheryl Cole's Night In (2009)
- James Corden's World Cup Live (25 June 2010)
- Magic Numbers (17 July 2010)
- Agatha Christie's Marple (30 August 2010)
- Text Santa (24[11] December 2011) with Ant & Dec
[edit] Guest appearances
- Panel Member Never Mind the Buzzcocks (31 October 2005)
- Contestant Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (29 September 2007)
- Contestant All Star Family Fortunes (3 November 2007)
- Guest presenter This Morning (5 December 2008)
- Contestant All Star Mr and Mrs (2 January 2010)
- Contestant Chris Moyles' Quiz Night (29 November 2010)
[edit] Bibliography
Willoughby and Fearne Cotton have written an advice book entitled The Best Friends' Guide to Life published in October 2010
- The Best Friends' Guide to Life. Vermilion. 14 October 2010. ISBN 9780091935405.
[edit] Awards
In 2006, Willoughby won a BAFTA in recognition of her abilities as a children’s TV presenter.[12]
She has also appeared in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women poll every year since 2005, ranking at #51 in 2010, #74 in 2009 and #100 in 2008.[13]
[edit] Personal life
Holly Willoughby is dyslexic.[14] Her sister, Kelly, also works in the television industry.[15]
She is related by marriage to actress Tamzin Outhwaite,[15] and is close friends with fellow TV presenter Fearne Cotton.[16][17]
At the age of 25, she became engaged to Dan Baldwin, a producer on Ministry of Mayhem, and on the same day they moved into a flat in South London.[15][18][19] Willoughby announced their engagement live on Saturday Showdown, on 6 May 2006.[20] The wedding took place on 4 August 2007 at Amberley Castle, West Sussex. Willoughby gave birth to her first child, a boy named Harry James Baldwin, in May 2009.[21] Her daughter, Belle Baldwin, was born in April 2011[22]
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s101/dancing-on-ice/news/a351698/christine-bleakley-replaces-holly-willoughby-as-dancing-on-ice-host.html
- ^ "Willoughby new This Morning host". BBC News. 15 July 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8152780.stm. Retrieved 15 July 2009.
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/15856579
- ^ Holly Willoughby on 'that breast incident' Mail Online, 19 October 2007
- ^ The 20 most powerful celebrity makers: 6. Sarah Doukas The Observer, 22 June 2008
- ^ a b Bio Holly Willoughby
- ^ Off the Telly Reviews[dead link]
- ^ Holly Willoughby IMDb
- ^ Holly Willoughby ITV: Dancing on Ice
- ^ Good Golly, Miss Holly Orange Entertainment News, 29 January 2008
- ^ http://www.itv.com/textsanta/about/
- ^ Children's Awards BAFTA
- ^ Holly Willoughby at FHM.com
- ^ "Holly Willoughby tells Twitter followers who criticised spelling 'I'm dyslexic'". Daily Telegraph. 6 November 2009. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/6510511/Holly-Willoughby-tells-Twitter-followers-who-criticised-spelling-Im-dyslexic.html. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
- ^ a b c Mum’s the word, Holly Mail Online, 22 November 2008
- ^ Exclusive: Fearne Cotton and Holly Willoughby on men and marriage Mirror, 14 August 2008
- ^ Holly's A Frock Star Soccer AM, Sky Sports, 8 March 2008
- ^ Pregnant Holly Willoughby glows on her first outing since Simon and Louis let her secret slip live on Xtra Factor Mail Online, 3 November 2008.
- ^ Daniel Baldwin IMDb
- ^ Exclusive: Holly can't wait to wed[dead link] Sunday Mirror
- ^ Holly Willoughby Delivers Baby Boy Mail Online, 12 May 2009
- ^ Holly gives birth to baby girl
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Holly Willoughby on Twitter
- Holly Willoughby on Facebook
- Holly Willoughby at The X Factor
- Holly Willoughby at This Morning
- ITV Celebrity Playlist for Holly Willoughby
| Preceded by Fearne Cotton |
Host of The Xtra Factor 2008–2009 |
Succeeded by Konnie Huq |
| Preceded by Fern Britton |
Host of This Morning with Phillip Schofield 2009–present |
Incumbent |
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