Lacey Turner

Lacey Turner is an English actress. She is best known for her work on Bedlam, Switch, and portraying the role of Stacey Slater on the BBC soap opera EastEnders, a role for which she has won 33 awards. She has won more British Soap Awards than any other actor in any soap, and, at the age of 17, she was the youngest person to ever win 'Best Actress', an award she went on to win four times. In 2013, she also starred in the television movie Our Girl, which became a full series in 2014.

Early life

Turner was born in Edgware, Barnet, Greater London to parents Bev and Les. She was raised as a Catholic with her two younger sisters, Daisy Turner (born 1990) and Lily Harvey (born 2001), in Hertfordshire, near to the BBC television studios in Elstree. She has commented, "From my bedroom window you could see part of the square [the external filming lot for EastEnders], and you could hear them all filming at night. I used to say to my mum: "I wanna be on that!" It was whilst living there that Turner decided to become an actress. At the age of 10, she schooled at the Sylvia Young Theatre School to achieve her ambition, but left after a year stating that it "wasn't my cup of tea". She has since revealed that she was bullied while at stage school, by children who teased her for being "geeky". Instead, she attended a local girls private school (Peterborough And Saint Margarets School) in Stanmore NW London and went to dance, singing and acting classes outside school.

EastEnders (2004-10)

Turner's earliest work included appearances on stage and in advertisements (notably a Haribo advert). In 2004 Turner went on to audition for the role of Demi Miller in BBC's EastEnders. Though she failed to get that part, she was instead given the role of Stacey, a new addition to the popular Slater family. She started in the soap the day after leaving school, and made her first appearance on-screen in November 2004. Commenting on the role, Turner said, "I always dreamt of being on the show and so I can't believe that I've fulfilled my greatest ambition!" In 2005, Turner appeared alongside Catherine Tate's character Lauren in a special sketch for the BBC's annual Children in Need telethon. In March 2007, Turner had a breast enlargement, taking her from a 32B to a 32D.

In January 2009, Turner appeared as a guest on The Sunday Night Project. Turner also starred in a live episode of EastEnders on 19 February 2010 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the soap opera. The live episode gained over 16.6 million viewers which saw Stacey's husband Bradley Branning die after falling from a rooftop during a police chase before Stacey's confession that she murdered Archie Mitchell. After her co-star Charlie Clements who played Bradley Branning left in February 2010, EastEnders bosses declared that they are keen to retain Turner after proving her popularity with viewers, however, she announced her decision to leave the show in April 2010. She stated, "I'll miss Stacey and everyone in Albert Square very much but the time has come to try something different." Turner later revealed that she had agreed with Charlie Clements to leave EastEnders at the same time as him. Of the decision, Turner said "Charlie and I always said we'd go at the same time. For quite a while I'd been saying I was going to go and kept realising I wasn't ready. But when Charlie said he was going last year I was like, 'Right, OK, I'm going too'." The Daily Mail reported that after leaving EastEnders Turner hopes to become a film star, but hasn't ruled out a return in the future. Bosses at the BBC are leaving her the option to return to EastEnders.

Work after EastEnders (2010-14)

In December 2010 she did some advertising for Royal Mail to remind people of Christmas postal deadlines. Turner was cast as Lia Shaman in the third series of Being Human. Turner starred in series 3 opener which broadcast on 23 January 2011. It was watched by 1.37 million (5%). She reprised her role for the series three finalé. In March 2011 she played Elizabeth Lavenza, the bride of Victor Frankenstein, played by Andrew Gower, in an adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein which aired on BBC 3, live from the derelict Kirkstall Abbey in Leeds, in front of an audience of 12,000. The show was titled Frankenstein's Wedding.

Turner appeared alongside David Tennant, Billie Piper, David Morrissey, Jane Horrocks, Ashley Walters and Vicky McClure in the BBC One improvisational programme True Love, which aired in June 2012. She played the leading role of Ellie, a character who claims to see ghosts and spirits, in the second series of Bedlam. Turner starred in ITV2 supernatural drama Switch, which centres on the story of four young witches living in contemporary London. Turner's character is referred to as the "immaculately dressed" careerist Stella. Turner played a young army recruit called Molly in a one-off 90-minute drama titled Our Girl. She began filming in BBC Elstree Studios in October 2012 and the film aired on BBC One on 24 March 2013. This was then followed by a five part series which began airing on BBC One on 21 September 2014.

In October 2012, Turner joined ASDA's Tickled Pink campaign. Turner has also done voice over work in CITV programme Goodbye Year Six and narrating BBC3's Don't Just Stand There, I'm Having Your Baby. Turner starred in radio dramas The One about the Social Worker and Up the Junction, which aired on BBC Radio 4 in September 2013.

Return to EastEnders (2014)

On 6 December 2013 it was announced that Turner would be returning to EastEnders, to reprise her role as Stacey. Turner began filming in January 2014. She made her on-screen return on 7 February 2014 and departed on 25 March 2014. She returned full time in August 2014.

Biography from the wikipedia article, licensed under CC-BY-SA