DATE OF BIRTH : 5th June 1976
BORN : Selby, North Yorkshire
HEIGHT : 5ft 2
LIVES : London
FAMILY : Two sisters, one older, Kate, and one younger, Sophie.
PARTNER : Musician David Tench
CHILDREN : Daughter, Macy Blossom (b.2007)
TRAINED : Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (BA Hons 1998)
WHY SHE GOT INTO ACTING : ‘I’ve always enjoyed performing ever since I was a little girl. I joined a local dance school when I was five. It was always a hobby until I decided to go to drama school and it was then I thought I should give it a go professionally.’
ON KELLY : ‘Kelly is a normal person, not a psychopath – she’s obviously just got some serious problems that she’s never dealt with. To a certain extent she is a good at her job, a bit of a goody-two shoes.’
ON SIMILARITIES WITH KELLY : ‘I’m not like Kelly, the only thing I share with her is that when I do a job I like to do it to the best of my abilty which I believe Kelly does too but she isn’t very tactful and sometimes a bit insensitive to other peoples feelings. I’m much nicer than her! I like the fact she sticks up for herself but can be a little too bossy. She does love her brother a lot and I love my family a lot too! If I wasn’t doing Holby I’d like to be in something like Friends that would be cool!’
IF SHE COULD PLAY ANOTHER CHARACTER BESIDES KELLY : ‘I don’t think I would like to play anyone else because I love playing the part of Kelly, I’m not really like her though, she’s a bit too bossy sometimes and I wouldn’t be nasty to anyone. I suppose it would be fun to play Chrissie as she gets to wear great clothes, nice makeup and snogs Owen!’
ON FIRST DAY ON SET : ‘I was really nervous my first day on set. It was so weird seeing a pretend hospital ward I had to learn lots of technical stuff as well. Luckily, it doesn’t smell like a proper hospital!’
MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT ON SET : ‘I always seem to have embarrassing moments at work, I do like to have a good laugh. Art Malik once told me he’d been to the hospital in Kingston to learn all about the medical stuff he’s got to do and I said what you mean in Jamaica?! He laughed and said no in London! I thought it was a long way to go to have work experience!’
FAVE HC STORYLINES : ‘Apart from my own which of course is my favourite, I really enjoyed the storyline Kath had last year with the whole euthanasia topic.’
MUSIC LIKES : ‘I like most types of music really, I listen to a lot of R’n’B, pop, jazz, soul music. I really like Justin Timberlake’s album, mind you who doesn’t?! I also like Norah Jones, Stevie Wonder, Harry Connick Jnr, Jill Scott, D’Angelo, Eric Benet, James Taylor, the list goes on and on!’
ACTORS/ ACTRESSES ADMIRE : Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kathy Burke, David Jason and Kathy Bates
PREVIOUS CASUALTY APPEARANCE : Rachel appeared in CASUALTY as Molly Blythe in S17 E9. [More Info]
TELEVISION CREDITS : At Home With The Braithwaites; Where the Heart Is; Red Cap; Casualty; Heartbeat; Peak Practice; Holby City; Harry Hill’s TV Burp; Outlaws; The Last Detective; Doctors; Losing Gemma; Dead Clever; The Royal; A Passionate Woman; Coronation Street, Trollied; Shameless; Secrets and Words; The Accused – Tracie’s Story; Open Doors – Help Me If You Can; Happy Valley; WPC56; Hollyoaks; Creeped Out; Last Tango in Halifax; All Creatures Great and Small; Waterloo Road
THEATRE CREDITS : Annie; Bugsy Malone; Calamity Jane; Spend Spend Spend; Frame 312; Billy Liar; Much Ado About Nothing
AGENT : United Agents Ltd, 12-26 Lexington Street, London W1F 0LE.
DID YOU KNOW?
* Rachel was nominated for an Olivier award for her portrayal of Viv Nicholson in Spend Spend Spend.
