Danniella Westbrook

Danniella Westbrook

Danniella Westbrook is an English actress and television personality. She played Sam Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders in 1990–1993, 1995–1996, 1999–2000, 2009–2010 and 2016. Westbrook competed in the 2010 series of Dancing on Ice, with US Pairs Skater Matthew Gonzalez, and finished fourth in the competition. In 2013, she appeared in Hollyoaks as Trudy Ryan. In 2016, she took part in the seventeenth series of Celebrity Big Brother and finished in fifth place.

About Danniella Westbrook in brief

Summary Danniella WestbrookDanniella Westbrook is an English actress and television personality. She played Sam Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders in 1990–1993, 1995–1996, 1999–2000, 2009–2010 and 2016. Westbrook competed in the 2010 series of Dancing on Ice, with US Pairs Skater Matthew Gonzalez, and finished fourth in the competition. In 2013, she appeared in Hollyoaks as Trudy Ryan. In 2016, she took part in the seventeenth series of Celebrity Big Brother, where she reached the final and finished in fifth place. She has also released two autobiographies, The Other Side of Nowhere in 2006, and, Faith, Hope and Clarity in 2013. Westbrook underwent a much publicised cocaine addiction throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, which caused the complete erosion of her nasal septum. She sought treatment, but later relapsed. She was previously married and has two children. Westbrook started off modelling at the age of seven for the supermarket Asda. She went on to launch Next’s children’s fashionware and became the face of highstreet store \”Tammy Girl\”, taking part in a Weetabix campaign and featured in advertisements for Opel cars and Coca-Cola. She progressed into acting, appearing as a child thief in Melvyn Bragg’s London Programme and the West End production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

She appeared in a video for the song The Invisible Man by Queen and had a minor role in Grange Hill. Westbrook has two brothers, the elder, Justin—her father’s son from a prior marriage and a younger brother Jay. As a child, she had a keen interest in horse riding, but she has said that she has always had aspirations to be famous. Westbrook attended a local state primary school, but was bullied because of her television appearances, and after one bully cut off her hair, Westbrook’s parents removed her from the school. At the aged of 16, Westbrook was put forward for a much bigger role in EastEnder, Sam Mitchell. Her audition was successful and her first appearance on Eastenders was aired in July 1990. Despite featuring in some prominent storylines, Westbrook decided to leave the soap in 1993 to take another role. In 2001, she was reintroduced to the soap as Sam Mitchell, only filmed in ways that would keep her hidden from the viewers. In 1996, she left the soap again and was written out of Eastenders in 1996. In 2000, Eastenders’ producers decided to reintroduce Westbrook to the role of Sam Mitchell again and despite her past problems, they decided to give her another chance and she was asked for a third time.