Samantha Barks

Samantha Barks

Samantha Jane Barks is a British actress and singer of Manx origin. She rose to fame after coming in third in the BBC talent show-themed television series I’d Do Anything in 2008. In 2012, she starred alongside Jonathan Bailey in the Disney Channel series Groove High, and made her film debut as Éponine in the film version of the musical Les Misérables. She is currently starring in a series of children’s shows on the BBC.

About Samantha Barks in brief

Summary Samantha BarksSamantha Jane Barks is a British actress and singer of Manx origin. She rose to fame after coming in third in the BBC talent show-themed television series I’d Do Anything in 2008. In 2012, she starred alongside Jonathan Bailey in the Disney Channel series Groove High, and made her film debut as Éponine in the film version of the musical Les Misérables. In April 2007, Barks released her debut album, Looking in Your Eyes, which sold around 600 copies. She performed at the Peel Bay Festival in June 2007 supporting Matt Willis and the Sugababes, which also saw appearances by Madness and The Who. Barks represented the Isle of Man in the Maltese International Song Competition where she won the main prize of €2000 and the title of Best Foreign Singer. She then announced to play the lead role of Sally Bowles in the UK tour of Cabaret from 11 July 2008 to 29 August 2008 to thank those that supported her during her time on the show. In February 2009 Barks put on her own concert with Cabaret, An Audience with Sam Barks, at the Villa Marina on the Isle Of Man, with Jodie Prenger and Sarah Toward. She has also appeared in a number of television shows, including The X Factor, The Voice, and The Voice Kids. She is currently starring in a series of children’s shows on the BBC, including a spin-off series, The X-Factor Kids, and a children’s series on the Disney channel, The New X- Factor Kids, as well as starring in the musical The Book Of Life.

She also starred in the movie version of Les Mis érables, which was released in 2012. In the film, she earned nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, the Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture and the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for best Acting Ensemble. In 2013, she appeared in the TV series The X-Men: Apocalypse, starring alongside Tom Hanks and David Walliams, and the film adaptation of The Godfather: Part II, starring in which she played the role of Jean-Claude Van Damme. In 2014, she had a role in the television series The Hobbit: The Descendants, starring as the lead character, Jean-Michel Basquiat. In 2015, she was in a film version of The Hobbit, which she also co-starred in, and also appeared on, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the Planet of the Apes. In 2016, she starred in The Hobbit and the Lord Of The Apes: The Quest for Peace, a film based on the novel by Neil Gower.