Jennifer Ellison, born May 30, 1983, is an English actress, singer and dancer. Ellison, who was born in Liverpool, is perhaps best known for playing Emily Shadwick in the television soap opera Brookside until 2003, when she became a pop singer.
Since the age of three years old, Ellison has trained as a dancer. Her achievements in the field included world titles as well as winning the National Ballet and Modern Dance Championships two years running in 1996 and 1997. She also trained with the Royal Ballet School until she was sixteen.
Ellsion had a run in the London West End theatre version of the musical Chicago, and returned from 10 July to 9 August 2006 playing the leading role of Roxie Hart. Ellison was actually supposed to finish on 12 August, but was forced to pull out three days early due to a knee injury. Ellison will be touring the UK in Chicago from 25 September 2006 until 5 May 2007, appearing in Birmingham, Manchester, Sunderland, Nottingham, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent and Liverpool
Ellison's acting career started in 1998 with her role as Emily Shadwick O'Leary on the British soap opera, Brookside. Her stay in Brookside ended in 2003. In 2004 Ellison appeared on the reality television show Hell's Kitchen, which she went on to win. The same year Ellison ventured into film, where she played Meg Giry, Christine Daae's friend and Madame Giry's daughter, in Joel Schumacher's adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera. Ellison also recently appeared in an episode of the ITV legal drama The Brief.
Ellison has also flirted with a pop rock career. Her first hit single was Baby I Don't Care, released in June 2003, which reached number six in the charts. The song was originally released by Transvision Vamp in 1989. The following year in July, after being brought back into the public eye after winning Hell's Kitchen, Ellison released her second single, Bye Bye Boy, which reached number 13 in the UK charts.
(Source: Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.com)