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Biography Page Page:
Born in 1976, Julie and her twin sister Clare both knew they wanted to
become actresses at a very early age, often putting on their own plays for
family and friends. Because of their interest in acting their mother found them
an agent and Julie and her sister soon found themselves appearing in local
productions sharing roles, and it was from here Julie got her first break playing
Young Eponine in Les Miserables.
As children Julie and her sister would watch the cast of Grange Hill go to and
from the studios near their home in Borehamwood, and often dreamt of one
day joining the cast. It wasn’t long before their dreams came true as they
Found themselves auditioning for roles in the series. Initial it was Clare who
auditioned for the role of Natalie Stevens that Julie was later to play, while
Julie auditioned for the role of Chrissie Mannering. After being in Grange Hill
for two years Julie was eventually joined by her sister playing her characters
estranged twin sister Natasha Stevens.
Unfortunately because of the disruption to their education Julie and her
sister transferred to the renown Sylvia Young Theatre School. Here they
studied alongside the likes of Emma Bunton, Adele Silva, Keeley Hawes, Alex Walkinshaw, and last but not least John and Nick Pickard with whom Julie has both appeared alongside on TV in Hollyoaks - Julie has also appeared with John Pickard in Grange Hill - while Clare starred alongside John in 2point4 children.
As adult actresses both Julie and Clare found themselves competing against one another for roles, only to find themselves losing out because casting directors were often afraid it may cause trouble between Julie and her sister if they gave one or the other a key role. Despite this Julie and her sister take a pragmatic view that they are glad if either one of them wins a role since they would rather that happened than the role being given to someone else. It was therefore in a sense of déjà vu that both Julie and her sister found themselves competing for the re-casting of Jenny Porter in the hit BBC sitcom 2point4 children, with this time Clare winning the role.
Throughout her early career as an adult actress Julie played numerous guest roles on TV, before eventually winning the part of Julie Matthews in Hollyoaks. Julie was later to recall that her agent at the time briefed her that Hollyoaks was going to be a “Baywatch”, of the North, prompting Julie to audition in a T-shirt and hotpants, only to find her character was a 15 year old schoolgirl. After staying two years Julie left and turned her hand to other projects which included an extensive career in theatre where she is now regarded as one of this country's leading actresses playing the Principal Boy role in pantomime, having recently completed her 6th season as resident panto star at the Cambridge Arts theatre as well as five seasons playing Peter Pan to much acclaim.
As well as panto Julie has played many leading parts on tour in regional theatres to rave reviews, including No 1 tours in Run for Your Wife, Bad Blood and Passport to Pimlico, and most recently The Naked Truth in which she played the annoying and blunt character of Tricia.
Even though Julie has predominantly working in the theatre since 1997, she still has made TV appearances including The Bill, Casualty and Holby city in 2006, which was notable as it was the first time in 14 years Julie had appeared on TV acting alongside her sister Clare. In addition Julie also made two returns to Hollyoaks, the first being in 2002. This appearance marked a change in Julie’s character as her character of Julie (sic) become a scheming “bitch”, a role Julie relished playing. Ironically though Julie is better known globally for the role of Annie Taylor in the TV programme Extr@, which she made in Italy as an English language programme
Julie has often described her relationship with sister Clare as one of being as much as best friends as sisters and still share a home together. As such they have often experienced unusual events in their lives because of their closeness, often sense each others thoughts. One such occasion came at school where they were both seated at opposite ends of the class but wrote near identical essays about a dragon called George, prompting claims that the sisters were cheating. Later, when Clare was touring in Summer Holiday the Musical Julie received a call from her sister in the middle of the night. Even though Julie’s mobile phone was switched to silent she picked it up and immediately knew it was her sister calling to tell Julie she was being rushed to hospital with Appendicitis. In addition when together they quite often will finish each others sentences
Although still some people are still confused when as to which twin is which, Julie and Clare have often adopted different hair styles and even colour throughout their adult career. However Julie has often been mistaken for being far younger than her real age, being asked for ID when buying things such as wine. However despite the inconvenience this has been to Julie’s advantage sometimes as an actress in being able to play roles much younger than an actress of her age would normally play.
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