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She didn't quite bag Luke Davenport though, and was ejected from his room! 7.3 (295) Amazing Grace [12/10/03]
Not Sandra, Dean, but businesswoman Donna! 7.15 (307) Baptism of Fire
Still of Jo in Gemma Fox's "Girlfriend's Story" music video |
And you've done music videos too, I see you were the lead in Gemma Fox's "Girlfriend's Story" video? That was good because it was something a little bit different. With it being a music video there was no speaking role, and I was playing the part of an abused girlfriend. I had to be made up with bruises on, and had a big cut lip as well. The director would talk you through the actions from behind the camera, which I appreciated as I hadn't experienced constant direction before doing the video. Do you have any preferences when it comes to acting in either filmed productions or on stage, or are they both as enjoyable? The most work I've done I'd say is TV, especially as Dream Team was a long time filming. Stage is absolutely brilliant, I just haven't done as much of it as I'd liked to I suppose. With stage you get to experience the applause every night, while with film or television you're never quite sure whether you've done the right thing. In television, the director could just say "Yeah that's fine", whereas with a play you can have the director talk to you for maybe a couple of weeks on how you should stand, what you should say, where you deliver your lines. So it's really different. Another feature film role was in "Dead Mans Cards". That looks great and I want to check it out. Was it a good role for you? I think, and I'm not sure, whether the part I'm in still exists because I know they had to shorten it down. As it was an independent film, the filming for it kept getting put back, so by the time we got to filming I think I was about five or six months pregnant! But I was in a little bit of it only not sure if it's on there now as they may have gone over up to half an hour, maybe more and had to cut it. Am I right that you've since taken time away from the spotlight since becoming a mom? It seems to be a regular theme with many actresses that starred in Dream Team, you ask yourself "Where did she go? I wonder what happened to her?" and you search online and find they've been away having children since! I was still going to auditions after I'd had my first child, but as an actor you have to be available during the day for auditions. So you find that work at night like bar work and stuff like that gets you by. I did decide to take some time out after my first child's birth and do my teacher training, ultimately to become a secondary school teacher which I am today. I was planning on doing supply teaching work and still going to auditions. But I then got offered a job teaching Dance and Drama so I've been doing that, on top of having two more children since. Interestingly enough, the school that I work in, was the school Michael Ryan went to as a boy. His secondary school. When I had my interview they said "Oh you were on Dream Team? Do you know Michael Ryan?". He's become a bit of a celebrity at the school. I saw him when we went on a school trip to see Macbeth in the I was going to say it must be so interesting now teaching in high schools. Do any of the students know you've been an actress or recognise you from it? They do. When I first started with the training they put me in two schools, and the first one was in fact the school Cheryl Mackie went to, her secondary school. And I remember I walked into the classroom and a Year 10 boy turned around and gasped "Oh my God" and he recognised me from Dream Team! I think he was shell-shocked the whole lesson and was like "What are you doing here?". As time has gone on, the kids I work with now all know I've been on television but when they ask what I was in and I say Dream Team, they don't really know it, maybe past their time now! And you’re still very much interested in getting back into acting? I still keep in touch with Cheryl, who played my sister, and see her often. And it was she who said "Why don't you go with my agent?", so it's actually only been in the last few months I've been getting back into it, attending classes called "Act Up North" which are run by Peter Hunt and held in Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds. They help to prepare you for acting on television, or film acting, and have really helped me with regaining my confidence to do it again. |
