For ten whole years, Kellie Bright has been delighting audiences with her portrayal of Linda Carter in EastEnders, with her decade long stint on the show having the seen the character embroiled in numerous dramatic storylines.
Among some of her most iconic storylines to date, fans have seen the character come to terms with her rape at the hands of her brother-in-law Dean Wicks, battle with alcoholism, deliver a premature baby and of course, lose the love of her life Mick Carter in a devastating car accident last Christmas.
But while fans know plenty about the character she plays, not everyone is quite so clued up on Kellie’s far less dramatic life off screen.
Here’s everything you need to know…
Early Life
Born on 1 July 1976, Kellie Bright started her life in Brentwood Essex and began her performing career at the Sylvia Young Theatre School.
It was while studying here from the age of 11 onwards, that Kelly became friends with two very famous celebrities, including Bodyguard and Line of Duty star Keeley Hawes, as well as former Baby Spice, Emma Bunton!
Starting her professional career as a child actress, Kellie’s first roles came in the 1980’s and 90’s, and included performances in T-Bag and Maid Marian and her Merry Men.
At the age of just 13 years old, Kellie got her first major break however, when she was cast as Joanna Burrows in the TV series The Upper Hand, a series that was adapted from US sitcom Who’s the Boss?
The show ran for six years in total and kickstarted Kellie’s acting career.
Professional Career
After her child starlet beginnings, Kellie truly came into her own with a number of high profile primetime roles, including a series regular role in ITV prison drama Bad Girls.
She also showcased her cheeky sense of humour alongside Sacha Baron Cohen in Da Ali G show, and even went on to star alongside him in the film Ali G Indahouse.
Along with a wealth of smaller roles in everything from Holby City and Casualty through to The Catherine Tate Show, Kellie also surprised audiences when she appeared as Joan Trotter in Rock and Chips, a prequel to the iconic Only Fools and Horses series.
Despite her prolific career however, Kellie’s most memorable and enduring role to date, is as Linda Carter in EastEnders.
First introduced to viewers in October 2013 when her casting announcement was revealed to the world, Kellie’s character Linda Carter made her official debut alongside husband Mick Carter in December 2013 just in time for Christmas.
The Carter family were the brain child of the show's executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins who planned to completely revamp the show with the introduction of a new family.
Since her arrival, Kellie's character Linda has been a part of some of the show's biggest storylines such as struggling to accept that her son Johnny is Gay.
In addition, she has tackled a number of sensitive topics, including rape, alcoholism and of course the grief of losing a loved one.
As of 2023, Linda is currently one of the key Christmas murder suspects as part of an exciting flash forward sequence that has played out all year.
Personal Life
Away from her busy schedule as an in demand soap star, Kellie is happily married to fellow actor Paul Stocker, who has appeared in EastEnders and also in Hollywood movie Atonement alongside Keira Knightley and James McAvoy.
The couple officially tied the knot on 5 July 2014, and together share three adorable sons, Freddie, Gene and Rudy.
Speaking to OK! at last year’s TV Choice awards, Kellie admitted that she missed having a baby as she told us: “Rudy’s good, he’s a full-on toddler now. Not a] baby anymore, I actually said to my husband the other day, I was like ‘I miss having a baby’.”
Despite this, the actress added that she isn't planning on having any more children, as she said: “But I’m done. There are no more.”
While Kellie was clearly delighted to be a parent to three such wonderful children, the star also admitted that the journey to becoming pregnant was far from easy as she opened up about her experience with IVF.
The actress, who plays Linda Carter on the BBC soap, had two embryos implanted before she fell pregnant with the third.
She revealed: “The first two embryos didn’t work. So this baby inside me now was the last one we had – the last chance of a pregnancy, because at 44 we were not going through IVF again.
“I believe it was meant to be. But those three months, between September and November, were a real roller-coaster.”
Reliving the moment the second embryo didn’t attach she said: “After the first one, I was philosophical. After the second one, I started to panic.
“And with the third one, I didn’t think that had worked either because I had a bleed two days before I was due to take the pregnancy test. It was significant enough for me to be in floods of tears with my husband cradling me.”
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