Plays Lisa Fox
DATE OF BIRTH : 9th December 1975
HOME TOWN : Eastcote, Middlesex.
LIVES : A small village in Hertfordshire
FAMILY : Had a civil partnership in 2006 with Annette Yeo. They have two adopted daughters.
Has an older sister who is a travel agent. Her mother made her do a secretary course as something to fall back on, but her parents were proud of her success.
RELIGION : Luisa is converted to a Buddhist-like religious philosophy called Yungdrung Bon. She attends a temple in Bushey, and also is a spiritualist.
PREVIOUS JOBS : ‘I washed up for three years in a restaurant in Eastcote. Two of my best friends worked with me and the manager was such a laugh.’ She also ran a children’s performing arts school.
TATTOOS : A tattoo on her shoulder and on her foot.
ON CHARACTER LISA : ‘Lisa is extremely good at her job and, like me, she is most comfortable when she knows exactly where she is and what she’s doing. She is very caring but quite judgmental and is not very sympathetic to those she considers unworthy of attention. Despite this, you can’t not like her, as she is a genuinely good person and great with people, but takes sides way too easily. She has a lively sense of humour and can’t resist a gossip.’
DESCRIBE LISA IN THREE WORDS : ‘People keep calling her foxy Lisa Fox, but it makes me go bright red when they say that! She’s bolshy, confident and a man-eater.’
FAVE HC SCENES : ‘My favourite was the party scene with Verona when I got carried out of the room by a gorilla. My favourite storyline was doing the stuff with my dad because we got on well and he really made me laugh.’
COULD SHE BE A MIDWIFE IN REAL LIFE? : ‘No. But I’ve got a bit cocky, so that if somebody did go into labour now I think that I’d think I knew what I was doing. When I was doing my research I met a midwife who was so passionate about her job that she made me want to leave acting and go into midwifery, but I don’t think I’d be any good.’
MOST FOOLISH THING DONE : ‘I was going away for the weekend before my HOLBY CITY audition but ended up at Luton when my flight to Scotland was from Stanstead. I bought another ticket from Luton but lost track of time and I managed to miss that flight too. Third time lucky, I made it to Scotland, but the only flight I could get back was going to Stanstead. I made a mad dash to Luton to pick up my car and I got home at 3am – and my audition was a 10am that day. I had to get the job after all that!’
ON FAME : ‘I just enjoyed acting. The downside is simply being in the limelight and not having as much privacy as those behind the camera but I don’t enjoy celebrity dos that much so I keep myself to myself.’
WHO WOULD PLAY HER IN MOVIE OF HER LIFE : ‘Angelina Jolie. The whole Lara Croft ‘action thing’ is something that I would love to be like.’
MOST VIVID CHILDHOOD MEMORY : ‘Running all the way home on Friday afternoons as soon as school was over, to pack up our caravan. We used to go away to Selsey in Chichester.’
WHO SHE ADMIRES ‘Madonna for the way she manages to re-invent herself and stay cool’
FAVE FOOD : Thai Food. Luisa is also a vegetarian.
WHO MAKES HER LAUGH : Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge.
HOBBIES : Walking, yoga
DISLIKES : Incompetence and bad waiters.
PREVIOUS ILLNESSES : Luisa suffered from bulimia when she was 15, and was admitted to hospital when she was 18, she also became addicted to drugs when she was a teenager. ‘My addictions were ways of trying to cope with life, and certainly an awareness of food is still with me, though I try to keep away from the whole body image obsession. I’ve always dieted because I put on weight easily.’
TELEVISION CREDITS : Grange Hill; When Roger Met Karen; The Brittas Empire; The Bill; A Touch of Frost; This Life; Birds of a Feather; The Pit; Grafters; Big Bad World; Active Defence; Meaningful Sex; London’s Burning; Faith in the Future; Bad Girls; Holby City; Doctors; Eastenders
FILM CREDITS : A Friendship in Vienna; Wonderful World; The Escort; Mauvaise Passe
THEATRE CREDITS : Godspell; Solitary Confinement; Richard III; The Shagaround
RADIO CREDITS : Under One Roof; Charm Factory; Konfidentz
AGENT : Curtis Brown Group, Haymarket House, 5th Floor, 28-29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4SP.
DID YOU KNOW?
* Luisa was invited by Elton John to appear in his video for the song ‘Something About the Way You Look Tonight’ along fellow cast members of This Life, Ramon Tikaram and model Kate Moss.
