1. Michelle Patricia Gayle was born on 2 February 1971 and is a British singer, songwriter, actress and writer.
30 Facts About Michelle Gayle
1. 2.
Michelle Gayle released two top 40 albums through RCA Records but they parted company in 1997, and although Gayle has recorded other albums, they have not been released.
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Michelle Gayle has had various roles in film and theatre, such as playing Belle in the West End musical Beauty and the Beast in 1999.
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Michelle Gayle has taken part in several celebrity-based reality television shows, and, in June 2007, she became a panellist for ITV's topical chatshow Loose Women.
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Michelle Gayle branched out into writing, and the rights to her first novel were acquired by Walker Books in 2010.
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Michelle Gayle was born in 1971 in the northwest part of London, in the Harlesden area.
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Michelle Gayle attended the Barbara Speake Stage School in Acton, west London, at a time when Naomi Campbell, Amma Asante and Kwame Kwei-Armah were attending.
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Michelle Gayle first became publicly known when she appeared in the children's BBC television programme Grange Hill in 1988 and 1989 as Fiona Wilson, who was most notably part of a rap duo named Fresh 'n' Fly.
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Michelle Gayle later appeared as an extra in TV Drama London's Burning and in the Children's ITV television programme Press Gang in 1990 as a background member of the news team, and that same year she won the role of Hattie Tavernier in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders.
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Michelle Gayle's character remained in the show for three years as Ian Beale's PA and was featured in an array of storylines including being abandoned by her fiance Steve Elliot and suffering a miscarriage as a result.
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In 1999, Michelle Gayle played Belle, the lead female, in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, and she returned to television acting in 2003, guest-starring in the BBC television dramas Doctors and Holby City.
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Michelle Gayle went on to play the role of Lara in the Five soap opera, Family Affairs, and played the lead female character, Yvonne, in the film Joy Division, which was released in November 2006.
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Michelle Gayle starred in Jason Barrett's British feature film The Naked Poet as character Joanne, which was screened in London's Mayfair Hotel December 2011.
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Michelle Gayle appeared in the CBBC series Wolfblood as Imara.
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Michelle Gayle is currently playing the role of Hermione Granger in the West End production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
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Michelle Gayle made it to the final and finished second behind Hadley.
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In 2004, Michelle Gayle presented the UMA Awards with ex-EastEnder Gary Beadle, and in 2005, she appeared as a celebrity mentor on the Five documentary Pushy Parents.
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Michelle Gayle later became a guest panellist on ITV's topical chatshow Loose Women, in June 2007.
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In June 2009, it was announced that Michelle Gayle would be one of several celebrities competing in Dancing on Wheels, BBC's spin-off show to the popular reality television competition Strictly Come Dancing.
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In 1993, while she was still on the cast of EastEnders, Michelle Gayle signed with RCA Records and launched herself as a solo artist.
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Michelle Gayle returned in 1997 with her sixth single, "Do You Know", which reached number 6.
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Michelle Gayle recorded an album for that label, but due to an artist rostering re-shuffle, she had left the company by 1999 before the album was released.
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In 2003, Michelle Gayle accepted the offer to appear in the reality television series Reborn in the USA, a televised singing competition where former British pop acts were transported to the US, with the hope of revitalising their music careers.
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Michelle Gayle finished second in the competition, taking runner-up position to Tony Hadley in the final.
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Michelle Gayle co-wrote her song, "Woo ", with Rashelle Davies and Morten Schjolin, and described it as "pop in essence, but with a very cool 60's vibe to it".
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Michelle Gayle came second in the public vote on 1 March 2008, behind Andy Abraham.
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In June 2023 Michelle Gayle made a surprise appearance on stage at singer Louise's concert at the Shepherd's Bush Empire to perform "Sweetness".
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Michelle Gayle has written for television, contributing episodes of Wolfblood and A Discovery of Witches.
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Michelle Gayle was married to ex-professional footballer and football pundit Mark Bright for ten years, and had one son, Isaiah, with him.
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Michelle Gayle is godmother to the daughter of the actress Jacqui Gordon-Lawrence, who played her on-screen mother, Etta Tavernier, in EastEnders.