Ruth Madeley was born on 4 August 1987 and is a British actress known for her roles in Years and Years, The Rook and Doctor Who.
20 Facts About Ruth Madeley
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Ruth Madeley was born with spina bifida and has worked with the charity Whizz-Kidz for much of her life.
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Ruth Madeley was nominated for a television BAFTA in 2016 for her work in Don't Take My Baby.
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Ruth Madeley's father worked in customer services and her mother was a nurse.
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When Ruth Madeley was 5 years old, the charity Whizz-Kidz provided funding for a custom wheelchair for her.
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Ruth Madeley actively volunteered for Whizz-Kidz throughout her childhood and was part of the Kidz Board youth panel.
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Ruth Madeley attended Thornleigh Salesian College and later studied English and creative writing with a focus on scriptwriting at Edge Hill University, and graduated with a First Class Honours degree.
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In 2012, Ruth Madeley wrote and starred in the Lime Pictures TV movie Scrims.
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Ruth Madeley has had several supporting roles in television, including Fresh Meat and The Level.
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Ruth Madeley starred as Anna in the 2015 TV movie Don't Take My Baby, chronicling a disabled couple's fight to prevent their baby from being taken away, and was nominated for a Best Actress TV BAFTA for her performance.
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At the time of filming, Ruth Madeley was working in fundraising at WhizzKids.
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Ruth Madeley returned to the job after her BAFTA win, thinking there would not be enough roles for disabled actresses for her to make a career in acting.
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The role of Rosie was not originally written for a wheelchair user, but after her audition, Davies decided to work with Ruth Madeley to reshape the role around her spina bifida.
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Ruth Madeley took a six-month sabbatical from her job at WhizzKids to film the role.
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Ruth Madeley asked her boss if she could extend the sabbatical but her boss assured her that the sabbatical did not make sense as she was "an actress now".
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In 2019, Ruth Madeley signed an open letter urging Hollywood executives to normalise disability by casting disabled actors to play disabled characters.
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Ruth Madeley appeared in Tom Stern and Celyn Jones' film, The Almond and The Seahorse, inspired by Kaite O'Reilly's play of the same name.
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Ruth Madeley was cast as Shirley Anne Bingham in the television series' 2023 specials, which were written by Davies, who has returned as showrunner.
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Ruth Madeley continues her work with Whizz-Kidz as a fundraiser and, in 2019, was recognised as a patron of the charity.
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Ruth Madeley has been with her partner, Joe, since 2012 and they married in 2024.