Kelly Jane Shirley (born 11 July 1981),[2] known professionally as Kellie Shirley is an English actress who works in film, television, theatre, and radio. She hails from Croydon via a large Northern Irish family and started her career by training at The BRIT School. As well as acting, she has also co-presented programmes for BBC2 and Channel 5 and written all 6 episodes of Spirit Studios, podcast drama: ROAR available on Apple. As an actress, she is probably best known for her roles as Kirsty De La Croix in Sky One returning, comedy-series In the Long Run created by Idris Elba as well as the role of Carly Wicks in the BBC continuing drama EastEnders and as Kym in The Office Christmas Specials. She can currently be seen playing new series regular Sophia Peters, who is a psych liaison nurse in the drama series, Casualty.

Kellie Shirley
WhatsOnStage Awards 2015.
Born
Kelly Jane Shirley

(1981-07-11) 11 July 1981 (age 43)
Croydon, London, England
OccupationActress
Years active2002–present
Notable workKirsty in in the Long Run and Carly Wicks in EastEnders (2006–2008, 2012)
SpousePhil Davies
Children3[1]
Websitewww.kellieshirley.co.uk

Career

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Kellie’s career spans over two decades. Her recent Film work includes Bull directed by Paul Andrew Williams and Terence Davies' Benediction. She was selected by BAFTA to be part of their BAFTA Elevate cohort 2020/21 programme, supporting working-class talent and underrepresented groups progressing in their careers on screen.[3]

As well as acting, she has writes - she wrote a column about twin motherhood for Closer Magazine and co-hosted the BBC Two show Something for the Weekend with Tim Lovejoy, standing in for Amanda Hamilton who was on maternity leave.[4]

In 2024, she joined the cast of the BBC drama series Casualty, playing the role of psych liaison nurse Sophia Peters.[5]

Personal life

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Kellie has twins and gave birth to a son in March 2023. She has won 'celebrity fundraiser of the year' (twice) for raising awareness for Mums-to-be to consider donating their babies’ cord blood to the Anthony Nolan Charity to help save a stranger's life who has blood cancer.

In January 2019 she ran her third London Marathon this time with other former EastEnders actors for a Dementia campaign in honour of Barbara Windsor.[6]

Filmography

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References

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  1. ^ Minn, Hayley (29 September 2015). "EastEnders star Kellie Shirley gives birth to twins Pearl and Louie". OK! Magazine. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
  2. ^ "UK actors Madeline Appiah and Kellie Shirley talk about Idris Elba's comedy-series 'in the Long Run.'". 18 November 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  3. ^ "BAFTA Elevate 2019-2020 | Actors | BAFTA". 7 October 2019.
  4. ^ "BBC Two – Something for the Weekend, 14/06/2009". BBC.
  5. ^ Zammitt, Erin (12 June 2024). "Casualty launches summer trailer as Emmerdale's Ryan Hawley joins show". Digital Spy. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  6. ^ "EastEnders stars to run marathon for Dame Barbara Windsor". BBC News. 8 January 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  7. ^ "The Celebs - Merry Christmas Everyone". YouTube. TheCelebsVEVO. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  8. ^ "The Celebs - Rock With Rudolph". YouTube. TheCelebsVEVO. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
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