I first took an interest in drama and dance when my mum took me to my first Ballet and Tap lesson when I was three years old.
It was 1994, during my time at Scargill Primary School, I found I enjoyed taking part in theatrical productions and took every opportunity to get involved with the school productions. As time progressed, I later became a member of the school’s country dance club, performing at local events within the town.
Towards the end of 1998, I joined the Gregory School of Dance (now permanently closed), where I continued to train until 2001. While training with the school, I took many examinations in Modern Ballroom, Modern Latin American and Line dancing. In 2001, I competed in my first dance competition at the National Championships at Drayton Manor. I returned home having won first place in both styles; Ballroom and Latin.
Mr Eric Rowland, current president of the Guild of Professional Teachers of Dance and Movement Art, also a lifetime honorary executive of the United Kingdom Alliance of Professional Teachers of Dance, always told me…
“Emily, you are a pleasure to see dance as it’s clear you love it as you dance from the heart. You have an amazing talent don’t waste it!”
When I reached Kirk Hallam Community Technology College (secondary school) in September 2001, my love and skill of performing continued to grow. As a result, I auditioned for every school production that arose, leading to an invitation in 2005 to join the Shakespeare Performance team. Housed within the school’s English department. Held to higher standards in our understanding of Shakespeare during our studies of English & English Literature and brought a higher quality of performance to the team from our study of Drama; no wonder it was by invitation only. Competing at the 2005 Nottingham Shakespeare Society’s annual School’s Competition granted me the opportunity to further my public exposure, albeit at a low level. During my two years with the team, I won the award for Best Actress for two consecutive years: 2005 & 2006, as seen on my performance CV.
Having received my final GCSE grades, I was headed out of my secondary school gates for the last time and into college.
That’s what they thought!
I Had Other Ideas…
The summer production of Calcutt’s gritty and hard-hitting play needed a Stage Manager!
As the hectic pace of GCSE exams began to slow, my year 11 peers gradually ditched the uniform and spent more time at home or going shopping. I could not abandon the school, the teachers, the younger friends, nor the art form I had built such a strong relationship with by just placing my very last full-stop on my very last exam question and walk through the school gates for the very last time like everyone else. I had to bow out gracefully by paying tribute to the friends and teachers who had a significant impact on my life and career choices.
By chance, I learned that there were only two teachers available to oversee the production. I sought out the Drama teacher while I was on campus for an exam. After a brief chat, I was back on campus the next ready for rehearsals as an Assistant Stage Manager (ASM).
Having assisted in the overall running of the Back of House/Backstage operation and completing two evening shows and a Matinee, I felt I had paid tribute to the teachers and friends who I felt had influenced my life and career choice. I had made my graceful bow out, and I could now move on to College.
My college years started in September 2006 and ended in June 2008. My most prominent memory of my time at Derby College arose in the spring of 2007. Choreographer Tom Dale chose my class to represent the Joseph Wright Centre (part of Derby College) at the Derby Assembly Rooms. Under the direction of Tom Dale, we trained and rehearsed for weeks in preparation to perform alongside the famous local orchestra Sinfonia Viva as part of their annual school outreach projects. Creation was the title of that year’s project.
Some months after I finished college, I went along to an audition after seeing it advertised in The Stage Newspaper on a complete whim to toughen myself up for the onslaught of unsuccessful casting calls I was bound to face throughout my career. I was not expecting to get as far as the second round of Parade dancing, regardless of preparing in advance for the interview, which I did as a matter of good practice. The very thought of reaching the interview stage never crossed my mind. Given the conversation I had with my mother that morning, mainly her warnings of “don’t get your hopes up”, you can imagine my surprise as the casting director told the group of around 30 to go home. He told our group to hang around a bit longer as we needed to do our initial paperwork and sign our contracts. I had landed my first professional acting gig, which saw me move to France in October 2009, where I worked for Disney. This experience, along with my college performance hours, meant I was now eligible for an Equity membership.
After I returned home, I was invited by The Stage Newspaper to write a short “How to..” guide consisting of three simple steps to help aspiring actors survive working overseas. The guide was published in one of their 2017 issues. I remain in contact with the newspaper to this day.
Due to a decline in my health, my theatre performances essentially stopped for a little over a year. I could barely maintain a steady job, times were hard for quite a while for me, but that’s a subject which I will cover more in my upcoming Autobiography.
During this time, I didn’t want to be fully inactive in the industry as expected. My passion blossomed and grew even more as I flexed my many other creative and performance bowstrings.
My modelling portfolio thickened.
My volunteer resume grew.
My screen acting skills improved.
I competed in dance competitions all over the country.
I completed an Undergraduate Honours Degree at University.
However, the two biggest achievements throughout those years are definitely being cast as a featured background artist in a Bollywood produced by Eros International Plc and directed by Kunal Kohli “Teri Meri Kahaani”. The second in 2014, when I was Artistic Director for Dark Cleo Productions, where I oversaw the entire creative process from casting to performance of the company's numerous displays at the Replay Games Expo in Manchester. All the displays were inspired by digital games such as Tekken.
I graduated from The University of Huddersfield in 2016 and continued to remain as active as possible with short films, volunteering and writing. My health is still a concern; however, I now have an incredible team supporting me, and I have almost completed training my Service Dog, who will help me get back to being even more involved in the industry than ever. In front of the camera and off.
“Emily is a promising actor, dancer, writer and model, with a passion for directing and choreography. She has proved herself to be a guiding light to those who are knocking on the industries front door but feel their disabilities will hold them back from achieving their full potential. While battling her own disability Emily successfully graduated from The University of Huddersfield in the United Kingdom.”
Climbing higher, I have recently completed my Masters of Arts with Falmouth University, become a member of the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain, and been granted Industry Professional Status by the International Screenwriters Association.