
Mrs St Claire
1. For those who were not aware of you prior to Hollyoaks, please tell us a little about your background?
AW: I transitioned in 1989 when I was 24, when the world for trans people was a very different and hostile place. After ‘going stealth’, I worked in various computer and technical jobs in the 90s before I was asked by Press for Change to assist Coronation Street with the character of Hayley Cropper (Patterson as was) in 1998. I helped them with some scripts and story ideas for about 18 months, and also became good friends with Julie Hesmondhalgh, who played Hayley. After that, and after some encouragement from Julie, I decided to follow my original dream of becoming an actress, and went to MMU School of Theatre for three years. After some local acting and computer jobs, I got a non-trans role in Shameless in 2011, and then in 2015, won the role of Sally St Claire in Hollyoaks.