Hollyoaks has made household names of its cast throughout the years – but did you know that some were already famous child stars before stepping onto the soap?
Before arriving in the fictional Channel 4 village, stars including Jessica Fox, Kelly Condron and Malique Thompson Dwyer all appeared in some of the UK’s biggest children’s dramas.
They have since gone on to appear in a number of TV programmes including I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! and Strictly Come Dancing, alongside their soap stints.
READ MORE: Inside Hollyoaks star Anna Passey’s stunning home – sprawling garden to antiques
Here, Daily Star takes a look at some of the Hollyoaks actors with forgotten childhood TV roles.
Jessica Fox
(Image: @JesslaFox/Twitter)
Jessica Fox may be known as Nancy Hayton in Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks – but she started her career as a child star.
She landed her debut acting role as the voice of The Ghost of Christmas Past in The Muppets Christmas Carol, opposite Michael Caine.
She later went on to play Enid Nightshade in the ITV programme The Worst Witch, based on the popular series of books of the same name, from 1998-2001.
Jessica later reprised the role in the 2002 spin-off series Weird Sister College.
(Image: LIMEPICTURES)
The star also had a rival soap role as Belle Wise in the reboot of Crossroads in 2001, as well as starring in programmes including The Forsyte Saga and The Bill, before landing her regular role in Hollyoaks.
Away from the limelight, Jessica revealed in 2020 that she had married her musician husband Nicolas Willes in secret, after their wedding was postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Jessica shared their happy news on Instagram with photos of the couple, captioned: “While we wait for the Wedding we planned to go ahead…we thought we’d get on with the business of being married.”
The photographs showed the couple in their wedding outfits, including Jessica looking stunning in a jumpsuit for the occasion.
Underneath the post, her husband Nicolas also posted: “Did a stealth marriage a while back. Here’s to love.”
The couple recently became parents to their first child together.
Kelly Condron
(Image: CBBC)
Kelly Condron became a fan-favourite with Hollyoaks fans after she arrived in the fictional village as Zara Morgan.
She first arrived on the soap in 1999, but made an epic return after 15 years away, which came as a huge surprise to her late brother Luke.
However long before her Hollyoaks fame, Kelly made her TV debut as Geri in the beloved drama Children’s Ward.
She later went on to appear in Heartbeat one year later as Julie Hepponstall.
She also played two separate characters in Casualty between 2007-2010 and also had a regular role in the TV series My Wonderful Life as Tracey in 1999, as well as cameos in Shameless and The Street.
(Image: Mersey Television)
If that wasn’t enough, Kelly has also forged a career as a successful voice over artist, providing narration for programmes including Celebrity Scissorhands, as well as famous brands including Heinz, Sony and Britvic.
Away from our TV screens, Kelly has been married to her husband Adam Condron since 2006, and the couple have two children together.
The couple met in a rather unusual way, after Kelly began visiting a restaurant called Monton in Manchester, and wanted to purchase one of the paintings from the venue’s walls.
However the artist refused to sell the painting.
Despite this, she kept on visiting the restaurant and became good friends with the owner, Adam, who later turned out to be the artist who had refused to sell the painting.
She got more than just a painting though, as the couple fell in love and have been together ever since.
Speaking on her website about the relationship, Kelly said: “It turns out the man who was brave enough to say no to me, who stood by his morals, who was driven and passionate enough to own his own restaurant at the age of 24, who drove me mad and made me laugh in equal measures, was in fact the man of my dreams.
“I knew as soon as I met him that I was going to marry him, cheesy I know, but 15 years later we are married with two amazing children and the painting is hung up in our bedroom.”
Anabelle Davis
Anabelle Davis recently joined Hollyoaks as Lacey Lloyd – but she has already had a long and successful acting career before stepping onto the soap.
The star made her debut as a goblin in blockbuster Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part II, before appearing in Jack the Giant Slayer and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
However, she also had a huge role in children’s TV drama The Dumping Ground from the age of 17, where she played Sasha Bellman between 2015 to 2022.
Her performance on The Dumping Ground was critically acclaimed, with Anabelle winning Performance of the Year at the Royal Television Society NTEB Awards 2018.
(Image: Lime Pictures)
Speaking about playing Sasha Bellman, the actress told The Mirror: “It was a show I watched on CBBC for years. I was really excited.
“I didn’t think I’d actually get it, I just wanted to try it out and see whether I liked it. I ended up getting the role and doing that for seven years.”
Anabelle also joined her famous father Warwick Davis on the Disney+ series Willow, when she guest starred in an episode as a character called Mims.
She also paid tribute to her famous father, adding: “I’ll always go to him if I’m unsure what to do with a script. I couldn’t do it without him. It’s 100% down to my dad and growing up in the industry. That’s where I fell in love with it.”
However, not much is known about her personal life as the actress appears to keep her private life away from the limelight.
Malique Thompson-Dwyer
(Image: CBBC)
Malique Thompson-Dwyer has been involved in some huge storylines since joining Hollyoaks as Prince McQueen in 2016.
Like co-star Anabelle Davis, Malique landed one of his first acting roles on CBBC drama The Dumping Ground, where he played Tommo.
Alongside his children’s TV and soap fame, he has also starred in Guy Ritchie epic King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, as well as competing in I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! in 2018 – where he was second to be eliminated.
That’s not all, as Malique has appeared on Celebs Go Dating, Celeb Ex in the City and Celebs on the Farm.
(Image: SCU)
Malique delighted fans in 2022 as he shared a sweet snap of his newborn daughter on Instagram, saying in the caption: “22-09-22 Milan Thompson-Dwyer.”
The star also had a five year old daughter called Alexis with his girlfriend, but the actor tends to keep his relationship away from the public eye.
His Hollyoaks co-stars rushed to congratulate him in the comments section, with Chelsee Healey, who plays his onscreen mum Goldie McQueen, saying: “Oh my god so perfect. Congratulations to you all and well done mummy.”
The Hollyoaks official Instagram account also posted a message saying: “Absolutely beautiful! Congratulations Malique.”
Will Mellor
(Image: CBBC)
Two Pints Of Lager and a Packet of Crisp’s icon Will Mellor was one of the original Hollyoaks heartthrobs, after joining the soap as James Bolton.
He played the role from 1995 to 2004, before landing one of his most famous roles as Gaz in Two Pints of Lager, alongside TV royalty Ralf Little and Sheridan Smith.
However long before his soap fame, Will played Ben Rowlingson in Children’s Ward in 1990 – and the talented star has not left our screens since.
He has appeared in rival soaps such as EastEnders and Waterloo Road, as well as most recently playing drug dealer Harvey in Coronation Street – whose reign of terror over the Battersby family came to head during super soap week in 2021.
(Image: Channel 4)
That’s not all, as he became a viewer favourite on Strictly Come Dancing in 2022 alongside pro Nancy Xu, with the pair finishing in fifth place.
He also found romance in his career, after forming a co-star romance with actress Michelle McSween, with the couple later marrying in 2007 and welcoming two children together.
However, in 2020, Will revealed that he had also suffered a heartbreaking loss in his personal life, following the death of his father from cancer.
Speaking about his father on the Two Pints with Will & Ralf podcast, Will said: “He sat in a chair outside the back door and I sat up the garden and I didn’t hug him because of the coronavirus thing and he passed away without me doing that.
“He actually said to me ‘if I got hold of you I wouldn’t be able to let go’. That was one of the last things he said to me and it absolutely killed me.”
Andrew Hayden Smith
(Image: Chronicle)
Andrew Hayden Smith played DS Gavin Armstrong in Hollyoaks between 2016 to 2018, but before that, he had been a huge child TV star.
Byker Grove has launched many stars to fame including Jill Halfpenny and TV duo Ant and Dec. However in 1995, a new generation of youths entered Byker Grove, including Andrew as Ben Carter.
He became one of the longest running characters on the children’s drama, appearing for more than eight years until 2003, when his character was sadly killed off.
From there he landed presenting roles of a number of children’s programmes for the BBC, as well as appearing in a 2006 episode of Doctor Who opposite David Tennant.
(Image: Lime Pictures)
He also appeared in including Cucumber and Banana for Channel 4, with Andrew’s Twitter profile also stating that he now works as an announcer for ITV.
The star has also spoken about coming out as gay at the age of 21 years old, with Andrew telling Revamp Magazine that he was “the first kid’s presenter to come out while still on the job.”
He said: “I went to speak to my boss at CBBC and he was incredibly supportive. I’m so grateful to him for his help with that. The reaction was mostly positive. I’ve never regretted it for a second.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
