Diane Carol Richards (born 6 November 1969), known professionally as Diane Parish, is an English actress, who has been portraying the character

Denise Fox Denise Fox (also Wicks and Johnson) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by Diane Parish. She made her first appearance on 11 May 2006 and temporarily left ''EastEnders'' in early 2008 to give birth to her se ...

on the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

'' since 2006. A graduate of the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, also known by its abbreviation RADA (), is a drama school in London, England, which provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in Bloomsbury, Central London ...

, Parish has acted on British television for over two decades. She has appeared in a number of TV shows over the years, including the ITV dramas ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...

'' and '' M.I.T.: Murder Investigation Team'' playing

Detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...

Eva Sharpe. She is also known for appearing in two series of the

comedy drama ''

Lovejoy ''Lovejoy'' is a British television comedy-drama mystery fiction, mystery series, based on the Lovejoy (novel series), novels by John Grant (Lovejoy), John Grant under the pen name Jonathan Gash. The show, which ran to 71 episodes over six ser ...

'' (1993–1994).

Career

After graduating from London's

, she worked mainly in

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

, including playing Cordelia in

Talawa Theatre Company Talawa Theatre Company is a Black British theatre company founded in 1986.

's 1994 production of ''

King Lear ''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...

''. Parish has appeared in various television roles. In ''

'', she played Beth Taylor, the replacement for the character Eric Catchpole. Another television role was as Lola Christie, the girlfriend of Mick McFarlane, the manager of the ''

'' night cafe, in 1998. Parish has also appeared in television dramas including ''

'' and its spin-off '' M.I.T.: Murder Investigation Team'', playing DC Eva Sharpe. Before ''

'' she starred in '' Babyfather,'' for which she received the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

's best actress award in 2001, becoming the first black actor to win a major RTS award. Parish returned to ''EastEnders'' in May 2006, but this time playing regular character

. She departed from the soap opera temporarily in January 2008 in order to give birth to her daughter, returning in June that year. Parish appeared as Millie in the 1996 film ''

Indian Summer An Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Several sources describe a true Indian summer as not occurring until after the first frost, or mor ...

'' (also released under the title ''Alive And Kicking'').

Personal life

Parish is of

Dominica Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of t ...

n and Montserratian descent. She has two daughters with her former partner Sebastian Hagemeister.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Parish, Diane 1969 births Living people English television actresses English soap opera actresses British people of Montserratian descent English people of Dominica descent Black British actresses Actresses from London Actors from the London Borough of Haringey Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art People from Tottenham