Elinor Lawless is a Northern Irish actress, known for portraying the role of

Stevie Nash ''Casualty'' is a British medical drama television series that premiered on 6 September 1986 on BBC1. The series was created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin. It is set in the fictional Holby City Hospital, in the equally fictitious city of Holb ...

in the BBC medical drama series '' Casualty''. Prior to her role in ''Casualty'', Lawless appeared in various stage productions and BBC television series, including '' EastEnders'' and '' Doctors''.

Early and personal life

Lawless was born in

Draperstown Draperstown ()Toner, Gregory. ''Place-Names of Northern Ireland'', p. 85. Queen's University of Belfast, 1996; is a village in the Sperrin Mountains in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is situated in the civil parish of Ballinascreen and ...

County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulste ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...

. At the age of three, she was diagnosed with two cardiac conditions; a hole in her heart and

anomalous pulmonary venous connection Anomalous pulmonary venous connection (or anomalous pulmonary venous drainage or anomalous pulmonary venous return) is a congenital defect of the pulmonary veins. Total anomalous pulmonary venous connection ''Total anomalous pulmonary venous con ...

, where blood runs in the wrong direction. She spent a lot of time in hospitals as a child, and at seven, she had open-heart surgery in the

Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children The Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children is a specialised government children's hospital and medical centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is managed by the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and is the only hospital in Northern Ireland ...

. She had regular check-up appointments until the age of 21, when she was deemed healthy. While attending St Mary's Grammar School in

Magherafelt Magherafelt (, �mˠaxəɾʲəˈfʲiːlt̪ˠə is a small town and civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 8,805 at the 2011 Census. It is the biggest town in the south of the county and is the social, econo ...

, she finished as runner-up in

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four account ...

' award ceremony in the Leaders of Tomorrow category. She then trained in acting at the

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School is a drama school in Bristol, England. The institution provides training in acting and production for careers in film, television and theatre. BOVTS is an affiliate of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama. ...

and won the Peter Akerman Award for Best Comedy Actress. Lawless is married to fellow actor Peter Basham. Lawless and Basham had a son in 2016. He was born premature, and due to weighing under 2.2 kilograms, he spent days in a specialist baby unit. On the experience, Lawless felt that she could now relate to her parents due to their stress over her condition as a child. Lawless also commended the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

for their treatment of herself and her child.

Career

Lawless made her professional screen debut in ''Poisoned'' (2013), a short film. In 2015, alongside husband Basham, she starred in a production of ''

Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; german: Hänsel und Gretel ) is a German fairy tale collected by the German Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). It is also known as Little Step Brother and Little Step Sister. Hanse ...

'' held at the Stephen Joseph Theatre. Then from 2018 to 2019, she appeared in various BBC television series. These roles included an episode of '' Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators'', a recurring role as

Laura Laura may refer to: People * Laura (given name) * Laura, the British code name for the World War I Belgian spy Marthe Cnockaert Places Australia * Laura, Queensland, a town on the Cape York Peninsula * Laura, South Australia * Laura Bay, a bay on ...

in '' EastEnders'', and episodes of '' Casualty'' and '' Doctors''. In 2021, she returned to ''Doctors'' for one episode as Liv Keane, before being cast as

in ''Casualty''. Lawless felt "honoured" to be cast as a doctor on the series due to her appreciation for the NHS throughout her life. For her portrayal of Stevie, she was nominated for Best Daytime Star at the 2022 ''Inside Soap'' Awards.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lawless, Elinor 1983 births 21st-century actresses from Northern Ireland Alumni of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School People from County Londonderry Soap opera actresses from Northern Ireland Television actresses from Northern Ireland Living people