Emma Chung Yi Lau (born 1991) is a British actress. On television, she is known for her role in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

soap opera ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which originally began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. From 2005 to 2023, episodes h ...

'' (2021–2023). Her films include ''

The School for Good and Evil ''The School for Good and Evil'' is a series of books by Soman Chainani based on fairy tales. The first novel in the series was published on May 14, 2013. The series is set in a fictional widespread location known as the Endless Woods. The ...

'' (2022).

Early life

Lau grew up in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

. She took a foundation course at the

Academy of Live and Recorded Arts The Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA) was a British drama school. It had two sites: ALRA South on Wandsworth Common in south London and ALRA North in Wigan, Greater Manchester. It was founded in 1979 by director and actors Sorrel Carso ...

(ALRA) before going on to graduate from the

Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, formerly Mountview Theatre School, is a drama school in Peckham, south London, England, founded in 1945. Mountview Academy provides specialist vocational training in acting, musical theatre and actor musicians ...

Career

Lau began her career working with the

Yellow Earth Theatre New Earth Theatre (previously ''Yellow Earth Theatre'') is a British touring theatre company based in London and established in 1995 to raise the profile of British East and Southeast Asian (BESEA) theatre. The company also runs several initiativ ...

Company on ''The Last Days of Limehouse'' in 2014 and ''O Deptford'' in 2016. Also in 2016, Lau made her television debut as Lucy in "Zero", an episode and installment of 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 ...

drama anthology '' Moving On''. This was followed by her feature film debut in ''Trial and Error''. In 2018, Lau appeared in ''Foreign Goods 3'' at the

Arcola Theatre Arcola Theatre is in the London Borough of Hackney. It presents plays, operas and musicals featuring established and emerging artists. The theatre building, in the former Colourworks paint factory on Ashwin Street, Dalston, houses two studio ...

and ''Table'' at the

New Vic The New Vic Theatre is a purpose-built theatre in the round in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. The theatre opened in 1986, replacing a converted cinema, the Victoria Theatre in Hartshill, Stoke-on-Trent. History In the early 1960s, Stephen ...

. She played Drusilla in the original cast of the stage musical adaptation of ''

The Worst Witch ''The Worst Witch'' is a series of children's books written and illustrated by English author Jill Murphy. The series are primarily about a girl named Mildred Hubble who attends a witch school and fantasy stories, with eight books published. ...

'', which premiered at the

Royal & Derngate Royal & Derngate is a theatre complex in the Cultural Quarter, Northampton, Cultural Quarter of Northampton, England, consisting of the Royal Theatre, Derngate Theatre and the Northampton Filmhouse. The Royal was built by theatre architect Cha ...

in Northampton, went on tour, and had a run at London's

Vaudeville Theatre The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on the Strand in the City of Westminster. Opening in 1870, the theatre staged mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. The theatre was rebuilt twice, although each new buildin ...

, marking Lau's West End debut. In 2020, she was cast in the

Storyhouse Storyhouse is a large, mixed-use cultural building in Chester, England, which opened in May 2017. The complex includes a theatre, cinema, restaurant and the city library. It is housed in the remodelled 1936 Odeon Cinema, a grade-II-listed buildi ...

productions of ''The Suicide'', ''Miss Julie'', and ''Signal Fires''. She had small roles in the films ''

Artemis Fowl ''The Fowl Adventures'' is a series of eleven fantasy novels written by Irish author Eoin Colfer revolving around various members of the Fowl family. The first cycle, the eight-book ''Artemis Fowl'', follows elf Lower Elements Police Reconnai ...

'' in 2020 and '' Venom: Let There Be Carnage'' in 2021. Lau made what was initially meant to be a guest appearance in the

soap opera ''

'' in September 2021 before officially joining the main cast as Serena Chen-Williams in November 2021. She exited the soap in January 2023. She also played Kiko in the 2022

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

film ''

'' and Miranda in ''

The Tempest ''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, th ...

'' at the 2023

Salisbury International Arts Festival Salisbury International Arts Festival (founded in 1974) is an annual multi-arts festival that delivers over 150 arts events each year in and around the city of Salisbury, England. Events include concerts, comedy, poetry, dance, exhibitions, outdo ...

. She starred in ''Glacier'' at the Old Fire Station in Oxford.

Personal life

Lau is in a relationship with MMA fighter and fitness trainer Daniel Crooks-May.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Stage

References

External links

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Emma Lau
at Spotlight {{DEFAULTSORT:lau, emma Living people 1991 births Actresses from Greater Manchester Alumni of the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts 21st-century British actresses British musical theatre actresses British soap opera actresses English people of Chinese descent