Leila Birch (born 1978) is an English actress, known for portraying Teresa di Marco in ''

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 ...

''.

Background

Birch grew up in South East London. She is of British, Italian and Irish descent. She trained at the

Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts The Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, also known simply as Italia Conti, is a drama school based in Woking, Woking, England. It was founded by the English actress Italia Conti in 1911. Italia Conti offers courses in acting, musical theatre, ...

from 1987 to 1997, graduating with a Diploma in Performing Arts,Werb, Jessica. "My Schooldays: Leila Birch", ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

'', 31 January 2001. and also studied

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

RADA 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 Lond ...

and Drama at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. She has one elder brother. Her father is Dr James Green a former RAF officer. Her great-aunt was one of the

Gaiety Girls Gaiety Girls were the chorus girls in Edwardian musical comedies, beginning in the 1890s at the Gaiety Theatre, London, in the shows produced by George Edwardes. The popularity of this genre of musical theatre depended, in part, on the beau ...

. Birch is based in the United States as of at least 2012.

Career

Birch played the role of Teresa di Marco in 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 ...

'' between 1998 and 2000. Her other television credits include ''One Night of Shakespeare'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

Thief Takers ''Thief Takers'' is a British television crime drama series, created by Roy Mitchell, and produced by Central Independent Television for the ITV network. The series depicts the work of a team of officers based in the Metropolitan Police Serv ...

'' and ''

Renford Rejects ''Renford Rejects'' is a teen sitcom produced and broadcast by Nickelodeon UK between 1998 and 2001. The show aired in the United States on Nick GaS. The show concerned a five-a-side school football team, made up of aspiring players who had bee ...

''. She also appeared in the

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie) in United Kingdom and United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television netwo ...

of the

NBC Universal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate that is a subsidiary of Comcast and headquartered at 30 ...

series ''

Day One Day One may refer to: Film * Day One (1989 film), ''Day One'' (1989 film), a 1989 television film * ''Day One'', also known as ''To Write Love on Her Arms (film), To Write Love on Her Arms'', a 2012 drama film * Day One (2015 film), ''Day One'' (2 ...

''. Birch's stage work includes plays at the award-winning

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 ...

, outdoor

festivals, national tours and

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

. In 2007, she acted with 'Shakespeare in the Valley',

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

's only professional outdoor repertory Shakespeare festival. She also appeared in the world premiere of ''Twelfth Night: The Musical'' in London. In 2013 she played the role of British reporter Melody Stone in W.M.D., and in 2014 voiced the

WABAC machine The Wayback Machine or WABAC Machine is a fictional time machine and plot device from the 1960s American cartoon television series ''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends''. Each episode of the cartoon series included a short se ...

in the film '' Mr. Peabody and Sherman'' and pedestrians in the video game '' Infamous Second Son''.

Filmography

References

External links

*
Official Website
Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art English people of Italian descent English people of Irish descent Alumni of the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni Actresses from London English television actresses English film actresses English soap opera actresses English stage actresses 1978 births Living people English voice actresses 20th-century English actresses 21st-century English actresses {{England-actor-stub