Emilia Rose O'Connell (born 18 January 1997) is an English musical theatre actress and singer. She is best known for portraying

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the Wives of Henry VIII, second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, by beheading ...

in the original UK tour and West End production of the musical ''

SIX 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics A six-sided polygon is a hexagon, one of the three regular polygons capable of tiling the plane. A hexagon a ...

''. She is part of pop girl group SVN. She has received

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...

and

WhatsOnStage Award The WhatsOnStage Awards (WOS Awards), formerly known as the Theatregoers' Choice Awards, are organised by the theatre website WhatsOnStage.com. The awards celebrate outstanding achievements in UK theatre, with categories covering both regional p ...

nominations.

Early life

O'Connell is from

Shanklin Shanklin () is a seaside resort town and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the Isle of Wight, England, located on Sandown Bay. Shanklin is the southernmost of three settlements which occupy the bay, and is close to Lake, Isle of Wight, ...

, Isle of Wight, England. She is of Maltese, Irish, and Italian descent. From the age of three, O'Connell took classes at the Gillian Cartwright School of Dance. She attended Christ the King College. After completing her

GCSEs The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

at 16, she won a scholarship to train at

Laine Theatre Arts Laine Theatre Arts, sometimes referred to as Laines, is an independent performing arts college, based in the town of Epsom in Surrey, England. The college was founded in 1974 by former professional dancer and dance teacher Betty Laine OBE, an ...

Epsom Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain ...

, graduating in 2015, aged 18.

Career

O'Connell made her professional stage debut in the international revival of the show '' 42nd Street'' in 2016, in

Théâtre du Châtelet The Théâtre du Châtelet () is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. One of two theatres (the other being the Théâtre de la Ville) built on the site of a ''châtelet'', a ...

, Paris, forming part of the ensemble whilst understudying Peggy Sawyer. In 2017, she moved back to the UK, performing in the same show in

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and listed building, Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) an ...

, forming part of the ensemble whilst understudying Anytime Annie. In 2018 she joined the UK tour cast of ''

Thoroughly Modern Millie ''Thoroughly Modern Millie'' is a 1967 American musical romantic comedy film directed by George Roy Hill and starring Julie Andrews. The screenplay by Richard Morris, based on the 1956 British musical ''Chrysanthemum'', follows a naïve young ...

'', understudying Millie Dillmount. Her rise to fame stemmed from her role of Anne Boleyn in the original UK tour cast of ''

'' in 2018. The show's success gave it a permanent home in the West End's

Arts Theatre The Arts Theatre is a theatre in Great Newport Street, in Westminster, Central London. It opened on April 20, 1927. History It opened on 20 April 1927 as a members-only club for the performance of unlicensed plays, thus avoiding theatre cen ...

, where she starred in the show until October 2019. Prior to leaving the show, Millie had played the most shows out of every actress in the original West End cast. Late 2019 brought O'Connell the role of Velcro in '' Soho Cinders'' at Charing Cross Theatre. In 2020 she starred in '' Be More Chill'' as Chloe Valentine in

The Other Palace The Other Palace is a theatre in London's Off West End which opened on 18 September 2012 as the St. James Theatre. It features a 312-seat main theatre and a 120-seat studio theatre. It was built on the site of the former Westminster Theatre, ...

. She left the show two weeks before its original closing date to rehearse for ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and ...

'' at the

Turbine Theatre The Turbine Theatre was a commercial theatre on the banks of the River Thames at Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth, which opened in 2019. The theatre was established as part of the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station. The inaug ...

, where she portrayed the role of Jeanie. Following this, Millie landed 'her dream role' of

Maureen Johnson Maureen Johnson (born February 16, 1973) is an American author of young adult fiction. Her published novels include series leading titles such as ''13 Little Blue Envelopes'', ''The Name of the Star'', '' Truly Devious,'' and ''Suite Scarlett''. ...

in ''

Rent Rent may refer to: Economics *Renting, an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property *Economic rent, any payment in excess of the cost of production *Rent-seeking, attempting to increase one's share of e ...

''. She starred in this revival alongside ''

Six 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics A six-sided polygon is a hexagon, one of the three regular polygons capable of tiling the plane. A hexagon a ...

'' cast alumna Maiya Quansah-Breed, portraying the leading role of Mimi Marquez and Jocasta Almgill, as her partner Joanne. Due to COVID-19, the show only had five live performances before shutting due to government guidelines. In response to this, the team livestreamed a recorded version of the show during lockdown. They returned to the show in 2021, Millie returning to the role. In 2021, Millie returned to the role of Chloe Valentine in ''Be More Chill,'' showing at the

Shaftesbury Theatre The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden. It opened in 1911 as the New Prince's Theatre, with a capacity of 2,500. The current capacity is 1,416. The title "Shaftesbury Theat ...

, and then returned to the role of Jeanie in ''Hair'', showing in the

London Palladium The London Palladium () is a Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street, London, in Soho. The theatre was designed by Frank Matcham and opened in 1910. The auditorium holds 2,286 people. Hundreds of stars have played there, many wit ...

. In April 2022, it was announced that '' The Cher Show'' would be touring the UK. Millie took on the role of Babe (Cher) on the year long tour. The show launched at the Curve Theatre in Leicester. The creative team included director

Arlene Phillips Dame Arlene Phillips (born 22 May 1943) is an English choreographer, theatre director, talent scout, former television judge, presenter, and dancer. She reached mainstream fame on television as a judge on ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (2004-2008) a ...

, choreographer

Oti Mabuse Otlile "Oti" Mabuse (born 8 August 1990) is a South African talent show judge, presenter, dancer and Latin dance champion currently based in the United Kingdom. She is best known for being a professional dancer on the British television serie ...

and costume designer Gabriella Slade. August 2022 brought the original cast of ''SIX'' together to film a proshot, and Millie, reunited with her castmates, were granted the opportunity to reprise their roles once more at

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

in July.

SVN

Millie also forms a part of the pop girl group SVN (pronounced 'seven') alongside six former West End cast members of ''SIX'': Jarnéia Richard-Noel, Natalie May Paris, Alexia McIntosh (Lexi), Aimie Atkinson and Maiya Quansah-Breed, and Grace Mouat (former swing and dance captain of the original cast of ''

'' ). After a limited series of concerts in October 2020, their debut concert was rescheduled from February 2022 to 7 August 2022 at the

O2 Academy Islington The O2 Academy Islington, formerly known as the Carling Academy Islington, is an indoor music venue situated in the N1 Shopping Centre accessible via Upper Street and Liverpool Road, in the London Borough of Islington. It is run by the Academy ...

, with the group releasing singles such as ''Stars'' (2021) and ''Woman'', ''Free'', ''Boss'' and ''At Christmas'' (2022).

Discography

Concerts

Personal life

O'Connell is openly

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

Filmography

Stage

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

Millie O'Connell
at Spotlight {{DEFAULTSORT:oconnell, millie Living people 1997 births Actors from the Isle of Wight English LGBTQ actors English queer actresses English musical theatre actresses English people of Irish descent English people of Italian descent English people of Maltese descent People from Shanklin