Victoria Knowles (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Jenkins; born 16 April 1976) is an English author, actress, singer, producer and entrepreneur.

Career

''It’s Breast Cancer'' and ''Wig Bank London''

In January 2022, Knowles was diagnosed with triple positive

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

. Her treatment consisted of 16 rounds of

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

, surgery and

radiotherapy Radiation therapy or radiotherapy (RT, RTx, or XRT) is a treatment using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer therapy to either kill or control the growth of malignant cells. It is normally delivered by a linear particle ...

. She didn’t want her diagnosis to be for nothing, so she set about creating a support website called Breast Cancer Chat, and Wig Bank London; a wig recycling service aimed at offering cancer patients wigs at reduced prices. She also wrote a

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

called ‘It’s Breast Cancer - three little words that change your life’ charting her cancer journey and what she did to improve her prognosis, which was released in late January 2023.

''The PA'' and ''The PA's Story''

In June 2014, Knowles self-published an

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Al ...

titled ''The PA'', an autobiographical account of her time working as a personal assistant to various high profile personalities in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

. ''The PA'' reached No1 in both the Apple iTunes and

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

chart for paid books and received widespread media attention. Subsequent to the success of the

ebook An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. A ...

, ''The PA'', Knowles was offered a publishing deal to release the book as a paperback with John Blake Publishing, retitled as ''The PA's Story'', it went on sale in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

on 4 June 2015. In July 2019, Knowles completed the

screenplay A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

for the film adaptation of ''The PA''. Subsequently, in February 2020, a UK film production company optioned the rights to make the film, which is in the development stage.

''Friday Night Sucks''

In 2009, Knowles founded the

social networking A social network is a social structure consisting of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), networks of Dyad (sociology), dyadic ties, and other Social relation, social interactions between actors. The social network per ...

site, ''Friday Night Sucks'', which was aimed at people that were new to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The inspiration for the site came when Knowles first moved to London and struggled to make new friends and fill her free time. An alternative to the dating website model, ''Friday Night Sucks'' offered new visitors to the capital a more authentic night out.

Other activities

Knowles, a trained actress and graduate of the

Guildford School of Acting Guildford School of Acting (GSA) is a drama school in Guildford, Surrey, England. It is an academic school in the University of Surrey. It is a member of the Federation of Drama Schools. Overview The school is part of the University of Surrey ...

in Surrey, has appeared in several British

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

including

Brookside Brookside may refer to: Geography Canada * Brookside, Edmonton * Brookside, Newfoundland and Labrador * Brookside, Nova Scotia United Kingdom * Brookside, Berkshire, England * Brookside, Telford, an area of Telford, England United States * Bro ...

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 ...

and

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

, as well as on stage. In 2008, Knowles co-wrote, starred in and produced the online

mockumentary A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...

series, ''Bev Allen, Life Coach'', with her partner, Edward Knowles. The show garnered a cult online following, subsequently receiving interest from production companies and networks with a view to develop it for television. Knowles released her debut EP, ''This is Rees'', under the name of ''Rees'' in 2012 and has appeared as a lead vocalist with the band ''Real Experts''.

Personal life

Knowles lives in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

, London, with her husband, son and cat.

References

External links

The PA's Story
– official website * 1976 births Living people 21st-century English memoirists 21st-century English screenwriters 21st-century English women writers 21st-century English actresses English women non-fiction writers English women memoirists Alumni of the Guildford School of Acting English stage actresses English television actresses Actresses from London People from Greenwich Actors from the Royal Borough of Greenwich {{UK-screenwriter-stub