Emily Symons (born 10 August 1969) is an Australian-born actress, active on both Australian and British television. She is known for playing Anne Costello in the short-lived soap opera '' Richmond Hill'' in 1988 and when that series ended, from 1989, she started playing Marilyn Chambers-Fisher in ''

Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (often abbreviated as ''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a trip ...

''. After almost ten years in that role, Symons moved to the UK and was immediately cast as

Louise Appleton Louise Appleton is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera, ''Emmerdale'', played by Emily Symons. She made her first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 20 June 2001. Louise arrived in the village as a temporary bar ...

in the British soap ''

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, '' ...

''. She also took part in the British show ''

Dancing on Ice ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series presented by Phillip Schofield alongside Holly Willoughby from 2006 to 2011, who then returned in 2018, and Christine Bleakley from 2012 to 2014. The series features celebrities and their profe ...

'' in 2007. She then returned to Australia in 2010 to reprise her role as Marilyn in ''Home and Away''.

Life and career

Emily Symons's mother remarried when she was just four years old and Symons did not see her biological, English father again until ten years later. She left school before finishing her exams and launched herself into the acting world. For nearly a year, she worked in shops before getting a break in a post office training video. Her first high-profile role was in Australian soap opera '' Richmond Hill''. After ''Richmond Hill'', Symons auditioned for another Australian drama, ''

'', where she won the role of Marilyn Chambers whom she played from 1989 until 1992, reprising the role in 1995 until 1999 – with a brief appearance in 2001. She also hosted the Channel 7 music programme '' Video Smash Hits''. After starring in a string of pantomimes in England, Symons decided to move there. She played the role of barmaid

in the

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...

soap opera ''

'' from 2001–2008. She was also a contestant in the 2007 series of ''

'', but was voted out in the semi-final following a skate off against Blue's

Duncan James Duncan James (born Duncan Inglis, 7 April 1978) is an English singer and actor. He became widely known in 2001 as a member of the boy band Blue and later for playing Ryan Knight in the British soap opera ''Hollyoaks''. Early life James grew u ...

. Symons has now returned to Australia permanently, and again resumed playing ''

s Marilyn Chambers from episode 5035 which aired 19 March 2010 in Australia and has remained ever since .

Personal life

Symons was married to Lorenzo Smith, a son of

Viscount Hambleden Viscount Hambleden, of Hambleden in the County of Buckingham, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1891 (as Viscountess Hambleden) for Emily Danvers Smith, in honour of her deceased husband, the businessman and C ...

and descendant of English stationery tycoon

W.H. Smith WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and m ...

, for two years. Symons said in an interview that her need for children and the resultant cycles of

IVF In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) f ...

eventually 'killed' the marriage. She was engaged to footballer

Matt Le Tissier Matthew Paul Le Tissier (; born 14 October 1968) is a former professional footballer. Born in Guernsey, he won eight caps for the England national team. Le Tissier spent his entire professional club career with Southampton before turning to non ...

. She dated her ''Emmerdale'' co-star

Matt Healy David James "Matt" Healy (born 16 July 1970) is an English actor born in Scotland. He is best known for his roles as Matthew King in ''Emmerdale'' from 2004 to 2008 and in ''The Bill'' as Alan Morton. Background When he was three years old ...

, who played Matthew King. They broke up just before she took part in ''"Dancing on Ice"''. On 3 August 2015, Symons gave birth to her first child with her then partner Paul Jackson.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Symons, Emily 1969 births Australian expatriates in the United Kingdom Australian television actresses Australian people of English descent Living people