Gabriella Leon (born 29 March 1996) is an English actress, known for her role as

Jade Lovall Jade Lovall is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Casualty'', portrayed by actress Gabriella Leon. She first appears in the twelfth episode of the thirty-third series, first broadcast on 3 November 2018. Leon was cast in June 2018 ...

in the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

medical drama series ''

Casualty Casualty may refer to: *Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster **Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare * The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...

''. Leon is deaf and portrayed the first regular deaf character on ''Casualty''. For her portrayal of Jade, she was nominated for a

TRIC Award The Television and Radio Industries Club (widely known as TRIC) is a British institution chartered in 1931 to "promote goodwill in the television and radio industries". The Club holds an annual awards ceremony each March honouring achievement in te ...

for Soap Actor of the Year.

Early life

Leon was born on 29 March 1996. She was born "moderately deaf", and has learnt

British Sign Language British Sign Language (BSL) is a sign language used in the United Kingdom (UK), and is the first or preferred language among the Deaf community in the UK. Based on the percentage of people who reported 'using British Sign Language at home' on ...

. She attended Cardinal Newman High School and

Priestley College Priestley Sixth Form and Community College is a sixth form college in the Wilderspool district of Warrington, Cheshire, England. It also offers adult courses and professional training on another site, and is an associate college of the Universit ...

, later training as an actress at

East 15 Acting School East 15 Acting School (East 15) is a British drama school in Loughton, Essex.Its degrees are awarded by the University of Essex, with which it merged on 1 September 2000. As of 2020, Essex University, where East 15 is located, has been ranked No. ...

. After graduating in 2016 with a BA (Hons) from East 15, Leon began working with theatre company We Are Kilter.

Career

Leon made her professional debut as Julia in a show at the

2014 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony The opening ceremony for the 2014 Commonwealth Games was held at Celtic Park in Glasgow, Scotland, between 21:00 and 23:40 BST, on 23 July 2014. Proceedings Countdown The ceremony began with a dramatic countdown, starting at 30 seconds, which ...

. In 2015, she made her screen debut as Maria Alpert in the drama film ''Connections: The Marcello Story''. She then continued to make stage appearances in productions such as ''Little Revolution'' (2015), ''Tesla'' (2016), ''The Lesson'' (2017) and ''Close'' (2018). Her performance in ''The Others'' (2018), which she devised, was praised by critics, with Jeremy Mortimer of

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

describing it as "brilliant and inventive". In May 2018, Leon auditioned for the role of

in the

medical drama series ''

''; she was informed in July of that year that she had got the role, and began filming later that month. Her casting was announced on 4 October 2018, and she made her debut appearance on 3 November 2018. She described her character as a "bolshie, chaotic loveable rogue, with a lot of her own flaws. She's a little work-shy and plays by her own rules. She wants to get things right when wanting to impress her mentors but is clumsy. She's cheeky, a real party girl and great fun to be around – if you're on the right side of her! I think she's funny though and also very relatable." Leon portrays the first regular deaf character on ''Casualty'', and in an interview with ''

Inside Soap ''Inside Soap'' is a weekly magazine published in the United Kingdom, released every Tuesday. It covers current and future storylines in soap operas in the United Kingdom, including '' Coronation Street'', ''Doctors'', ''EastEnders'', ''Emmerdal ...

'', she said: "It is so lovely to play someone like me. I'm able to add such depth and understanding to Jade, having experienced most of what she has experienced regarding her disability. I feel proud to be the first disabled regular in the show's history." In 2021, Leon received a nomination for Soap Actor of the Year for her portrayal of Jade. In September 2021, Leon departed from the cast of ''Casualty''. Then in February 2022, she portrayed the role of Pollie Grisham in an episode of the BBC series '' Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators''.

Stage

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leon, Gabriella 1996 births Actresses from Warrington Alumni of East 15 Acting School Deaf actresses English child actresses English film actresses English stage actresses English television actresses Living people