Kate Ford (born 29 December 1976) is an English

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

. She is known for her portrayal of

Tracy Barlow Tracy Lynette McDonald (also Barlow, Preston, Cropper and Langton) is a fictional character and a main antagonist from the British ITV soap opera '' Coronation Street''. She was born on-screen during the episode broadcast on 24 January 1977. ...

in the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

soap opera ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...

'' (2002–2007, 2010–present). Ford was born in

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

, Greater Manchester. She attended Queen Elizabeth School in Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria and

Blackpool and The Fylde College Blackpool and The Fylde College (B&FC) is a further and higher education college in Blackpool, Lancashire, England. Facilities include four main campuses located across the Fylde Coast, all of which have recently undergone or are currently under ...

, Lancashire. She later trained at the

Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art Webber may refer to: *Webber, Kansas, a US city *Webber Township, Jefferson County, Illinois, USA *Webber Township, Lake County, Michigan, USA *Webber International University, in Babson Park, Florida, USA *Webber (surname) Webber (/ˈwɛbər/) i ...

Career

Kate’s earliest work is in the music video for

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

song "

Free as a Bird "Free as a Bird" is a single released in December 1995 by the Beatles. The song was originally written and recorded in 1977 as a home demo by John Lennon. In 1995, 25 years after their break-up and 15 years after Lennon's murder, his then s ...

" in 1995. Some years later in 2002, she appeared in a spin-off episode of the popular

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

soap opera ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British 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 Ea ...

'' which revolved around the characters of

Ricky Butcher Ricky Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by Sid Owen. Introduced as a school boy in 1988, Ricky is one of the longest-running male protagonists to feature in ''EastEnders''. Owen originally left the ro ...

and

Bianca Jackson Bianca Jackson (also Butcher) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' played by Patsy Palmer. The character was introduced by executive producer Leonard Lewis and appeared initially from 1993 to 1999, when Palmer opted t ...

. Ford took on the role of

in ''Coronation Street'' in the autumn of 2002. She is the fourth actress to play the role of Tracy Barlow after Christabel Finch played her from her birth in 1977 to 1985, Holly Chamarette taking over from 1985 to 1988 and Dawn Acton playing the role from 1988 to 1999. Ford brought a darker side to the character in the programme, making her more "bitchy" than the simply misunderstood girl the other actresses portrayed. In 2004 and 2005, Ford was awarded a

British Soap Award The British Soap Awards (BSAs) are an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom which honours the best moments in British soap operas. The ceremony is televised on ITV and has been presented by Phillip Schofield since 2006. The trophies give ...

for "Best Bitch" for her work on ''Coronation Street'' and around the same time appeared in a high-profile poster campaign for

PETA Peta or PETA may refer to: Acronym * Pembela Tanah Air, a militia established by the occupying Japanese in Indonesia in 1943 * People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an American animal rights organization * People Eating Tasty Animals, an ...

. In 2007, she was awarded two British Soap Awards, one for ''Best Actress'' and another for "Best Storyline", which was shared with

Samia Smith Samia Maxine Longchambon (''née'' Ghadie, previously Smith; born 13 July 1982) is an English actress. She has played the role of Maria Connor in the ITV soap opera '' Coronation Street'' since 2000. Early life Samia Ghadie was born in Eccles ...

and Bill Ward. Ford left ''Coronation Street'' after her contract expired in April 2007. In June 2007, she filmed her first role after leaving ''Coronation Street'', as Adele in '' Blue Murder'', a detective drama.

Personal life

Ford married TV producer Jon Connerty on 13 October 2007. She gave birth to a son in 2008. Ford and Connerty separated in September 2013. She said the separation was "incredibly painful" and that, after seven years of marriage, they will be divorcing. She said, "When Jon and I first parted it was quite hard to put my personal life aside," Ford explained. "But then it became therapeutic to concentrate on my job. People call it 'Doctor Theatre'—when you're acting, you can't worry about things."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Kate People from Kirkby Lonsdale Actresses from Salford English television actresses English soap opera actresses Alumni of the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art 1976 births Living people English people of Irish descent 21st-century English actresses