Leah Hackett (born 15 August 1985) 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 ...

, best known for her role as

Tina Reilly Tina Reilly (also McQueen) is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', played by Leah Hackett. Since making her first appearance in August 2006 as part of the McQueen family, Tina has been involved in storylines ...

in ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which 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''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on ...

''.

Early life

Hackett was born in

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

to a mixed race ( English mother / African/American father) father and an English mother . She worked in

Tyldesley Tyldesley () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it is north of Chat Moss near the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, southeast of Wigan ...

Library as a teenager. She attended Tyldesley Primary School before moving to Fred Longworth High School. She later attended

Winstanley College Winstanley College is a sixth-form college in the Billinge Higher End area of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester. Admissions In the academic year 2022-23 it had approx 2300 full-time students. The catchment area spreads across ...

and went on to get a place at

Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) is a performing arts higher education institution in Liverpool, founded by Paul McCartney and Mark Featherstone-Witty and opened in 1996. LIPA offers 11 full-time BA (Hons) degrees in a range ...

. She appeared in Reemer's video for the single ''Maniac''.

Personal life

In January 2020, she announced she was pregnant with her first child. On 3 April 2020, she gave birth to her daughter, called Skylar. Hackett co-owns clothing rental boutique The Closet in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

with ''Hollyoaks'' co-stars

Jennifer Metcalfe Jennifer Joanne Metcalfe (born 4 September 1983) is an English actress. She is best known for her roles of Jade Nicholls in Emmerdale and Mercedes McQueen in the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', which she has appeared in since 2006. Her port ...

and

Claire Cooper Claire Elizabeth Cooper (born 26 October 1980) is a British actress, best known for portraying Jacqui McQueen in Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', a character she played from 2006 to 2013. Cooper co-owns clothing rental boutique The Closet ...

Career

Hackett played timid

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

soap ''

''. She played the role for over two years between 3 August 2006, until her character's death on 17 October 2008. She reprised the role for one episode on 20 November 2014. Hackett appeared in the Liverpool Nativity on 16 December 2007 as a

shepherdess A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...

. In July 2008, Hackett was the face selected to launch the

Polaroid Polaroid may refer to: * Polaroid Corporation, an American company known for its instant film and cameras * Polaroid camera, a brand of instant camera formerly produced by Polaroid Corporation * Polaroid film, instant film, and photographs * Polar ...

PoGo.Getty Images
/ref> She also appeared in a series of videos promoting the Year of Food and Farming where she milks a cow, shears sheep, collects eggs and makes an ice cream at Blaze Farm in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

. She appeared in a

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

(Dick Whittington), at

Buxton Opera House Buxton Opera House is in The Square, Buxton, Derbyshire, England. It is a 902-seat opera house that hosts the annual Buxton Festival and the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, among others, as well as pantomime at Christmas, musical th ...

and she played Alice Witzwarren. She appeared as Clare Saunders in an episode of ''Doctors'', titled "The Mathematics of Marriage", which aired 15 December 2010.

Stage appearances

* November 2010, ''Pub'' (musical drama), Royal Exchange, Manchester * June to July 2013, ''Manchester - The Massacre'' (a promenade performance drama splicing the

Peterloo Massacre The Peterloo Massacre took place at St Peter's Field, Manchester, Lancashire, England, on Monday 16 August 1819. Fifteen people died when cavalry charged into a crowd of around 60,000 people who had gathered to demand the reform of parliament ...

of 1819 and the Hacienda Movement of 1989), Library Theatre company

Filmography

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hackett, Leah 1985 births Living people British television actresses Actors from Bolton Black British actresses Actresses from Lancashire English soap opera actresses Alumni of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts English people of African-American descent