Linda Varilis (''née'' Henry; born 24 August 1959) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as
Yvonne Atkins in the
ITV drama ''
Bad Girls'' and
Shirley Carter in the
BBC soap opera ''
EastEnders'', a role she has played since 2006. She had previously appeared in ''EastEnders'' as the original
Lorraine Salter, the mother of
Mandy Salter
Mandy Salter is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders'', played by Nicola Stapleton. Introduced on 12 March 1992 by producer Leonard Lewis, Mandy was portrayed as a teenage tearaway. She was featured in storylines about t ...
(
Nicola Stapleton
Nicola Kathleen Stapleton (born 9 August 1974 in Elephant and Castle, London) is an English actress. She is best known for her roles in '' EastEnders'' as Mandy Salter and ''Emmerdale'' as Danielle Hutch. A graduate of the Sylvia Young Theatr ...
) from 1991 to 1992. Her other acting credits include ''
Cracker
Cracker, crackers or The Crackers may refer to:
Animals
* ''Hamadryas'' (butterfly), or crackers, a genus of brush-footed butterflies
* '' Sparodon'', a monotypic genus whose species is sometimes known as "Cracker"
Arts and entertainment Films ...
'' (1995), ''
Prime Suspect
''Prime Suspect'' is a British police procedural television drama series devised by Lynda La Plante. It stars Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, ...
'' (1997) and ''
Trial & Retribution
''Trial & Retribution'' is a feature-length ITV police procedural television drama series that first aired on 19 October 1997. Written and devised by Lynda La Plante as a follow-on from her successful television series '' Prime Suspect'', each ...
'' (1998). She has also appeared in the films ''
Beautiful Thing'' (1996) and ''
The Business'' (2005).
Early life
Henry was born on 24 August 1959
and was brought up in
Peckham
Peckham () is a district in southeast London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720.
History
"Peckham" is a Saxon place name meaning the vill ...
, London.
She spent some time with the
Old Vic Youth Theatre, and at seventeen she went to the
Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. Henry later set up a production company, Buster, which still exists although she is no longer involved with it.
Career
As well as her role in ''Bad Girls'' she is also remembered for her role as Sandra in the film ''
Beautiful Thing''
and has appeared in the British television programmes ''
The Bill
''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983.
The programme focused on ...
'', ''
Birds of a Feather
''Birds of a Feather'' is a British sitcom originally broadcast on BBC One from 16 October 1989 to 24 December 1998, then revived on ITV from 2 January 2014 to 24 December 2020. The series stars Pauline Quirke and Linda Robson, with Lesley Jos ...
'', ''
Touching Evil'', ''
Cracker
Cracker, crackers or The Crackers may refer to:
Animals
* ''Hamadryas'' (butterfly), or crackers, a genus of brush-footed butterflies
* '' Sparodon'', a monotypic genus whose species is sometimes known as "Cracker"
Arts and entertainment Films ...
'', ''
A Touch of Frost
A, or a, is the first Letter (alphabet), letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name ...
'',
''
Trial & Retribution
''Trial & Retribution'' is a feature-length ITV police procedural television drama series that first aired on 19 October 1997. Written and devised by Lynda La Plante as a follow-on from her successful television series '' Prime Suspect'', each ...
'' as Marilyn Spark and ''
EastEnders'', where she played
Lorraine Salter, the prostitute mother of the teenage tearaway
Mandy Salter
Mandy Salter is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders'', played by Nicola Stapleton. Introduced on 12 March 1992 by producer Leonard Lewis, Mandy was portrayed as a teenage tearaway. She was featured in storylines about t ...
(
Nicola Stapleton
Nicola Kathleen Stapleton (born 9 August 1974 in Elephant and Castle, London) is an English actress. She is best known for her roles in '' EastEnders'' as Mandy Salter and ''Emmerdale'' as Danielle Hutch. A graduate of the Sylvia Young Theatr ...
).
She had a minor role in British film ''
The Business'' as the character Shirley, which also starred
Danny Dyer
Danial John Dyer (born 24 July 1977) is an English actor and presenter. Dyer's breakthrough role was as Moff in '' Human Traffic'', with other notable roles as Mick Carter in EastEnders, Billy the Limpet in '' Mean Machine'' and as Tommy John ...
as the main character.
On 8 September 2006 it was announced Henry would be returning to ''EastEnders'' in a different role, this time playing
Shirley Carter, mother to
Carly
Carly is a given name, a feminine form of Carl. Hanks; Hardcastle; Hodges (2006) p. 47. It is also a pet form of given names such as Carla and Caroline. Variant different spellings include Carley, Carlie, Carlee, Carleigh and Carli, as well as ...
(
Kellie Shirley) and
Deano (
Matt Di Angelo
Mario Angelo S Constantinou (born 1 May 1987), professionally known as Matt Di Angelo, is a British actor and singer, best known for his role as Dean Wicks in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. He also portrayed Sean Kennedy in the BBC drama s ...
) and ex-wife of
Kevin (
Phil Daniels
Philip William Daniels (born 25 October 1958) is an English actor, musician and singer, most noted for film and television roles playing Londoners, such as the lead role of Jimmy Cooper in ''Quadrophenia'', Richards in '' Scum'', Stewart in '' T ...
).
Shirley arrived in
Walford
Walford is a fictional borough of east London in the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders''. It is the primary setting for the soap. ''EastEnders'' is filmed at Borehamwood in Hertfordshire, towards the north-west of London. Much of the location wo ...
in December 2006. Henry took part in the 2008 "WestEnders"
Children in Need appeal where she sang alongside other ''EastEnders'' cast members. She is close friends with co-star
Cheryl Fergison
Cheryl Fergison (born 27 August 1965) is an English actress. She is known for portraying the role of Heather Trott in the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders'' a role in which she starred in from 2007 until 2012.
Career
After training at Rose Brufo ...
, who played her on-screen best friend
Heather Trott. She also took part in a 2008 ''EastEnders'' edition of''
The Weakest Link
''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host Anne Robinson completed her contract. ...
'' and appears in the 2010 spin-off series ''
EastEnders: E20
''EastEnders: E20'' (sometimes just ''E20'') is a British Internet soap opera, which began airing on 8 January 2010. A spin-off from the established BBC soap ''EastEnders'', it is set in ''EastEnders'' regular setting of Albert Square, a Victori ...
''.
Personal life
Henry married Stavros Valiris in 1992. Their daughter was born in 1993.
In 2014, she was arrested for
racially aggravated harassment
Harassment, alarm or distress is an element of a statutory offence in England and Wales, arising from an expression used in sections 4A and 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, which created the offence. The Act was amended in 1994.
The offence
The o ...
.
Henry
pleaded not guilty and stood trial on 11 February 2015 at Bexley Magistrates Court in south London.
She was later cleared of all charges.
Filmography
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, Linda
1959 births
Living people
English film actresses
English television actresses
English soap opera actresses
Alumni of the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art