Michelle Elizabeth Keegan (born 3 June 1987) is an English actress, known for her roles as Tina McIntyre in the ITV 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. Orig ...

'' and Sergeant Georgie Lane in the BBC drama series '' Our Girl''. Keegan also starred as Tracy Shawcross in

BBC One 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, ...

drama '' Ordinary Lies'',

Tina Moore Tina Moore (born October 17, 1970, in Racine, Wisconsin) is an American R&B musician. She scored two Top 20 hit singles in the UK in 1997 with " Never Gonna Let You Go" (#7) and " Nobody Better" (#20). Both singles were UK garage remix A rem ...

in the biopic ''

Tina and Bobby ''Tina and Bobby'' is a British television series based on the relationship between footballer Bobby Moore and Tina Moore. The three-part series was first broadcast on 13 January 2017 on ITV. Premise The series follows the life of Tina Dean an ...

'', and Erin Croft in Sky Max comedy '' Brassic''.

Early life

Keegan was born in

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is withi ...

to Michael Keegan and Jackie Turner. Her maternal great-grandmother was a

Gibraltarian The Gibraltarians (Spanish: ''gibraltareños'', colloquially: '' llanitos'') are an ethnic group native to Gibraltar, a British overseas territory located near the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance to the Mediterranea ...

who married a British soldier stationed in Gibraltar, and she also has distant Italian ancestry from her 7 times great-grandfather who emigrated to Gibraltar from

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

. She has Irish ancestry on her father's side. She attended St Patrick's RC High School in Eccles near

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

, and later the

Manchester School of Acting The Manchester School of Acting is a drama school that provides training in film, television and theatre and operates in the Deansgate area of Manchester, United Kingdom established in 2000. History Manchester School of Acting was founded by th ...

. She worked at

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridg ...

in the Trafford Centre, and as a check-in agent at

Manchester Airport Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2019, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest of those ...

Career

In late 2007, in only her second audition, Keegan was offered the part of Tina McIntyre in ''

'', and accepted the role, beating around 900 other people who auditioned. She decided to leave the show after six years in 2013 and Tina was killed off, making her last appearance on 2 June 2014. Throughout her time on the show, Keegan's character Tina featured in many high-profile storylines. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' listed her as one of the 10 best ''Coronation Street'' characters of all time in 2010. In 2008, the actress flew out to South Africa to film the

straight-to-DVD Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

film '' Coronation Street: Out of Africa'', a ''Coronation Street'' spinoff, in which she appeared as Tina. In June 2009, Keegan made her radio debut co-hosting the

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance ...

programme ''The Official Chart''. She was featured on the cover of ''

FHM ''FHM'' (For Him Magazine) is a British multinational men's lifestyle magazine that was published in several countries. Its master edition contained features such as the ''FHM'' 100 Sexiest Women in the World, which has featured models, actres ...

'' magazine in January 2011 and placed at number30 and number26 in their 100 Sexiest Women poll for 2010 and 2011, respectively. She appeared on their cover again in March 2013 and was placed at number four in the 2013 poll, eventually winning in 2015. Michelle Keegan

Keegan made a guest appearance as herself in the 2009 Easter special, '' Red Dwarf: Back to Earth''. In June 2014, she embarked on a European tour to perform as Tinkerbell in ''

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...

''. In 2015, she was cast as Tracy Shawcross in the BBC television drama series '' Ordinary Lies''. In June 2015, it was announced that she would play the starring role of Corporal Georgie Lane in series 2 of the BBC drama series '' Our Girl'', which aired throughout September 2016; third season consisting of 12 episodes began airing in October 2017. She returned for her final series as Georgie in 2020. Also in 2016, Keegan landed a guest role on the

ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, ...

comedy series ''

Plebs In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words " commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins ...

''. In June 2016, she began filming the ITV drama series ''

'', based on Tina Dean's and

Bobby Moore Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He most notably played for West Ham United, captaining the club for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England natio ...

's relationship in which she played Tina; it was a three part series which aired in January 2017. In 2017, Michelle Keegan partnered with the clothing brand Lipsy with her own collection. Keegan currently portrays the main role of Erin Croft in

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

's comedy drama series, '' Brassic'', which started in 2019. On 22 February 2022, Keegan was a guest judge on the

Snatch Game Snatch Game is a challenge on the ''Drag Race'' reality competition television franchise. Beginning with the second season of the original American series '' RuPaul's Drag Race'', the challenge has taken place on every season since. It has also ...

episode of '' RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs the World''. In May 2022, the BBC and STAN commissioned a new series starring Keegan,''

Ten Pound Poms Ten Pound Poms (or Ten Pound tourists) is a colloquial term used in Australia and New Zealand to describe British citizens who migrated to Australia and New Zealand after the Second World War. The Government of Australia initiated the Assisted ...

'', a drama about the British citizens who migrated to Australia after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, with filming commencing in Australia shortly after.

Personal life

Keegan was in a relationship with

The Wanted The Wanted are a British-Irish boy band consisting of group members Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness and Nathan Sykes and, until his death in 2022, Tom Parker. The group was formed in 2009 and signed a worldwide contract to ...

singer Max George from December 2010. The couple became engaged in June 2011, but ended their relationship the following year. In September 2013, after a nine-month courtship, the actress announced her engagement to Mark Wright. They married on 24 May 2015.

Filmography

Stage

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keegan, Michelle 21st-century English actresses 1987 births Actresses from Greater Manchester English people of Spanish descent British people of Gibraltarian descent English people of Irish descent English people of Italian descent English soap opera actresses English television actresses Living people People from Stockport