Sylvia Young (born 1939 in
Hackney, London, England) is the founder and principal of
Sylvia Young Theatre School
Sylvia Young Theatre School is an independent school in Marble Arch, London, England. It is a specialist performing arts school named after its founder and principal, Sylvia Young OBE.
Outline
The Sylvia Young Theatre School was founded in ...
in London, England.
Sylvia Young Theatre School
Young founded her theatre school in 1981 in
Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster.
Notable landmarks ...
, London, before moving to its current
Marylebone
Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary.
An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...
premises in 1983. The school is co-educational and provides a combination of academic and vocational classes for children aged 10 to 16 years. The academic curriculum encompasses
GCSEs
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...
, while the vocational curriculum teaches acting, dance and music.
Many SYTS students have gone on to become successful in the performing arts world, including
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz.
A membe ...
;
Denise Van Outen;
Billie Piper
Billie Paul Piper (born Leian Paul Piper; 22 September 1982) is an English actress and former singer. She initially gained recognition as a singer after releasing her debut single "Because We Want To" at age 15, which made her the youngest woman ...
; former
Spice Girl Emma Bunton
Emma Lee Bunton (born 21 January 1976) is an English singer, songwriter, actress, and media personality. She rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of the girl group Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Baby Spice. With over 100 million recor ...
;
Alex Rider
''Alex Rider'' is a series of spy novels written by British author Anthony Horowitz. The novels revolve around a teenage spy named Alex Rider and is primarily aimed towards young adults. The series currently comprises thirteen novels, as well ...
star
Alex Pettyfer
Alexander Richard Pettyfer (born 10 April 1990) is a British actor and model. He appeared in school plays and on television before being cast as Alex Rider, the main character in the 2006 film version of ''Stormbreaker''. Pettyfer was nominated ...
;
Isabel Hodgins
Isabel Hodgins (born 23 November 1993) is an English actress, known for portraying the role of Victoria Sugden in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'' from 2006.
Career
Hodgins made an appeal in the '' Salford Advertiser'' for funding to allow her ...
;
Kara Tointon
Kara Louise Tointon (born 5 August 1983) is an English actress, known for portraying the role of Dawn Swann in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. In 2010, she won the BBC competition series ''Strictly Come Dancing'', and in 2015, she appeared as ...
;
Lacey Turner
Lacey Amelia Turner (born 28 March 1988) is an English actress. She is known for portraying the role of Stacey Slater on the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders'' (2004–2010, 2014–present), for which she has won over thirty awards, including four ...
;
McFly
McFly are an English pop rock band formed in London in 2003. The band took their name from the '' Back to the Future'' character Marty McFly. The band consists of Tom Fletcher (lead vocals, guitar, and piano), Danny Jones (lead vocals, har ...
member
Tom Fletcher
Thomas Michael Fletcher (born 17 July 1985) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, composer, author and vlogger. He is one of the lead vocalists and rhythm guitarist of English pop rock band McFly, in addition to being the group's founder ...
;
Busted bassist
Matt Willis
Mathew James Willis (born 8 May 1983), also previously known as Mattie Jay, is an English musician, singer, songwriter, television personality and actor. He is known as co-founder, bassist and the co-vocalist of the pop rock band, Busted. Will ...
;
The Saturdays
The Saturdays were a British-Irish girl group based in London, England. The group formed during the summer of 2007 and have been on hiatus since 2014. The lineup consists of Frankie Bridge, Una Healy, Rochelle Humes, Mollie King, and Vanessa Wh ...
member
Vanessa White
Vanessa Karen White (born 30 October 1989) is an English singer who rose to fame in 2008 as a singer in the girl band The Saturdays. She is signed to "Salute the Sun" as a solo artist. White began her career as a theatre actress at an early age, ...
; and
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 (singer), Tom Parker. The group was formed in 2009 and signed a worldw ...
member
Nathan Sykes
Nathan James Sykes (born 18 April 1993) is an English singer, best known as a member of the boy band The Wanted. In 2013, Sykes appeared with his bandmates in the E! channel reality television series '' The Wanted Life''. After the band's hiat ...
. The film ''
High School Musical 3
''High School Musical 3: Senior Year'' is a 2008 American musical film written by Peter Barsocchini and directed by Kenny Ortega. The sequel to ''High School Musical 2'' (2007) and the third installment of the ''High School Musical'' film series, ...
'' features an SYTS pupil,
Jemma McKenzie-Brown
Jemma McKenzie-Brown (born 2 June 1994) is an English actress and singer. She is known for her role as Tiara Gold in the 2008 film '' High School Musical 3: Senior Year''.
Life and career
Born in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, she attende ...
.
Family
Young married Norman Ruffell in Hackney, London, in 1961 and has two children, actresses
Frances Ruffelle
Frances Ruffelle (born 29 August 1965) is an English musical theatre actress and singer. She won a Tony Award in 1987, and represented the United Kingdom in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest with the song " Lonely Symphony (We Will Be Free)", ...
and Alison Ruffelle. Young's granddaughter is pop singer
Eliza Doolittle
Eliza Doolittle is a fictional character and the protagonist in George Bernard Shaw's play ''Pygmalion'' (1913) and its 1956 musical adaptation, ''My Fair Lady''.
Eliza (from Lisson Grove, London) is a Cockney flower woman, who comes to Profe ...
.
Styles and honours
She was the subject of ''
This Is Your Life'' in December 1998 when she was surprised by
Michael Aspel
Michael Terence Aspel (born 12 January 1933) is an English retired television newsreader and host of programmes such as '' Crackerjack'', ''Aspel & Company'', ''Give Us a Clue'', '' This is Your Life'', '' Strange but True?'' and ''Antiques Ro ...
at the Sylvia Young Theatre School.
Young was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (
OBE) in the
Queen's Birthday Honours
The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are present ...
List of 2005 for her services to the arts.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Sylvia
1939 births
Living people
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Sylvia Young Theatre School