Diane Parish (born 1 November 1969) is an English actress, who has been portraying the character

Denise Fox Denise Fox (also Wicks and Johnson) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders'', played by Diane Parish. She made her first appearance on 11 May 2006 and temporarily left ''EastEnders'' in early 2008 to give birth to her ...

on the

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, p ...

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

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 ...

'' since 2006 Born in

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an affluent area in west London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area. Chelsea histori ...

and a graduate of the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Sen ...

, Parish has appeared on British television for over two decades. She has appeared in a number of TV shows over the years, including 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 ...

dramas ''

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 ...

'' and '' M.I.T.: Murder Investigation Team'' playing

Detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

Eva Sharpe ''The Bill'' is a long-running British television police procedural television series, named after a slang term for the police. The characters are all police officers or civilian staff at the fictional Sun Hill police station in London. Senior ...

. She is also known for appearing in two series of the

comedy-drama ''

Lovejoy ''Lovejoy'' is a British television comedy-drama mystery series, based on the novels by John Grant under the pen name Jonathan Gash. The show, which ran to 71 episodes over six series, was originally broadcast on BBC1 between 10 January 19 ...

'' (1993–1994).

Career

After graduating from London's

, she worked mainly in

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

, including playing Cordelia in

Talawa Theatre Company Talawa Theatre Company is a Black British theatre company founded in 1986.

's 1994 production of ''

King Lear ''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane an ...

''. Parish has appeared in various television roles. In ''

'', she played Beth Taylor, the replacement for the character Eric Catchpole. Another television role was as Lola Christie, girlfriend of Mick McFarlane, the manager of the ''

'' night cafe, in 1998. Parish has also appeared in television dramas including ''

'' and its spin-off '' M.I.T.: Murder Investigation Team'', playing DC

. Before ''

'' she starred in '' Babyfather,'' for which she received the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

's best actress award in 2001 – the first black actor to win a major RTS award. Parish returned to ''EastEnders'' in May 2006, but this time playing regular character

. She departed from the soap opera temporarily in January 2008 in order to give birth to her daughter, returning in June 2008. Parish also appeared as Millie in the 1996 film ''

Indian Summer An Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Several sources describe a true Indian summer as not occurring until after the first frost, or more s ...

'' (also released under the title ''Alive And Kicking'').

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Parish, Diane 1969 births Living people English television actresses English soap opera actresses British people of Montserratian descent English people of Dominica descent Black British actresses Actresses from London People from Tottenham Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art