Melissa Suffield
Born
Melissa Holly Suffield

(1992-12-24) 24 December 1992 (age 30)
London, England
NationalityBritish
OccupationActress
Years active2003–2015
TelevisionEastEnders (2004–2010)

Melissa Holly Suffield (born 24 December 1992)[1] is a former English actress known for her role in the BBC soap opera EastEnders as Lucy Beale. She appeared on the show from 2004 to 2010.[2]

Early life

Suffield was born in London in 1992. She plays the guitar and piano, has taken ballet lessons since the age of two, and still dances under the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus at the intermediate grade. She attended Hatch End High School. Suffield has four sisters.[citation needed]

Career

Suffield's first professional acting role was in an episode of the children's series Magic Grandad in March 2003, entitled Toys: in 1953.[citation needed] She appeared in one episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot (Five Little Pigs)[2] and in two episodes of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.[citation needed] She was a voice for one of the children in Boo!, a programme on CBeebies. Suffield appeared on The Friday Night Project in February 2005.[3]

EastEnders

Main articles: EastEnders and Lucy Beale

Suffield is best known for her appearance in television soap EastEnders, in which she played Lucy Beale, daughter of Ian Beale, a long standing character, from 2004 to 2010. She also appeared as Lucy in the 2010 spin off series EastEnders: E20. Suffield helped raise money for Children in Need in November 2007, by appearing in a special Beatles medley featuring cast members from EastEnders. She also took part in Children in Need 2008, when Suffield appeared in a West End production of Mary Poppins. She also appeared in a Motown medley for Children in Need 2009.[4] In May 2010, it was announced that Suffield had been axed from EastEnders, after she allegedly ignored warnings about her "unruly" behaviour.[5] On 14 November 2011, it was announced that the character would be returning to EastEnders in January 2012, with Hetti Bywater taking over the role.[6]

Post-EastEnders

In August 2009, Suffield took part in a documentary called 16: Too Young To Vote? as part of BBC Three's Adult Season, in which she journeys around the UK to find out whether sixteen year olds should get the right to vote. In September 2009, she reported for the BBC programme Watchdog about the dangers of sunbeds. She also exposed centres that were not following guidelines by checking peoples ages. In addition, Suffield took part in a celebrity version of Total Wipeout. She has also acted in Casualty. In March 2015, she played the titular role in Norma Jeane, a musical about Marilyn Monroe. In December 2019, it was reported that she had acted and directed a pantomime at Swallows Leisure Centre in Sittingbourne.[7]

Personal life

Suffield is married to cruise director Robert Brendan; they have one child together (b. 2020).[8] They currently live in Queenborough on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.[9]

Filmography

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2003 Magic Grandad Melissa 1 episode
Agatha Christie's Poirot Young Lucy
2004–2010 EastEnders Lucy Beale Series regular (317 episodes)
2010 Little Crackers Alison Series 1, Episode 10
2012 Casualty Alicia Dans 3 episodes

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2011 Rough and Ready II Sammy Television movie
2012 The App TBA Short film

Theatre

Year Title Role Notes
2010 Olly's Prison Sheila Touring
2011 Beauty and the Beast Belle
2015 Pinocchio Cat/Blue fairy Secombe Theatre, Sutton

References

  1. ^ "Melissa Suffield: Summary". tv.com. Retrieved 10 April 2010.
  2. ^ a b BBC EastEnders Cast Retrieved on 10 August 2008 Archived 17 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ IMDB – Melissa Suffield
  4. ^ Youtube Eastenders tribute to the Beatles Retrieved on 10 August 2008
  5. ^ Green, Kris (30 May 2010). "'EastEnders' bosses axe "unruly" actress". Digital Spy. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
  6. ^ "Swansea actor's joy over landing role in Eastenders". South Wales Evening Post. South West Wales Publications. 17 November 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
  7. ^ "Review: Wizard of Oz, Swallows Leisure Centre, Sittingbourne". kentonline.co.uk. 15 December 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  8. ^ Kirwin-Jones, Ellie (18 March 2020). "EastEnders' Lucy Beale star Melissa Suffield in exciting baby news after leaving BBC soap". Daily Express.
  9. ^ Dosani, Rishma (27 July 2019). "Ex-EastEnders star Melissa Suffield announces engagement nine years after being sacked from Lucy Beale role". Metro (British newspaper). Retrieved 27 January 2021.

External links