kids encyclopedia robot

Amanda Holden facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Amanda Holden
HoldenLondon.jpg
Holden in 2014
Born
Amanda Louise Holden

(1971-02-16) 16 February 1971 (age 53)
Education
  • Swanmore College
  • Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts
Occupation
  • Media personality
  • actress
  • singer
Years active 1991–present
Employer
Spouse(s)
  • Les Dennis
    (m. 1995; div. 2003)
  • Chris Hughes
    (m. 2008)
Children 3

Amanda Louise Holden (born 16 February 1971) is an English media personality, actress and singer. Since 2007, she has been a judge on the television talent show competition Britain's Got Talent on ITV. She also co-hosts the national Heart Breakfast radio show with Jamie Theakston on weekday mornings.

Holden grew up in Bishop's Waltham and took an interest in acting and musical theatre while at school. She played the title role in the musical stage show Thoroughly Modern Millie in 2004, for which she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award. Her acting credits on television include The Grimleys (1998–2001), Kiss Me Kate (1999–2001), Cutting It (2002–2004), Wild at Heart (2006–2008), and Big Top (2009). Holden has also presented various television shows for ITV, including The Sun Military Awards (2009–2014), Superstar (2012), This Morning (2014–2015, 2017), Text Santa (2015), and Give a Pet a Home (2015).

In 2013, Holden released her autobiography book, No Holding Back, which became a Sunday Times bestseller. In 2020, she released her debut studio album, Songs from My Heart, which reached the top 5 on the UK Albums Chart.

Early life

Holden was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire and spent much of her childhood in Bishop's Waltham, and aged nine she joined Bishop's Waltham Little Theatre Company.

She attended the secondary community school Swanmore College. At age 16, she relocated to Bournemouth, before moving to South London to attend Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.

Career

Television

Holden's first television appearance was as a contestant on the game show Blind Date in 1991. From 2006 to 2008, Holden appeared as Sarah Trevanian in three series of ITV's Wild at Heart co-starring Stephen Tompkinson.

In 1997, she was a cast member of pioneering Channel 5 sketch show, "We Know Where You Live" alongside Simon Pegg, Sanjeev Baskar, Ella Kenion, Fiona Allen and Jeremy Fowlds.

Holden's other TV credits include three series of the comedy Kiss Me Kate with Caroline Quentin and Chris Langham, three series of ITV's The Grimleys, one series of Mad About Alice, Celeb with Harry Enfield, BBC series Hearts and Bones with Damian Lewis, the Jonathan Creek episode "The Problem at Gallowes Gate", and a Boxing Day special Agatha Christie's Marple episode "4.50 From Paddington" opposite Geraldine McEwan and John Hannah. She co-starred with Bill Nighy and Tom Courtenay in Ready When You Are, Mr. McGill, a comedy drama by Jack Rosenthal. Holden is a judge on Britain's Got Talent along with Simon Cowell, Bruno Tonioli, and Alesha Dixon. She joined the show in 2007.

She has appeared on British series such as Smack the Pony, EastEnders, Hearts and Bones, and Cutting It.

In 2009, Holden appeared as Lizzie, the Ring Mistress, in the BBC circus sitcom Big Top. In April 2009 it was reported the US network CBS had offered Holden a job as one-time guest presenter on The Early Show, a daytime talk show. On 1 June 2009 she appeared with regular presenters Harry Smith and Maggie Rodriguez. Holden has since signed with CBS as a British correspondent for The Early Show.

From 2009 until 2014 Holden co-presented A Night of Heroes: The Sun Military Awards annually on ITV with Phillip Schofield. In January 2010 she presented her own three-part series, Amanda Holden's Fantasy Lives, in which she tried out three of her dream jobs.

In 2010, Holden co-presented The Door with Chris Tarrant. In 2011, Holden narrated the documentary The Nation's Favourite Bee Gees Song on ITV. On 6 July 2012 Holden guest presented an episode of Lorraine, standing in for Lorraine Kelly. She returned to guest present six further episodes of the show from 4 to 8 April and on 4 July 2016.

In 2012, Holden presented talent show Superstar on ITV. On 24 March 2014 she hosted an episode of the Channel 4 show Dispatches about the treatment for stillbirths and miscarriages.

Amanda Holden (6745397983)
Holden in 2012

From 22 September to 18 December 2014, Holden filled in as a co-host on This Morning with Phillip Schofield during Holly Willoughby's maternity leave. She took a short break in January and February 2015 to record the Britain's Got Talent auditions. Christine Lampard stood in for Holden during this time, before the latter returned to the show from 2 March until 17 July 2015. She returned to This Morning in 2017, to co-present numerous episodes with Ben Shephard.

Holden presented a six-part factual series for ITV called Give a Pet a Home, which worked alongside the RSPCA finding homes for animals. The series aired in April and May 2015.

On 18 December 2015 Holden was part of the presenting team for ITV's Christmas telethon Text Santa. In 2016 she presented I've Got Something To Tell You, a factual series for the W television channel. She appeared as Miss Pentangle in CBBC's The Worst Witch in 2017. Holden made a guest appearance in the Australian soap opera Neighbours as Harriet Wallace in 2022. She began filming for the show in London during October 2021.

In 2021, she started appearing in a new comedy mockumentary series from Bo' Selecta! creator Leigh Francis. The programme was called The Holden Girls: Mandy & Myrtle and featured Francis in drag with heavy make-up as Amanda's nan Myrtle. The show launched on the E4 channel with 601,938 viewers and was repeated on Channel 4. The show was axed after one series.

Theatre

Holden has appeared in several stage musicals, and in 2004 was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in the West End production of Thoroughly Modern Millie, which closed earlier than expected in June 2004.

Holden finished playing the role Princess Fiona in the original West End production of Shrek The Musical, which began on 6 May 2011. The show opened at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 14 June 2011. She starred with Nigel Lindsay, Richard Blackwood, and Nigel Harman. Holden departed the show on 3 October 2011, ten weeks earlier than planned, to focus on her unborn child and was replaced by Girls Aloud singer Kimberley Walsh. For this role, Holden won the WhatsOnStage.com Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best Actress in a Musical. In 2016 Holden starred in a West End revival of Stepping Out and reprised her role when it opened at the Vaudeville Theatre in March 2017.

Film

In 1996, Holden played Pamela in Intimate Relations. She was uncredited in the 2013 film One Chance.

Radio

In April 2019, it was announced Holden would replace Emma Bunton as co-host of Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston, at the same time as it went national on 3 June.

Music

In 2019, Holden signed a recording contract with Virgin EMI Records. In 2020 she released her debut studio album, Songs from My Heart, through Universal Music. It reached number four on the UK Albums Chart.

Other work

In July 2009, Holden became a gossip columnist for the News of the World.

From 2010 until 2012 Holden appeared in television commercial adverts for supermarket chain Tesco. Since 2012 she has appeared in television commercials for Danone Oykos low-fat yoghurt.

In October 2013, Amanda released her autobiography, No Holding Back, which became a Sunday Times best seller.

In 2015, she was the new face of the Alpen Brighter Morning Challenge.

In 2021, she was the British spokesperson for the Eurovision Song Contest. She awarded UK's 12 jury points to France.

Charity work

Holden fronted Everton's breast-cancer-awareness campaign. She is a patron of the football club's charity, Everton In the Community. In September 2011, Holden was sponsored to bake a cake for every child in the Great Ormond Street Hospital.

On 13 April 2008 Holden ran the London Marathon in 4 hours and 13 minutes, in the name of the Born Free Foundation, having collected public and celebrity sponsors online. Since 2013, she has presented the RSPCA's Animal Hero Awards. Holden has raised money for Jeans for Genes and SSAFA via The Big Brew Up.

In 2013, she became a celebrity ambassador for Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, following her work with Pedigree's 'Buy One, Feed One' campaign that she and fellow ambassador Paul O'Grady have been supporting together.

In June 2018, Holden was photographed underwater by Zena Holloway. She posed as a mermaid in an awareness campaign for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to highlight the "disgusting treatment" of orcas at SeaWorld.

In 2020, Holden raised money for the National Health Service (NHS) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Personal life

In 1992, while they were both appearing in The Sound of Music, Holden dated George Asprey. She married the comedian Les Dennis in June 1995. The couple separated temporarily in 2000 after Holden's affair with actor Neil Morrissey, the subject of press interest, before separating permanently in December 2002 and divorcing in 2003.

In 2006, Holden gave birth to her first child, a daughter, conceived with her fiancé, record producer Chris Hughes. She married Hughes at Babington House, Somerset, on 10 December 2008 with former Formula One racing driver David Coulthard acting as best man. After a miscarriage in 2010, she suffered their son being stillborn at seven months in 2011. In 2012, despite medical complications, she gave birth to their second daughter. Holden and Hughes reside in Petersham, Surrey. Holden also owns a cottage in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire which she has been renovating since 2017.

In December 2016, Holden's ancestry was the subject of a BBC programme in the Who Do You Think You Are? series. The investigation discovered that her Cornish 5x great-grandfather, Collin Thomas, served a year's imprisonment after breaking his apprenticeship as a cordwainer by enlisting in the Royal Navy and leaving the United Kingdom aged 15. Ten years later, while serving in the British Army after the Peninsular War, he met and married a French woman and began a family near Bordeaux, France, then moved his wife and eldest children back to Great Britain. Holden also learned that her grandfather, Frank Holden, a psychiatric nurse, was aboard the RMS Lancastria when it was bombed by the German Luftwaffe in June 1940 outside the port of Saint-Nazaire and sank with the loss of thousands of lives.

In 2010, Holden campaigned to keep a Sainsbury's supermarket out of Bishop's Waltham. Residents of her hometown then accused her of a double standard in November 2010 when she signed a deal to appear in advertisements for Tesco, another UK supermarket chain.

Holden is a fan of English Premier League football club Everton, attending home and away games when her schedule allows. She has been vegetarian since she was thirteen.

Filmography

As actress

Year Title Role Notes
1993 In Suspicious Circumstances Alice Meadows 1 episode
1994 EastEnders Carmen 4 episodes
1996 Intimate Relations Pamela Supporting role
1997 We Know Where You Live Various 12 episodes
The Bill Jane 1 episode
Thief Takers Camilla Barker
1998 Goodness Gracious Me Various 5 episodes
Jonathan Creek Petra 1 episode: "The Problem at Gallows Gate"
Hale and Pace Girl 2 1 episode
1998–2001 Kiss Me Kate Mel 22 episodes
1999–2001 The Grimleys Geraldine Titley
1999 Don't Go Breaking My Heart Nurse Supporting role
Smack the Pony Various 5 episodes
The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything Geordie's Girlfriend TV movie
2000 Happy Birthday Shakespeare Alice
2000–2001 Hearts and Bones Louise Stanley 13 episodes
2001 The Hunt Sarah Campbell TV movie
Now You See Her Jessica
2002 Celebs Debs Bloke 6 episodes
2002–2004 Cutting It Mia Bevan 13 episodes
2003 Ready When You Are, Mr. McGill Police Officer TV movie
2004 Mad About Alice Alice 6 episodes
French and Saunders Cordelia Lear 1 episode
Marple Lucy Eyelesbarrow 1 episode: "4.50 From Paddington"
2006–2008 Wild at Heart Sarah Trevanion 23 episodes
2009 Big Top Lizzie 6 episodes
2013 One Chance Amanda Holden Uncredited
2014 Pudsey the Dog: The Movie Sally the Dog (voice)
2017–2018 The Worst Witch Miss Pentangle 2 episodes
2018 The Keith and Paddy Picture Show Shop Assistant 1 episode
2019 Plebs Rufina
2021 The Holden Girls: Mandy and Myrtle Amanda Holden 1 series
2022 Neighbours Harriet Wallace 3 episodes

As herself

Year Title Role Notes
1991 Blind Date Contestant 1 episode
1998 Wish You Were Here...? Guest Presenter
2000 It's Only TV...but I Like It Guest
2000–2020 Loose Women 5 episodes
2001 SMTV Guest Presenter 1 episode
2001–2007 Richard & Judy Guest 4 episodes
2002 This Is Your Life 1 episode
2002–2003 Top of the Pops Guest Presenter 5 episodes
2003 The Kumars at No. 42 Guest 1 episode
Greasemania Presenter TV special
2003, 2007 Parkinson Guest 2 episodes
2004–2008 GMTV 5 episodes
2005, 2009 The Paul O'Grady Show 2 episodes
2007 The Dame Edna Treatment 1 episode
2007–present Britain's Got Talent Judge
2008 TV Burp Guest 1 episode
Celebrity Ding Dong
Gordon Ramsay: Cookalong Live! Sous Chef TV special
2009 Celebrating the Carpenters Co-presenter With Ronan Keating
Out of My Depth Presenter Documentary
Hell's Kitchen Guest 2 episodes
Angela and Friends 1 episode
Bookaboo 1 episode: "That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown"
2009–2010 The Early Show Guest Presenter 3 episodes
2009–2014 The Sun Military Awards Presenter TV special
2009–2016 Alan Carr: Chatty Man Guest 5 episodes
2009–2020 The One Show Guest Presenter
2010 Amanda Holden's Fantasy Lives Presenter
The Children's Champions Awards
The Door Co-presenter With Chris Tarrant
2010–2015 The Graham Norton Show Guest 4 episodes
2010–2019 A League of their Own Presenter
2011 The Nation's Favourite Bee Gees Song TV special
2012 Superstar 1 series
The Talent Show Story Guest 4 episodes
2012–2020 Lorraine Guest Presenter 9 episodes
2013–2017 Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway Guest Announcer 7 episodes
2014 Deal or No Deal Celebrity Contestant Celebrity edition; 1 episode
Dispatches: Exposing Hospital Heartache Presenter TV documentray
2014–2015, 2017-2018 This Morning Co-presenter With Phillip Schofield, Ben Shephard and Rylan Clark
2015 Give a Pet a Home Presenter 1 series
Text Santa TV special
The Dog Rescuers with Alan Davies Guest 1 episode
Jamie & Jimmy's Friday Night Feast
2016 Who Do You Think You Are? TV documentary
I've Got Something To Tell You Presenter 1 series
2018 Child of Mine Narrator TV documentray
2019 Britain's Got Talent: The Champions Judge 1 series
Shopping with Keith Lemon Guest 1 episode
Blockbusters Contestant
Celebrity Juice Panellist 3 episodes
2021 DNA Journey Guest TV documentary
Musicals: The Greatest Show TV special
Eurovision Song Contest 2021 UK Spokesperson Annual programme
2021–2022 I Can See Your Voice Judge 2 series
2022 Britain's Got Talent: The Ultimate Magician TV special
2023 Amanda and Alan's Italian Job Co-presenter Co-star with Alan Carr
Sing for the King: The Search for the Coronation Choir Celebrity Mentor With Gareth Malone, Motsi Mabuse & Rose Ayling-Ellis

Television advertisements

Year Advert Role Notes
2001 PETA Herself
2010 News of the World
2010–2012 Tesco
2012–2014 Danone Oykos
2015–2016 Alpen
2021–present J D Williams

Theatre

Year Title Role Theatre/company
1994 Arsenic and Old Lace Elaine Harper Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
1996-1997 Aladdin Princess Jasmine Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield
1998 The Importance of Being Earnest Cecily Cardew UK tour
1999 The Sound of Music Liesl Von Trapp Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth
2003-2004 Thoroughly Modern Millie Millie Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
2011 Shrek the Musical Princess Fiona
2016 Stepping Out Vera UK tour
Cinderella Fairy Godmother London Palladium

Radio

Year Programme Channel Notes
2019–present Heart UK Breakfast with Jamie and Amanda Heart Weekday mornings

Discography

Albums

  • Songs from My Heart (2020)

Singles

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Amanda Holden para niños

kids search engine
Amanda Holden Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.