SHE could also be an NTA winner and one of many UK’s largest cleaning soap stars proper now, however Danielle Harold didn’t attend a elaborate drama faculty or have contacts within the business.
The 31-year-old truly acquired her large break as Eastenders’ Lola Pearce because of tv chef Jamie Oliver – and now she’s set to look in one of many nation’s most-watched exhibits, I am A Superstar.
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Simply when she was about to be promoted to catering supervisor at her 9-5, Danielle was supplied a spot on the bare chef’s new TV enterprise, Jamie’s Dream College.
The present aired in 2011 as a seven-part documentary sequence following a bunch of youngsters who all had fewer than 5 GCSEs.
Jamie Oliver positioned them in a faculty the place they’d be taught by well-known faces who every had a specialist topic.
“Jamie’s Dream College was the proper alternative for me,” Danielle says.
“It confirmed me you could nonetheless excel in life, even in case you’re not academically sensible or have dropped out of mainstream faculty.
”Jamie Oliver left secondary faculty with solely two GCSEs, and look how amazingly nicely he’s ended up.
“Throughout filming, we acquired to go to 10 Downing Avenue and meet [then-Prime Minister] David Cameron and talk about altering how the faculty system is run, as a way to make it simpler for youths like us.”
Though unconventional, showing on the documentary was Danielle’s ticket into performing.
Most learn in I’m A Superstar
“I ended up on the trail into performing from that present,” she says.
”I acquired some performing lessons with a personal coach by way of the scholarship cash I obtained, which then led me to auditioning for EastEnders.”
Because of the present sparking her large break, Danielle now hopes to be a beacon of sunshine for different kids wanting to interrupt into the business.
“That’s why I all the time inform individuals who wish to break into performing to maintain going,” she says.
”When you have the eagerness and the expertise, you’ll get there.
“You don’t essentially must go to an enormous drama faculty to do it.”
Danielle all the time possessed a burning need to grow to be an actress however felt hopeless when she “fell by way of the college system”.
Danielle even bunked off her remaining efficiency for her drama GCSE after struggling stage fright.
Whereas working in her catering job, she attended open auditions looking for her large break.
“I don’t suppose I ever would have stopped, “ she says.
“Who is aware of if it might need labored out in another way, however I wouldn’t have given up.”
Danielle appeared as Eastenders’ Lola between 2011 and 2015, after which once more from 2019 to 2023.
Followers have been heartbroken when her character handed away in Might from a terminal mind tumour in a heartbreaking storyline.
Again in September, The Solar revealed that Danielle was in talks to look in I am A Celeb.
”Danielle is on the top of her profession and in demand after her transferring storyline on EastEnders, however she’s actually caught the attention of ITV bosses to look within the upcoming sequence of the jungle,” a telly supply mentioned.
”In addition to being a proficient actress with an enormous fanbase, Danielle has a enjoyable character with a depraved sense of humour, which makes her the best campmate for the present.”