Our little firework
Strictly Rose’s rise from shy schoolgirl to TV superstardom
THIS time last year Rose AylingEllis was making history as the first deaf actress in EastEnders and now she’s doing the same again as the first deaf contestant in the Strictly Come Dancing final.
Her story has been described as “aweinspiring”, “remarkable” and “inspirational” but to those who have known the feisty 27-year-old the longest there was never a doubt she would hit the big time.
Indeed their little “firework” has never let anything stand in her way and being part of the deaf community is a badge she has always worn with pride.
Rose and partner Giovanni Pernice, 31, will take on AJ Odudu and Kai Widdrington and John Whaite and Johannes Radebe in Saturday’s final.
And now, in a two-part series, friends, mentors and teachers reveal just how she got there from her childhood by the seaside with single mum Donna to her big break on EastEnders.
Family friend Margaret McLaughlan, 83, lived next door to the Aylings since Rose was a baby and remembers when the smiling schoolgirl would call for her granddaughter, eager to go out and play.
Now that same smile beams at Margaret from a magazine cover given pride of place in the front room of her terraced house, in Hythe, Kent.
“I bought this copy especially and will make sure I keep it,” she said. “I’ve known her since she moved in with her mum next door when she was a baby. I remember her mum coming over to me all excited, saying she was glad that there was another little girl around here for her to play with.
“They ended up as friends and still are.”
Margaret used to wave each morning as Rose caught a taxi to school.
“She has grown up to be a very confident young lady. And her mum is lovely,” said Margaret. “Rose is an adventurous young girl and has never let being deaf hold her back. I used to watch her on Casualty. She didn’t have a big part but it was lovely to see her on TV. Now I watch Strictly every week just to see Rose. I’ll be rooting for her to win.”
Rose and elder brother Jacob moved into the four-bed end-ofterrace home with their mum Donna, who, it is understood, had already separated from their dad. Donna worked in a nearby vet’s office. Rose has
Rose is an inspiration and won the hearts of a nation DAMIAN McBEATH FORMER HEADTEACHER
said her mother felt “so alone” when she found her daughter was deaf as a toddler, but the family faced up to the challenges and remained close. Pictures posted by Jacob online reveal he doted on his sister – with one showing the pair playing at the beach. Another shows Rose “meditating”, as she jokes she was a “hippy child” finding her “inner peace”. Rose attended Hythe’s Cheriton Primary School, which boasted a specialist deaf unit. By the time Rose started secondary at The John Wallis Church of England Academy, she was excelling academically and socially, and was
so popular she was voted deputy head girl. It was when the school recently congratulated Rose on her Strictly couple’s choice dance routine Symphony – an ode to deafness, danced partly in silence – that teachers revealed their nickname for her: “Our little firework.”
Head Damian McBeath said: “Rose has won the hearts of the nation and is an inspiration to everyone, especially our pupils. We hope to see Rose dancing in the final.”
Other teachers described her as “hard-working”, “enthusiastic” and “very popular with other pupils”.
Despite doing well in her GCSEs, getting four A*, six Bs and two Cs, Rose wanted to embark on a creative career – she just didn’t know what.
Acting did not seem a possibility as she was too nervous to perform in school productions. Yet when she was 15, Donna signed her up for a filmmaking workshop in London with the National Deaf Children’s Society, which boosted her confidence. In 2018 Rose said: “My amazing mum encouraged me to go. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. At the time I was quite shy at school so I had never got involved with any performing.
“The thought of getting up on stage in front of the whole school made me feel physically sick. However in the privacy of my own home, I was always the one who would put on a show and entertain the family. Through performance I found a way to communicate and express my feelings visually. And the filming weekend was where I found a belief in myself.” It was also where she met deaf director Ted Evans who, two years later, cast her in his acclaimed short film The End, about a backlash to a “cure” for deafness. She “fell in love with acting” but saw it only as a hobby because of a lack of deaf actors on TV. She added: “It never occurred to me I could make a living from it.”
Rose balanced being part of London’s Deafinitely Youth Theatre group with studying art and design at the University of Creative Arts, Rochester.
Among her pals there was Morgaine Cron, 27, the granddaughter of neighbour Margaret she knew as a child. “Rose is full of life and energetic about everything,” Morgaine said. “I’ve been watching Strictly and telling her how well she’s doing. She is quite modest.”
The actress promotes sign language on Strictly but Morgaine says she is also a “very good” lip reader, adding: “You’d never really know she was deaf.”
After uni, Rose began dating her boyfriend of seven years, Samuel Arnold, and they soon realised they had more in common than being deaf.
Bidding goodbye to the seaside, she moved in with him and his family in Harrow, Gtr London.
It was there that her career really blossomed...