10 Facts About… Diane Parish (Eastenders’ Denise)

lnsidesoap YOUR BRIEFING ON THE WOMAN BEHIND EASTENDERS’ DENISE…

1While she’s a star of Eastenders, Diane Parish was in fact born in west London, on 1 November 1969 – recently celebrating her 49th birthday. The actress has two daughters: 13-yearold Kenya, and Kaya, who’s nearly 11. Among her hidden talents is the ability to play the clarinet!

3Diane previously appeared

in Walford in 1998, playing singer Lola Christie – the girlfriend of Mick Mcfarlane, who managed the night café. “I cut my teeth doing theatre, playing to audiences of 150 and then going home,” she recalls. “It was a shock coming into a big TV show and I wasn’t sure if I was ready. Eastenders was different back then. There was a spotlight on anyone in it – some actors were akin to pop stars. It’s calmer now.”

2Diane rocked up in Eastenders in May 2006 as

Denise Fox, a single mother to her daughters, Chelsea and Libby. Since then, her storylines have seen her endure domestic violence at the hands of Owen Turner, marry Kevin Wicks, be imprisoned by Lucas Johnson – who faked her death – date Ian Beale, and have a son with Phil Mitchell after a one-night stand.

4However, Diane first found telly fame back in 1993 when she starred opposite Ian Mcshane in the hit comedy drama Lovejoy. She’s also starred in countless theatre productions – including playing Cordelia in King Lear in 1994, and replacing Naomie Harris in The Vagina Monologues in the mid-noughties.

5Having spent much of her life in the world of showbiz, Diane is wary of the focus

on body image – and bans “body shaming” words in her house. “I have strong feelings about that,” she told Loose Women in October. “What matters is in here [your brain], and what comes out of here [your mouth]!”

6 Diane has also spent a bit of time in the police force! In 2002, she joined The Bill as DC Eva

Sharpe, and played out plots including Eva’s daughter going missing and her feud with DI Neil Manson. Diane also played Eva in spin-off series Murder

Investigation Team. One of the actress’ biggest achievements in TV was through her role in BBC2 drama Babyfather. She starred alongside her future

Eastenders cast mates

Tameka Empson (Kim) and

Don Gilet (Lucas Johnson), and won the Royal Television Society award for Best Actress.

7 Back in 2014, Diane appeared on game show All Star Family

Fortunes. Her team consisted of one of her older brothers, Don, two of her cousins and her niece.

They competed against Westlife’s Brian Mcfadden and his family – but unfortunately, the Parish family lost by 99 points!

8

Diane is actually

tiny! She stands at only 5ft 3in, but she explains how that’s a good thing. “I like being a short person,” she grins. “People don’t expect big things from you and then they’re surprised when they meet you. There’s a saying in Jamaica, ‘Wi likkle but wi tallawah’, which means ‘Don’t underestimate me’.”

9 Diane has spoken out about being a black actor in

the industry. “The responsibility goes beyond being black,” she says. “It’s being a woman, being a mother, being all those sorts of things.” Diane added that she’s pleased Eastenders took her on as a regular. “It’s a privileged position to be working constantly as a black actor – because there isn’t that much work out there.”

10 Diane is extremely close to her Walford sister, Tameka, aka

Kim – who first appeared in 2009 before becoming a regular in 2010. “We don’t even have to say things to each other sometimes!” chuckles Diane. “We just know what the other’s going to do. We’re very similar people as well, apart from that I’m sane! We have a great laugh. And we’re pretty much sisters in real life as well as on screen.”