Denise Van Outen filming on Waterloo Bridge
Denise van Outen (born Denise
Outen on May
27, 1974) is
an English
television host and stage actress. Her most famous roles have been as a
presenter for The Big Breakfast
and as Roxie in the musical Chicago
on both West End and Broadway.
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Contents
- 1 Career
- 2 Personal
life
- 3 References
- 4 External
links
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Career
Van Outen was born Denise Outen in Basildon, Essex. (The "van"
was added later reputedly to give her name an interesting twist, and
also to acknowledge her Dutch roots.) She attended the Sylvia Young Theatre
School and as a youngster appeared in the chorus of Les Misérables.
Her initial stage name was Denise Douglas.
As a teenager she had brief roles on a number of television
dramas including Kappatoo. She joined The
Big Breakfast on Channel4 as a weather and travel reporter in
1996, and landed the main co-presenting role in 1997. It proved to be
her big breakthrough. Her cheeky 'Essex Girl' personality and sexy
clothing played off well against the quick wit of Johnny
Vaughan and together they recovered audience figures to record levels.
She took a break from presenting the show towards the end of
1998 but returned in 2000 for a further year-long stint in an attempt
to boost the ratings, which had tailed off following her departure.
In 1998 and 1999 she acted in episodes of The Bill and The
Young Person's Guide To Becoming A Rockstar and appeared in
the sitcom Babes in the Wood
alongside Karl
Howman and Samantha Janus. Earlier on, she
starred as Dorothy in a more adult version of The Wizard of Oz. The show's
reviews were on the poor side. A brighter spot was her role as Jill in
a racy TV version of the children's pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk.
Van Outen has also appeared in film; as Maureen in the crime
comedy Love, Honour and Obey
and also a cameo tease in the low-key Tube Tales-
in one of 4 separate short plays, based on the London Underground.
Van Outen first played Roxie Hart on the stage in the hit
musical Chicago at the Adelphi Theatre in the West End of
London in April
2001. The
marriage of a sexy show with the equally raunchy van Outen proved a hit
with theatre-goers, selling out for the entirety of her 20 week run.
Unknown in the United States, van Outen received rave reviews when she
reprised her role on Broadway for five weeks in the spring of 2002,
before returning to the show's London version in late April 2002.
In 2003,
she returned to the London stage at the Gielgud
Theatre in Andrew Lloyd Webber's one-woman
show Tell Me On A Sunday,
which he reworked for her. She was a huge success and the show ran for
nearly a year before embarking on a 10-month UK tour in 2004.
In mid-2005
van Outen co-presented ITV1's
This Morning
with Richard Bacon.
She then joined the cast of the established ITV sentimental drama Where the Heart Is
as one of the lead characters but stayed for only one series. She
hosted one show of The Friday Night Project
in January 2006.
In November 2006,
she hosted Sky
One's "The Race" - set at Silverstone Circuit - in which a
celebrity Girls Team headed by David Coulthard raced against a
celebrity Boys Team headed by Eddie Irvine.
In December 2006,
she hosted the National Lottery Christmas draw.
Van Outen had been set to present How Do You
Solve A Problem Like Maria? in 2006, a
programme searching for a girl to play the role of Maria
in The Sound of Music,
but pulled out of that in favour of seeking fame in America
. She presented NBC's
Grease: You're
the One that I Want!, a spin-off version of Maria,
which was presented, instead, by Irish comedian Graham
Norton
In 2007,
she joined John Barrowman the panel for BBC One's
spin-off from Maria,
Any Dream Will Do!,
again presented by Norton, which was casting Joseph in Joseph
and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
After viewers on 9 June 2007 voted Lee Mead as the winner of Any Dream Will Do!
- to play the role of Joseph in a revival at London's Adelphi
Theatre of Joseph
and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat van Outen
said: "From the very beginning right through to the very end,Lee has
been the most consistent out of all the contestants. He has the ability
to make even really popular songs his own and he has his own unique
style of performing. The next time he lands a role as a leading man,
can he put me forward to be the leading lady?" [1]
She has guested on The Charlotte Church Show,
on Channel
4, as a sidekick to Charlotte Church. She was
one of the judges at the Miss World pageant in Warsaw, Poland.
In July 2007, she appeared in a commercial advertising the
rebranding of Morrisons
supermarket.
Personal life
Van Outen's personal life has been subjected to the sharp
glare of the British tabloid media. She had a relationship with
convicted paedophile rock star Gary Glitter in the early
1990s.
Later that decade, she dated Jamiroquai
lead singer Jay
Kay. They were reported to be on the verge of marriage, but split up in
2001.
In 2003, she was reported to have been attached to lap dance
club owner Richard Traviss, but split up with him in May 2005 after
three years. She moved out of the Marylebone home they shared and into
her own flat in north London.
Van Outen has lent her support to design limited edition
T-shirts or vests for the 'Little Tee Campaign' for Breast
Cancer Care which donates money for breast
cancer research.
References
External links
