| Alison Newman | |
|---|---|
| Born | 25 January 1968 Bournemouth, United Kingdom |
Alison Newman (born 25 January 1968) is a British actress, best known for her role in the hit ITV1 television series Footballers' Wives as Hazel Bailey.
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Alison Newman was born in Bournemouth, Hampshire (now Dorset). She has one sister called Sarah. Both her parents were school teachers who encouraged her to take up acting as a hobby, but discouraged her from attending stage school when she was younger, a decision she subsequently agreed was probably sensible. Instead she joined the National Youth Theatre when she was 16.[1] Her father died in October 2002, while she was filming the second series of Footballers' Wives. The producers allowed her leave of absence from filming some of her last scenes in the series finale so she could be with her family.
Despite studying drama at Manchester University, Alison Newman did not work as an actress for almost ten years after graduating. She says that she hated the experience of being at drama school and lost her confidence.[1] During this time, she worked in a variety of professions, including publishing, catering, barwork and spent a number of years working in the music industry.
She returned to acting when she was almost 30 after being offered a part in a play written by Anthony Neilson, with whom she had previously worked as an assistant director. This was followed by a role playing a psychotic serial killer in Touching Evil III (1999) with Robson Green (whom she would later appear with in RocketMan), and the film Butterfly Collectors (1999), alongside Pete Postlethwaite.
In 2002, Newman was cast in the role of ruthless lesbian football agent, and later club chair, Hazel Bailey in Footballers Wives. Newman was allegedly awarded the role on the strength of a two-episode guest appearance in the series Bad Girls, in which she played Renee Williams who set out to secure revenge on arch nemesis Top Dog Yvonne Atkins (Linda Henry). Both programmes were made by Shed Productions. The part of Hazel Bailey required Newman to have her naturally blonde hair dyed red. Newman left the show at the end of series 4, when her character decided to return to sports representation, after becoming romantically involved with a professional tennis player. During the filming of Footballers Wives, she struck up a friendship with co-star Zöe Lucker, who played superbitch Tanya Turner.
Other television credits include: The Bill (2000), Great Expectations (2000), Holby City (2003), Hex (2004), Open Wide (2005), Casualty (2006) and Doctors (2006). In 2008, she appeared as Lynette Hopkins in Rock Rivals, another Shed Productions drama for ITV1, and later that year she appeared as Detective Inspector Samantha Keeble in several episodes of the BBC soap EastEnders.[2] In Autumn 2010 she appeared in the spoof docu-drama Trinny and Susannah: From Boom to Bust. Her most recent television appearance was in March 2011, when she appeared in the new BBC legal drama Silk. Other television roles include: Favouritism: Boy George's Queerest TV Moments, GMTV, This Morning, The Paul O'Grady Show, plus guest appearances on the panel of Loose Women for ITV, and The Wright Stuff for Five.
Newman has appeared in the films: The Prince and the Pauper (2000), Ashes and Sand (2002) and Kidulthood (2006).
Her theatre career has included: The Tempest for the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester; Electronic Dark Age at the Edinburgh Festival; The Censor and The Lying Kind, both by Anthony Neilson and performed at the Royal Court Theatre London; Vagina Monologues (UK Tour and West End); Loveplay by Moira Buffini; Luminosity by Nick Stafford; Night of the Soul by David Farr and The Big Lie by Anthony Neilson, all for the RSC. In 2008, she appeared in The Long Road by Shelagh Stephenson at the Soho Theatre, London. Between February and March 2010, Alison appeared in Two Women, by Martina Cole at the Theatre Royal Stratford East.
Alison Newman married her partner, a graphic designer, on 13 November 2010. They live in London.