Heather Peace

Heather Peace (born 16 June 1975, Bradford, Yorkshire) is an English actress and musician. She is perhaps best known for her role as Sally 'Gracie' Fields in London's Burning from 1998 to 2002, also known for playing Nikki Boston in BBC 1's Waterloo Road

Early life

Peace was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Peace decided to be an actress at an early age and credits her parents for the encouragement they gave her to achieve that goal.^[1] She studied acting at Manchester Metropolitan University, where she obtained a BA (Hons).

Career

Peace's break into television came when she joined Emmerdale playing the character Anne Cullen from 1996 to 1997.

Her first professional stage role was in the 1997 Harrogate Theatre production of My Fair Lady playing Eliza Doolittle. She subsequently has played Miranda in Shakespeare's The Tempest and the same character in the actor/musician spoof Return to the Forbidden Planet.^[2]

After leaving Emmerdale, Peace took parts in The Bill and Dangerfield, before being cast as the only female fire fighter, Sally "Gracie" Fields, in the ITV1 series London's Burning from 1998 to 2002.^[3] During this time, Peace made a TV movie called Thunder Road, in which she played Sonia.

Between 2003 and 2005, Peace played minor roles in television series including Casualty and Where the Heart Is. She then played Special Air Service Trooper Becca Gallagher in the 2005 series Ultimate Force alongside Ross Kemp. She then starred in Kay Mellor's TV series The Chase as single mum Fiona Jones.

She then starred in television series including Coronation Street, Heartbeat and Holby City. She also starred in the film 31 North 62 East as Jill and Kimberly Mandelson. In 2008, Peace appeared as the secretly abusing wife in the "Private Sins" episode of Blue.Murder.

In 2010, Peace was cast as Detective Sergeant Sam Murray in the groundbreaking BBC Three TV series Lip Service, written by Harriet Braun about the loves and lives of group of aged-30-something lesbians in Glasgow, Scotland. The only openly lesbian cast member, filming of the second series finished in July 2011 with a transmission date of Spring 2012.^[4]

In 2011, Peace was cast as Head of English, Nikki Boston before being appointed Deputy Headteacher in 2013 for the BBC One school-drama Waterloo Road.^[5] Following a tour of her début album, returned to the series for the second part of Series 8. She also featured in Series 9 which screened on BBC One on September 2013. She is due to take another break from Waterloo Road at the end of series 9 Spring Term but has hinted that she may return in Series 11

Singing career

Peace has been playing piano since she was six years old, and guitar since her teens. Peace has said she would give up acting for music if the situation arose.^[6]

In a 2000 episode of London's Burning, Peace's character sang a version of the Bette Midler classic The Rose. Subsequently released by BMG, it reached no. 56 in the UK charts. She decided to put her music career on hold to concentrate on acting but in 2011 she reignited her love of music with her first sell out UK tour and release of an acoustic album of covers and some original songs.

She recorded her full debut jazz album Fairytales with producer Nigel Wright.^[7] Following release on 21 May 2012, it achieved number 43 in the UK Albums Chart and number 9 in the independent albums chart, supported by a UK tour.

In 2013 she released a new single, a Jack Guy remix of "Fight For" available on iTunes, and a special edition of her debut album "Fairytales". She toured Australia for the first time including a performance at the Sydney Mardis Gras.

Personal life

Peace is a patron of Manchester Pride, the Diversity Role Models charity, and has recorded a video for Stonewall's It Gets Better campaign.^[8] In 2010 she was number 40 on the Independent on Sunday's Pink List, but shot to number 10 in 2011.^[9] She was also voted number 18 on US website afterellen.com's 2011 Hot 100 list. She is also the only woman to have ever appeared twice on the cover of Diva Magazine in the space of six months.^[10] Peace came out to her mum when she was 19 years old, just after her first girlfriend broke up with her. In diva magazine she said she came out to her mum saying "I'm telling you because I'm going to fuck up my whole course" as she met her ex-girlfriend in her acting course In Manchester. She later found Ellie saying she is the love of my life. Peace married her longtime love Ellie in 2013.^[11]

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

• Heather Peace at the Internet Movie Database
• Official website
• Official YouTube channel