{"id":336537,"date":"2011-03-24T21:51:33","date_gmt":"2011-03-24T21:51:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/03\/24\/sheridan-smith-calls-herself-a-scrubber-from-doncaster-but-she-is-the-queen-of-theatreland\/"},"modified":"2011-03-24T21:51:33","modified_gmt":"2011-03-24T21:51:33","slug":"sheridan-smith-calls-herself-a-scrubber-from-doncaster-but-she-is-the-queen-of-theatreland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/24\/sheridan-smith-calls-herself-a-scrubber-from-doncaster-but-she-is-the-queen-of-theatreland\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheridan Smith calls herself ‘a scrubber from Doncaster’ but she is the queen of theatreland"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n<\/p>\n

\nBy
\nAlison Boshoff<\/a>
Last updated at 9:51 PM on 24th March 2011<\/p>\n

Has there ever been an acceptance speech quite like it? Sheridan Smith, a tiny blonde bombshell with a helium personality, beamed ecstatically at the cream of the theatre world, gathered in Drury Lane. <\/p>\n

Then, accepting her best actress Olivier award last week, she exclaimed: \u2018I don\u2019t think I deserve to be here. I\u2019m just a complete scrubber from Donny Doncaster. I\u2019m just blagging it.\u2019<\/p>\n

The award was for her performance as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, the show based on the hit movie about a dizzy Californian blonde going to law school.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Rising star: Sheridan has wowed critics and audiences with her performances<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\"Moving<\/p>\n

Moving on: Since Sheridan split with her ex-love James Corden, seen here in 2009, her career has flourished<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It was regarded as lowbrow by some theatrical types, but people flocked to see it in the theatre and its feelgood fun attracted more than \u00a32 million in advance bookings. Better still, there were standing ovations every night \u2014 a star was born.<\/p>\n

Talent, charm and sheer focus have since made Sheridan, 29, one of the names who can open a West End show; she was the only actress in The Stage\u2019s list of the most influential people in the business.<\/p>\n

Not bad for a woman who didn\u2019t go to drama school and doesn\u2019t regard herself as a \u2018proper musical theatre actress\u2019. <\/p>\n

\u2018I always feel like a bit of a fraud, but so far I\u2019ve not been found out,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not happened by accident. During her run in Legally Blonde, Sheridan spent up to an hour a night outside the stage door, signing autographs for as many as 250 people a show.<\/p>\n

She communicates incessantly with her Twitter followers (her \u2018Twit fam\u2019) and last\u00a0 week she apologised for only posting a dozen times, as she\u2019d had so many thank-you messages to respond to. <\/p>\n

So, what is the truth about her rise to fame? For this overnight success has been an awfully long time coming \u2014 13 years, in fact.<\/p>\n

Along the way, she has roomed with defunct pop stars, struggled in bit parts, suffered at least one false dawn and lost a famous boyfriend \u2014 James Corden.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Born in Epworth, a village between Doncaster and Scunthorpe, she is a \u2018country bumpkin\u2019 who likes to escape from her flat in Crouch End, North London, and head back up North whenever possible.<\/p>\n

Her parents, Colin and Marilyn, are in a country and western band, The Daltons, while her brother Damian, 34, plays in rock band The Torn. Smith, not embarrassed by her parents\u2019 musical taste, wants to go to Dolly Parton\u2019s theme park, Dollywood, for her 30th next year.<\/p>\n

\n\"Blonde<\/p>\n

Blonde Ambition: Sheridan had rave reviews for her performance in Legally Blonde, receiving standing ovations nearly every night<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

After seeing her family perform she, too, sought the spotlight and joined the National Youth Music Theatre as a teenager. By the time Sheridan was 16 she was living in London with Hannah Spearritt from S Club 7 and three other friends, surviving on jam sandwiches while playing Tallulah in Bugsy Malone. She says: \u2018I was terrified of slinking back to the village, my tail between my legs.\u2019<\/p>\n

After Bugsy, she was cast in Into The Woods at the Donmar in London\u2019s Covent Garden. She was 17 and tipped for stardom, but it wasn\u2019t to be. Hailed The One To Watch in 1999, she ended the year as obscure as she had started it. <\/p>\n

Then came a role in The Royle Family, as Our Anthony\u2019s girlfriend. Though well-received, she was being pigeon-holed. \u2018Chavs and slappers are a speciality,\u2019 she told an interviewer. <\/p>\n

Parts followed as Smithy\u2019s sister in Gavin And Stacey, as Jonathan Creek\u2019s assistant and in Benidorm and Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet of Crisps.<\/p>\n

Then Sheridan made her return to the stage, eight years after Into The Woods, in Little Shop Of Horrors. She earned an Olivier nomination and this was her lucky break. <\/p>\n

She performed at the 2008 awards and director Jerry Mitchell, who had just opened Legally Blonde on Broadway, saw her. In the bar afterwards, he told her: \u2018You are going to be my Elle Woods.\u2019<\/p>\n

To keep up with the demands of the role \u2014 18 songs and 16 costume changes a night \u2014 Sheridan gave up drinking and smoking. It was a lonely time and her romance with James Corden ended. <\/p>\n

To cheer her up, on the opening night her parents and coachloads of Yorkshire pals came to watch, her dad walking the aisles in a pink T-shirt reading: \u2018I\u2019m the Daddy.\u2019<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s family have always been close and were further bonded when her brother Julian died of cancer when he was 18 and she was eight.<\/p>\n

\u2018Julian would spend time lying on the couch and I\u2019d do little shows for him,\u2019 she recalls. \u2018It made me want to make the most of every opportunity. I\u2019ve seen how fragile life is.\u2019<\/p>\n

After Legally Blonde, Sheridan was in demand and while she was on holiday director Trevor Nunn offered her the role of barmaid Doris in Flare Path. She accepted and is outshining her co-star, Sienna Miller.<\/p>\n

For a while her personal life was flourishing, too. Last year, she began dating hunky Band Of Brothers actor Ross McCall, who was previously engaged to Hollywood actress Jennifer Love Hewitt. The pair had been friends for ten years before dating. She said at the time: \u2018He\u2019s great: handsome, kind, charming and he makes me laugh.\u2019 <\/p>\n

Now, though, she is apparently single again and has just completed her first movie, Hysteria, with Maggie Gyllenhaal, in which she plays a prostitute \u2014 the film is a comedy about the invention of the vibrator.<\/p>\n

Her next project is tipped to be a stage version of Bridget Jones\u2019s Diary, with songs written by Lily Allen.<\/p>\n

Sheridan relates to the role: \u2018I\u2019m always wearing Spanx, eating ice cream and feeling a bit lonely. Bridget makes an a*se of herself and I\u2019m totally like that.\u2019<\/p>\n

However, the newly-crowned queen of theatreland does admit her huge success makes such comparisons a bit silly. <\/p>\n

\u2018I didn\u2019t expect to last in London for three months even and I\u2019m still here. <\/p>\n

\u2018What a great 13 years!\u2019<\/p>\n

For Flare Path tickets, call the Theatre Royal Haymarket box office on 0845 481 1870 or visit trh.co.uk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Read the rest here:
\nSheridan Smith calls herself ‘a scrubber from Doncaster’ but she is the queen of theatreland<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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