Actresses

Jane Lynch is currently best known as the vile cheerleading coach, Sue Sylvester, in the hit FOX series Glee. You'll also know her from her appearance in the Steve Carell movie, The 40-Year Old Virgin and a recurring role as Dr. Linda Freeman in the Charlie Sheen sitcom Two and a Half Men.

Biography/Timeline

1960 - Born Jane Lynch on 14 July 1960 in Dolton, Illinois.

1993 - Appears in the Harrison Ford movie, The Fugitive, a role which convinced her to relocate to Los Angeles.

1998 - Wrote and starred in the play Oh Sister, My Sister which was originally produced in 1998.

2000 - Catches the eye of director Christopher Guest during a commercial shoot and is cast in his film, Best In Show as a lesbian dog handler.

Billie Piper (real name Lianne Paul Piper) is a former British pop singer who later carved out a successful career as an actress thanks to starring roles in Doctor Who and the ITV2 drama Secret Diary Of A Call Girl.

Biography / Timeline

1982 - Born on 22 September in Swindon, Wiltshire to parents Paul Piper and Mandy Kent. Initially registered as Lianne, her name was changed to Billie three weeks later.

1998 - Launches a solo pop career as "Billie", going to Number 1 with her first two singles, Because We Want To and Girlfriend. Wins the Smash Hits Princess Of Pop award in the same year.

Lea Michele is an American singer and actress, currently best known for her portrayal of Rachel Berry in the high school comedy-drama Glee. She is also a well-known Broadway actress, especially her starring role as Wendla Bergman in Spring Awakening.

Biography / Timeline

1986 - Born Lea Michele Sarfati on 29 August 1986 in The Bronx, New York.

1995 - Made her Broadway debut in the role of Young Cosette in the original production of Les Miserables.

2000 - Takes on the role of Wendla in Spring Awakening.

2006 - Spring Awakening debuts on Broadway with Michele in the role of Wendla Bergman.

2009 - Pilot episode of Glee airs in America on 19 May 2009, with Michele as one of the lead characters, Rachel Berry.

Katie McGrath is an Irish actress who is best known for her portrayal of Morgana in the BBC series, Merlin.

Born in Dublin, Ireland, McGrath holds a degree in history obtained from Trinity College in Dublin. After college, she persued her ambition to work in fashion journalism and worked on Image magazine before taking a job as a wardrobe assistant on the set of The Tudors.

On the advice of producers on the set of The Tudors, McGrath decided to move into acting and was given a small role on the series.

Prior to getting the role of Morgana in Merlin, she appeared in films Eden and Freakdog. She is due to appear as a young Princess Margaret in a five-part documentary about the life of Queen Elizabeth.

Angel Coulby is a British actress, born in 1980, best known for her role as serving girl Guinevere in the BBC fantasy drama series Merlin.

Coulby grew up in Finsbury Park in London and went on to studt drama at Queen Elizabeth College in Edinburgh. She received her first break in television in the Johnny Vaughan series 'Orrible and went on to appear in shows such as Holby City and The Visit.

Coulby also had a small role in the Doctor Who episode The Girl In The Fireplace in 2006.

Summer Glau is an American actress and dancer best known for her television roles as River Tam in Firefly and the terminatrix Cameron in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Biography

Summer Glau was born on 24 July 1981 in San Antonio, Texas. Her parents were of Scots-Irish and German descent and Glau has two younger sisters,

In her youth, Summer was a professional ballet dancer, which meant that she was home-schooled from Grades 3 – 12. A foot injury put her ballet career on hold and she did some work on television commercials before deciding to pursue acting work instead.

Karen Gillan is a Scottish actress recently announced by the BBC to be playing the role of companion in the fifth series of Doctor Who. Gillan had previously been noticed by Doctor Who producers when she appeared in a series four episode, The Fires Of Pompeii. She will star alongside eleventh Doctor Matt Smith.

Biography

Gillan grew up in Inverness, Scotland and developed a love for acting very early on, attending several youth theatre groups and taking part in a wide range of productions at her school, Charleston Academy.

At the age of 16, Karen decided she wanted to pursue her acting career further and a year later secured a place at the prestigious Italia Conti academy in London. During her first year she landed a role in Rebus and soon appeared in a variety of programmes including Channel 4's Stacked and The Kevin Bishop Show. Karen also stars in the forthcoming film Outcast starring James Nesbitt.

Amanda Louise Holden is a British actress who is best known for her roles in television series' such as Wild At Heart and Cutting It. She is also a judge on the ITV talent show, Britain's Got Talent alongside Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan.

Biography

Holden was born on 16 February 1971 in Southsea, Hampshire. She joined a local theatre company at the age of nine and went on to study drama at A Level when the family moved to Bournemouth at the age of 16.

At the age of 18, Holden enroled in the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London.

She has had a number of television roles since 1994, including a part on EastEnders and Goodness Gracious Me. However, she's best known for her roles in the BBC drama series Cutting It and ITV's Wild At Heart more recently.

In 1995, Holden married the comedian Les Dennis, but the marriage broke down in 2002 and they divorced the following year.

She entered into a new relationship with record producer Chris Hughes and the couple had their first child, Alexa "Lexi" Louise Florence on 20 January 2006. The couple married in December 2008.

Useful links

• Official website

Yvonne Strahovski is an Australian actress best known for her role in the NBC spy comedy, Chuck. She changed the spelling of her surname from Strzechowski in order to make it easier to pronounce.

Strahovski was born on 30 July 1982 in Marouba, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. She is a graduate of the University of Western Sydney's renouned Theatre Nepean, becoming a Bachelor of Arts in Performance in 2003.

Strahovski moved to Los Angeles in February 2007 and auditioned for the role of Agent Walker in Chuck. She also auditioned for a lead role in the movie The Canyon opposite Eion Bailey. She won both roles.

Useful links

• Strahotski.com: A fansite for Yvonne Strahovski.

Eliza Dushku is an American actress who has appeared in a number of movies and television series throughout her career. She is best known for her role as Faith in Buffy The Vampire Slayer and its spin-off series, Angel. She currently stars in and is credited as producer on the Joss Whedon series, Dollhouse.

Biography

Dushku was born on 30 December 1980 in Watertown, Massachusetts. Her father, Peter, is Albanian American and her mother is Judith. She has three older brothers, Aaron, Banjamin and Nathaniel.

In her early career, she made movie appearances in films such as This Boy's Life with Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio and the action movie, True Lies, alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis.

She briefly stopped acting in order to complete high school. After high school, she was accepted to George Washington University, but instead took on the role of the slayer Faith in Buffy The Vampire Slayer.