Francesca Henry | |
|---|---|
 Henry in 2023 | |
| Born | Francesca Eloise Henry March 1995 (age 29) Waltham Forest, London, England |
| Education | |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 2018–present |
| Television | |
Francesca Eloise Henry (born March 1995) is an English actress. She began her career appearing in various television and stage shows including Doctors , A Discovery of Witches and Silent Witness , before being cast in the BBC soap opera EastEnders as Gina Knight in 2023.
Francesca Eloise Henry was born in March 1995 in Waltham Forest, London, and attended Forest School, Walthamstow. [1] She began studying MA Acting at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in 2017.
Henry made her acting debut appearing as PC Alice Brody in the BBC medical soap opera Doctors . [2] Henry made her stage debut in the play The Wolves . [3] [4] She has appeared in various other productions, with her roles including Emily Webb in Our Town , [5] Ashley in Germ Free Adolescent, [6] The Letters Project, [7] Honey in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? [8] and Rosencrantz in Hamlet . [9] In 2022, Henry appeared in the recurring role of Celine in A Discovery of Witches . She also portrayed Nix Greaves in the Amazon Prime series Chelsea Detectives and Charlie Jarrett in an episode of the twenty-first series of Silent Witness. [10] The same year, she made her film debut in 2.0 Lucy, in which she played the role of Alyssa. [11]
In 2023, Henry was cast in the BBC soap opera EastEnders as Gina Knight. Her character is the eldest daughter in the Knight family, who were introduced as new owners of the fictional Queen Vic pub. [12] She made her on-screen debut on 1 June 2023 alongside the character's on-screen father George (Colin Salmon) and younger sister Anna (Molly Rainford). Henry described Gina as "spiky" and said that she "sees kindness in everyone and wants to be more like her sister Anna, but finds it hard to meet the world in an open-hearted way." [13] [14]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Doctors | PC Alice Brady | Episode: "The Rabbit Hole" | [2] |
| 2022 | A Discovery of Witches | Celine | 2 episodes | [1] |
| 2022 | The Chelsea Detective | Nix Greaves | Episode: "Mrs Romano" | [1] |
| 2022 | Silent Witness | Charlie Jarrett | Episode: "History – Part 4" | [10] |
| 2022 | 2.0 Lucy | Alyssa | Film role | [11] |
| 2023–present | EastEnders | Gina Knight | Regular role | [13] |
| Year | Title | Role | Venue | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | The Wolves | #2 | Theatre Royal Stratford East | [3] |
| 2019 | Our Town | Emily Webb | Regent's Park Open Air Theatre | [5] |
| 2019 | Germ Free Adolescent | Ashley | The Bunker | [6] |
| 2019 | The Letters Project | Unknown | Gate Theatre | [7] |
| 2020 | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | Honey | Tobacco Factory Theatre | [8] |
| 2022 | Hamlet | Rosencrantz | Shakespeare's Globe | [9] |
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | I Talk Telly Awards | Best Soap Newcomer | EastEnders | Nominated | [15] |
| 2023 | Digital Spy Reader Awards | Rising Star | EastEnders | Won | [16] |
| 2024 | RadioTimes.com Soap Awards | Best Newcomer | EastEnders | Pending | [17] |
Michelle Danielle Collins is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Cindy Beale in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, and has also appeared as Stella Price in ITV's Coronation Street. Her other notable TV roles include the BBC dramas Real Women (1998–1999), Sunburn (1999–2000) and Two Thousand Acres of Sky (2001–2003).
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Cindy Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Michelle Collins. She first appeared 10 May 1988 and originally departed on 27 December 1990, before returning as one of the show's central antagonists from 13 October 1992 until her exit episode on 10 April 1998; the character supposedly died off-screen during childbirth in prison on 5 November 1998. During her first stint on the show, Cindy embarked on a prolonged relationship with her would-be husband Ian Beale. Their marriage soon deteriorated, however, due to Cindy's selfish streak that shows the character becoming unfaithful to Ian and growing more concerned about her own needs than their own children. She lies and schemes to ensure that she gets what she wants.
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Sally Julia Dexter is an English actress of stage and screen. She won the 1987 Olivier Award for Most Promising Newcomer for Dalliance. Her other West End stage credits include the musicals Oliver! (1994), Sister Act (2010) and Billy Elliot the Musical (2013). Her television credits include the ITV soap operas Night and Day (2001–2003) and Emmerdale.
Tameka Lydia Empson is an English actress and comedian. She appeared as one of the three protagonists in the hidden-camera comedy sketch show 3 Non-Blondes. In 2009, she began portraying the role of Kim Fox in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.
Rita Joanne Simons is an English actress and singer. She is best known for portraying the role of Roxy Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders from 2007 to 2017, when her character was killed off, alongside her on screen character's sister Ronnie Mitchell. For her performance on the show Simons received many accolades, including the 2008 National Television Award for Most Popular Newcomer.
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Danielle Amy Harold is an English actress and Producer, Harold Hill Productions. She rose to prominence playing Lola Pearce-Brown in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Her portrayal of Lola's glioblastoma brain tumour storyline, that ultimately resulted in the character's death, earned her a win at the National Television Awards for Serial Drama Performance and three nominations at the British Soap Awards, of which she won Best Leading Performer, as well as a TRIC award for Soap Actor and the Inside Soap award for Best Actress. Following her exit from the soap, she became a contestant on the twenty-third series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.
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Molly Anne Rainford is an English actress, singer and television presenter. She was a finalist on the sixth series of Britain's Got Talent in 2012 and was one of the presenters on Friday Download between 2014 and 2015. She has since released two extended plays and has gone on to portray the titular character in the CBBC comedy drama series Nova Jones from 2021 onwards. In 2022, Rainford competed in the twentieth series of Strictly Come Dancing; she reached the final and finished as a runner-up. In 2023, she was cast in the BBC soap opera EastEnders as Anna Knight, as well as continuing to release music.
Anna Knight is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Molly Rainford. Anna first appears in episode 6708, originally broadcast on 1 June 2023, introduced alongside the Knight family. The newcomer family consisted of youngest daughter Anna, "fiery" and "demanding" older-sister Gina and "old-school gent" and "charming rogue" father George, all set to join Elaine Peacock in running The Queen Victoria public house, alongside Elaine's daughter Linda Carter, who is struggling to cope following the loss of her husband Mick on Christmas Day 2022. Rainford's casting was initially reported on 1 March 2023 – speculated until the production team for EastEnders confirmed the family were set to join the show on 28 March 2023. The character's backstory states that Anna's mother ran out on her family when Anna was only eleven. In a plot twist from episode 6719, originally broadcast on 21 June 2023, it was revealed Anna was in fact the daughter of Cindy Beale to facilitate Collins' "return from the dead", after she was killed-off in 1998 from an off-screen childbirth that resulted in the birth of Anna and Gina's older half-sister Cindy Jr. It was later revealed in a flashback episode Cindy did not walk out on Gina and Anna – Cindy received the news over the death of their other older half-sister, Lucy Beale in 2014, and returned to Albert Square – breaking her cover of witness protection that gained her the identity of "Rose Knight". Rainford did not initially know of the plot-twist – she found out within the same week it was transmitted. Rainford has also said she plans to become a "legacy character".