Ruby O'Donnell | |
|---|---|
 O'Donnell in 2023 | |
| Born | Ruby Victoria O'Donnell 26 October 2000 Warrington, England |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 2013–present |
| Television | Hollyoaks |
Ruby Victoria O'Donnell (born 26 October 2000) is an English actress. Since 2013, O'Donnell has portrayed the role of Peri Lomax in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks . For her portrayal of Peri, she won the award for Best Young Actor at the 2016 British Soap Awards.
O'Donnell was born in Warrington and grew up in Appleton. She has two brothers. [1] She attended Grappenhall Heys Primary School and then Bridgewater High School. She took acting classes at Little Stars Stage School. [2] [3] [4] From 2019 to 2023, O'Donnell was in a relationship with professional rugby player Sam Halsall. [5]
In September 2013, it was announced that O'Donnell had been cast in Hollyoaks as Peri Lomax, the youngest child of the newly established Lomax family. [6] Of the family's arrival, executive producer Bryan Kirkwood commented: "I was conscious of the fact that Ste was languishing on his own with no family around him. I'm eager to bring in a strong female force." [7] On 23 November 2014, it was announced that O'Donnell's character would be involved in a teen pregnancy storyline alongside character Tom Cunningham (Ellis Hollins). The storyline was devised as an effort to promote safe sex. [8] On the storyline, O'Donnell said "Some of the scenes have been hard to tackle because I am still quite young and I've had to do a lot of research for them. I am younger than Peri, as she is just turning 15 and I’m only 14 myself. So I’ve done the research to help with my performances and to find out how teenagers actually do react in these situations." She also said, "When I was first told about the story, I was nervous and didn’t know what to expect, but then I had a lot of meetings about it with the show’s executive producer Bryan Kirkwood, the storyliners and the other producers. They explained it to me and made me feel a lot more comfortable about it. Now I’ve got into it, I’m very excited about the storyline and I’m really enjoying doing it." [9] For her role as Peri, O'Donnell has been nominated twice in the Inside Soap Awards in 2014 [10] and 2015. [11] In August 2017, O'Donnell was longlisted for Best Young Actor at the Inside Soap Awards [12] however she did not progress to the shortlist. [13] O'Donnell has also been nominated for Best-On Screen partnership with Ellis Hollins, and was also nominated for Best Young Performance in 2015 and Best Young Actress at The British Soap Awards in 2016. [14] O'Donnell's character has since developed a relationship with Juliet Nightingale (Niamh Blackshaw), for which the pair received a nomination for Best Soap Partnership at the I Talk Telly Awards. [15]
| Year | Organisation | Award | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Inside Soap Awards | Best Young Actor | Peri Lomax in Hollyoaks | Nominated |
| 2015 | Inside Soap Awards | Best Young Actor | Nominated | |
| British Soap Awards | Best Young Performance | Nominated | ||
| British Soap Awards | Best On-Screen Partnership (with Ellis Hollins) | Peri Lomax and Tom Cunningham in Hollyoaks | Nominated | |
| 2016 | British Soap Awards | Best Young Performer | Peri Lomax in Hollyoaks | Won |
| 2017 | Inside Soap Awards | Best Young Actor | Nominated | |
| 2018 | Inside Soap Awards | Best Young Actor | Nominated | |
| 2021 | I Talk Telly Awards | Best Soap Partnership (with Niamh Blackshaw) | Peri Lomax and Juliet Nightingale in Hollyoaks | Nominated |
| 2023 | Inside Soap Awards | Best Partnership [16] (with Blackshaw) | Nominated |
Ellis Hollins is an English actor. He is known for portraying the role of Tom Cunningham in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks. In 2006, he appeared in Alpha Male, a family film released in the United Kingdom.
Lucy-Jo Hudson is an English actress, known for her roles as Katy Harris in Coronation Street, Rosie Trevanion in Wild at Heart and Donna-Marie Quinn in Hollyoaks. Her role as Rhiannon Davis in Doctors earned her the British Soap Award for Villain of the Year in 2017.
Harvey Virdi is a British actress of Indian descent. She Trained at Academy Drama School in London.
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.
Ste Hay is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Kieron Richardson. He debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 10 February 2006. Ste was created by David Hanson and was originally intended to be a short-term character for seven episodes. The following series producer Bryan Kirkwood decided to bring the character back on a permanent basis. As of 2010, Richardson has revealed that he is committed to staying in the serial. In April 2017, Richardson began taking hiatus from the show due to paternity leave, and made a full-time return on 18 December 2017. In October 2019, it was confirmed that Richardson will take a hiatus from the show departing on 20 November 2019. He returned on 3 November 2020.
Patrick Blake is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Jeremy Sheffield. He made his first screen appearance on 21 November 2012. The character's introduction to the serial and Sheffield's casting were announced on 7 October 2012. Patrick is introduced as the biological father of established character Dodger Savage. It was announced in December 2023 that Patrick would be returning to Hollyoaks in an unknown capacity.
Sienna Blake is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Anna Passey. The character made her first appearance on 21 November 2012 and was introduced as the estranged twin sister of established character Dodger Savage, along with her father Patrick Blake. Emily Lawrance was originally selected for the role, however Passey replaced her within weeks and only she has appeared on-screen as Sienna. The character has had a daughter, Nico, with Dodger, and twins Sebastian and Sophie with Warren Fox, an affair with Darren Osborne, a marriage with Ben Bradley, an affair with Trevor Royle who was later killed by Nico, a relationship with her half-sister Liberty Savage's former boyfriend Brody Hudson, and been diagnosed with cervical cancer while pregnant. Passey took a short break from the show in early 2020 and was absent between 17 January and 30 March.
Peri Lomax is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks. She is played by Ruby O'Donnell, who made her first screen appearance on 4 October 2013.
Nadine Rose Mulkerrin is an English actress, known for portraying the role of Cleo McQueen in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks from 2015 until 2022. For her portrayal of Cleo, she has been nominated for Best Female Dramatic Performance at the British Soap Awards three times.
Nico Blake is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Persephone Swales-Dawson. The character made her first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 6 June 2014. The character and casting was announced on 20 May 2014. Nico is the daughter and niece of established twins characters Dodger Savage and Sienna Blake, the adoptive daughter of Sienna's boyfriend Ben Bradley, and the granddaughter of Sienna and Dodger's parents Patrick Blake and Anna Blake and the niece of their half-brother Will Savage and their half-sisters Liberty Savage and Minnie Minniver, and a half-sister and cousin of Dodger's daughter Myra-Pocahontas Savage-McQueen.
Bhavna Jayanty Limbachia is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Alia Khan in the BBC comedy Citizen Khan (2012–2016) and Rana Habeeb in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street (2016–2019).
Scott Drinkwell is a fictional character from the British soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Ross Adams. The character made his first appearance on 27 April 2015. Producers asked Adams to audition for the role while he was working as a script editor on rival soap opera Emmerdale. The actor forgot his lines during his screen test but was still offered the role. The character was billed as a "troublesome new relative" joining the show's established O'Connor family. He is the cousin of Sinead O'Connor and nephew to Diane O'Connor. Executive producer Bryan Kirkwood introduced the character to cause conflict with other characters.
Tony David Clay is an English actor. He is known for portraying the role of Callum "Halfway" Highway in the BBC soap opera EastEnders since 2018. Prior to his tenure on EastEnders, Clay appeared in various stage productions and had minor roles in British films and programmes.
Sid Sumner is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Billy Price, who made his first appearance on 9 May 2019. He is introduced as the son of recurring character Stuart Sumner and joins several established characters when he beings to attend Hollyoaks High. He initially appears as part of the show's high profile far-right extremism storyline in a guest role, but was promoted to a series regular after it concluded when the producers began to plot a year-long county lines drug trafficking storyline. He made an unannounced departure on 7 October 2022.
Cher McQueen is a fictional character from the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Bethannie Hare. Cher is introduced as the estranged daughter of Sylver McQueen and is welcomed into the established McQueen family unit. Hare described her character as someone with attitude and strong family values, likening Cher to other McQueens on the soap. Portraying the role of Cher is Hare's first professional acting role and she admitted that she was initially nervous to join the cast of Hollyoaks, but accredited her co-stars with easing her nerves. She made her debut appearance as Cher on 1 June 2020. Her storylines in the seriew have included the revelation that she killed her younger sister, her tumultuous relationship with her stepmother Mercedes McQueen, her romantic relationship with Romeo Nightingale, learning that Romeo and Mercedes have been having an affair, a suicide attempt due to feeling isolated, and dealing with the death of her father Sylver in an explosion.
Juliet Nightingale is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Niamh Blackshaw. Hollyoaks announced the character and Blackshaw's casting on 4 September 2018, with the character making her first appearance as Juliet on 21 November 2018. Juliet was introduced as the half-sister of Romeo Nightingale and the daughter of Donna-Marie Quinn and was brought into the soap as part of the decision to expand their family. Juliet is later revealed to be Mac Nightingale's daughter. The shock twist links her to the established Nightingale family, especially Marnie, who she forms a close bond with. Juliet is initially shown to be an aggressive and harsh character, with an initial storyline seeing her bully Brooke Hathaway due to seeing them as an easy target. However, throughout her tenure, her vulnerable and emotional personality has been explored.
Niamh Kate Blackshaw is an English actress. She made her television debut in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street (2017) as Lara Cutler. She then played Juliet Nightingale in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks (2018–2023), for which she was nominated for Best Leading Performer at the British Soap Awards.
