Sylvia Young OBE (born 1939 in Hackney, London, England) [1] is the founder and principal of Sylvia Young Theatre School in London, England. [2]
Young founded her theatre school in 1981 in Drury Lane, London, before moving to its current Marylebone premises in 1983. [3] [4] The school is co-educational and provides a combination of academic and vocational classes for children aged 10 to 16 years. The academic curriculum encompasses GCSEs, while the vocational curriculum teaches acting, dance and music.
Many SYTS students have gone on to become successful in the performing arts world, including Amy Winehouse; Denise Van Outen; Billie Piper; former Spice Girl Emma Bunton; Alex Rider star Alex Pettyfer; Isabel Hodgins; Kara Tointon; Lacey Turner; McFly member Tom Fletcher; Busted bassist Matt Willis; The Saturdays member Vanessa White; and The Wanted member Nathan Sykes. [5] The film High School Musical 3 features an SYTS pupil, Jemma McKenzie-Brown. [6]
Young married Norman Ruffell in Hackney, London, in 1961 and has two children, actresses Frances Ruffelle and Alison Ruffelle. Young's granddaughter is pop singer Eliza Doolittle. [7]
She was the subject of This Is Your Life in December 1998 when she was surprised by Michael Aspel at the Sylvia Young Theatre School. [8]
Young was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2005 for her services to the arts. [9]
My Fair Lady is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play Pygmalion, with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins, a phonetician, so that she may pass as a lady. Despite his cynical nature and difficulty understanding women, Higgins grows attached to her.
Billie Paul Piper is an English actress and former singer. She initially gained recognition as a singer after releasing her debut single "Because We Want To" at age 15, which made her the youngest female singer to enter the UK Singles Chart at number one; her follow-up single "Girlfriend" also entered at number one. In 1998, Piper released her debut studio album, Honey to the B, which was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Her second studio album, Walk of Life, was released in 2000 and spawned her third number one single, "Day & Night". In 2003, Piper announced that she had ended her music career to focus on acting.
Pygmalion is a play by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, named after the Greek mythological figure. It premiered at the Hofburg Theatre in Vienna on 16 October 1913 and was first presented in German on stage to the public in 1913. Its English-language premiere took place at His Majesty's Theatre in the West End in April 1914 and starred Herbert Beerbohm Tree as phonetics professor Henry Higgins and Mrs Patrick Campbell as Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle.
Frances Ruffelle is an English musical theatre actress and singer. She won a Tony Award in 1987, and represented the United Kingdom in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Lonely Symphony ", finishing 10th. The song became a UK Top 30 hit.
Sylvia Young Theatre School is an independent school in Marble Arch, London, England. It is a specialist performing arts school named after its founder and principal, Sylvia Young OBE.
Laurence Paul Fox is an English actor, musician, broadcaster and political activist. A member of the entertainment industry's Fox family, he graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and debuted in the film The Hole (2001). His best known role is James Hathaway in the drama series Lewis (2006–2015). He has also released a studio album titled Holding Patterns (2016).
Kara Louise Tointon is an English actress, known for portraying the role of Dawn Swann in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. In 2010, she won the BBC competition series Strictly Come Dancing, and in 2015, she appeared as Maria in the ITV live production of The Sound of Music Live.
Laine Theatre Arts, sometimes referred to as Laines, is an independent performing arts college, based in the town of Epsom in Surrey, England. The college was founded in 1974 by former professional dancer and dance teacher Betty Laine OBE, and developed from an earlier school, the Frecker-Laine School of Dancing. It provides specialist vocational training in dance and musical theatre.
Secret Diary of a Call Girl is a British drama television series that aired from 27 September 2007 to 22 March 2011 on ITV2, based on the blog and books by the pseudonymous Belle de Jour. It stars Billie Piper as Belle, a high-end London call girl.
Nicholas Withycombe Garland OBE is a British political cartoonist. known for his numerous newspaper works, particularly for The Daily Telegraph.
The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London. The awards were originally known as the Society of West End Theatre Awards, but they were renamed in honour of the British actor of the same name in 1984.
Jemma McKenzie-Brown is an English actress and singer. She is known for her role as Tiara Gold in the 2008 film High School Musical 3: Senior Year.
Bradon Forest School is a mixed secondary school in Purton in Wiltshire, England. In September 2015 the school converted to academy status and is now part of the Athelstan Academy Trust, which also includes Malmesbury School in Malmesbury, The Dean Academy in Lydney, Sir William Romney's School, Tetbury and Chipping Sodbury School. The headteacher of Bradon Forest School is Sarah Haines.
Eliza Sophie Caird, better known by her stage name Eliza, is an English singer and songwriter from Westminster, London. After performing her music in live venues around London from the age of 15, Eliza signed to Parlophone in 2008.
Ceallach Spellman is an English actor and presenter best known for playing Matthew Williams in the revival of ITV drama Cold Feet, Harry Fisher in the BBC One school-based drama Waterloo Road from 2010 to 2011 and hosting Friday Download and various other programmes on CBBC.
Eliza Doolittle is a fictional character and the protagonist in George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion (1913) and its 1956 musical adaptation, My Fair Lady.
Stocksbridge High School is a mixed secondary school for 11 to 16-year-olds, in the town of Stocksbridge, South Yorkshire, England. In December 2017 the school gained Academy school status joining Minerva Learning Trust.
Urdang, previously known as The Urdang Academy, is a performing arts academy based in Islington, London. Founded as a ballet school by Leonie Urdang in 1970 and had been under the direction of CEO Solange Urdang from 2001 until August 2022, the academy now provides specialist vocational training in dance and musical theatre at Sixth Form, further and higher education level. It was acquired by City, University of London in April 2022.
Anna O'Byrne is an Australian actress and soprano singer best known for her portrayal of Christine Daaé in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera and the original Australian production of Lloyd Webber's sequel, Love Never Dies, for which she was nominated for a Green Room Award.
Mulberry UTC is a university technical college in Old Ford, London, which opened in September 2017. The school is part of the Mulberry Schools Trust, a multi-academy trust operating in Tower Hamlets.