Denise van Outen
Denise van Outen (born May 27, 1974, Basildon, Essex) is an English television presenter and actress. Her most notable roles to date were as a presenter on The Big Breakfast, and as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago on both the West End and on Broadway.
Biography
Born as Denise Outen in Basildon, Essex, her father is a security guard and her mother is a child carer. Denise is the youngest of three siblings; her sister is a doctor’s assistant and her brother is a hairdresser.
At the age of seven she began modelling for knitting patterns, and showed an early flair for performing. This resulted in her attending the Sylvia Young Theatre School. As a student, she appeared in the chorus of Les Misérables with fellow Sylvia Young student Melanie Blatt, and then as Eponine - the role paid her school fees; the Anthony Newley directed production of Stop the World - I Want to Get Off, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Early career
As a teenager she had brief roles on a number of television dramas including Kappatoo, when her stage name was Denise Douglas. She also sang in a “girl group”, by which time she had become Denise van Outen. She also did backing vocals with Melanie Blatt for the band Dreadzone.
Success was not forthcoming, and she turned to being a glamour model (which included one topless shoot for a lads mag). Van Outen has retained her distinct looks, being voted both Rear of the Year in 1999, and top of a poll to find the most desired “bikini body” in a 2007 poll of readers of Grazia magazine.
Acting career
During her first stint on the Big Breakfast show, she appeared as Jill in a racy TV version of the pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk. However, she wanted to further develop her acting career, so she left The Big Breakfast at the end of 1998. In 1999 she appeared on several episodes of The Bill and The Young Person’s Guide To Becoming A Rockstar, the BBC’s Murder in Mind short series of crime dramas, and on Babes in the Wood with Karl Howman and Samantha Janus.
Van Outen has also appeared in film, initially as Maureen in the crime comedy Love, Honour and Obey. She also had a cameo tease as red head Alex, a slut, in the low-key Tube Tales in one of the four separate short films, based on the London Underground. Other directors included Ewan McGregor, Jude Law and Jarvis Cocker; while her part in “Horny” was directed by Lost In Space director Stephen Hopkins. Most recently, Van Outen has played a small role in the Romantic Comedy Are You Ready For Love?
She first played Roxie Hart on the stage in the hit musical Chicago at the Adelphi Theatre in the West End in April 2001. Her run proved a hit with theatre-goers, selling out for the entire 20 weeks. Unknown in the United States, she reprised her role on Broadway for five weeks in the spring of 2002, before returning to the show’s London version in late April 2002. Late the same year, Van Outen appeared as one of many special guest stars in a performance of The Play What I Wrote once again in London’s West End.
In 2003, she returned to the London stage at the Gielgud Theatre in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s one-woman show Tell Me On A Sunday, which he reworked for her. She was a huge success and the show ran for nearly a year before embarking on a 10-month UK tour in 2004. She then joined the cast of the established ITV sentimental drama Where the Heart Is as one of the lead characters, playing single mother Kim Blakeney, but stayed for only one series.
Van Outen played Maureen in the 2007 London revival of RENT until December 22, when the role was taken over by former EastEnders actress Jessie Wallace. Van Outen was forced to cancel some performances due to a throat infection.
Personal life
Van Outen’s personal life has been subjected to the sharp glare of the British tabloid media. In the early 1990s, she had a relationship with glam rock star Gary Glitter, who would later achieve notoriety for sexual abuse of children. In 1997, Van Outen dated Dodgy guitarist Andy Miller. From 1998 to 2001, she dated Jamiroquai lead singer Jay Kay. They were reported to be on the verge of marriage, but split up in 2001 - his album “A Funk Odyssey” is mostly about their break-up, with the song “Little L” expressing his fight against cocaine addiction during their break up.
From 2003 she dated lap dance club owner Richard Traviss, but split up with him in May 2005 due to his infidelity, moving out of the Marylebone home they shared and back into her own garden flat in Hampstead, North London. After appearing on Channel 4’s “The Friday Night Project” and describing her first real kiss with fellow “Sylvia Young” student James Lance, he got in touch and they shared a short romance in 2007. As of November 2007, she has been dating Any Dream Will Do winner, Lee Mead, who is eight years younger than her. She has a house in Hove.
Van Outen has lent her support to design limited edition T-shirts or vests for the ‘Little Tee Campaign’ for Breast Cancer Care which donates money for breast cancer research.
Discography
- 2003: “Tell Me On A Sunday” (Original cast recording)
- 2002: “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You” (With Andy Williams)
- 1999: “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)” - from the ABBAMania compilation album
- 1998: “Especially for You” - shown as Denise & Johnny (a cover of the Kylie Minogue & Jason Donovan song of the same name)
- 1995: “All I Want” (with Those 2 Girls)
- 1994: “Wanna Make You Go… Uuh!” (with Those 2 Girls)
Filmography (selected)
Films
- One Careful Owner (2008)
Are You Ready for Love? (2006)
Love, Honour and Obey (2000)
Television
- Fairy Tales (2008)
Where the Heart Is (2005-2006)
French and Saunders (2004)
Murder in Mind (2001)
How Much Do You Love Me? (2000)
Tube Tales (1999)
Babes in the Wood (1998-1999)
The Bill (1998)
The Young Person’s Guide to Becoming a Rock Star (1998)
Jack and the Beanstalk (1998)
Kappatoo (1990)
Crossbow (1989)