Post by SheWolf on Sept 3, 2005 15:31:01 GMT 1
From the news and star
Despite landing a plum role in one of the nation’s most-watched television shows, Roxanne Pallett is refreshingly still a Carlisle girl at heart.
“Famous? Me? I still pop to the Esso garage for some milk and Heat magazine on a Sunday morning,” says Emmerdale’s newest cast member.
Her big break as vampish receptionist Jo Stiles has transformed the 22-year-old from a young hopeful to the real deal.
She’s now chauffeur-driven from her plush Leeds hotel to work where she rubs shoulders with Patsy Kensit, and she spends her days off in a whirlwind of photoshoots, interviews and meetings.
But she remains unfazed by the attention. She’s simply living her dream.
“My first day on the Emmerdale set meeting the cast and crew was surreal but I wasn’t fazed by it because I’ve been preparing for something like this for years,” she says.
“Even when people patronised me or were critical, I knew it was possible.
“I looked up to people who had made it and thought ‘if they can do it why not me?’”
It’s taken Roxanne years of hard work and determination to get this far and she hasn’t stopped yet.
“Emmerdale is the break of a lifetime and I’d love to stay as long as my character allows,” she says, “but once you get a taste of it, you want it even more.
“I hope to follow in the footsteps of Catherine Zeta Jones. She was just a girl from Wales!”
With gruelling 12-hour shoots for the five-day-a-week soap and pages of lines to learn, life as a soap star isn’t as glamorous as it might appear.
“Even on my days off, I’m doing press interviews or photo shoots,” Roxanne says.
“It’s very busy. I’m looking for an apartment but I can’t fit two hours into my schedule to house hunt.
“I get driven to work and appointments and my time in the car is precious because it’s when I get to phone and text my friends and family.”
She occasionally finds time in her busy schedule to come home and usually arrives with a big bag of dirty washing for mum.
She loves catching up with friends at her favourite café, Celebrations (she loves the cakes), and has her nails done at the same salon she’s been going to for years.
The former Trinity School pupil’s tightly-knit group of family and friends are her rock and have been there during the highs and lows as she strove to carve out her career.
Long lost “friends” jumping on the showbiz bandwagon are given short shrift.
“I know the friends who have been there for me. I’m still the same Rox to them and always will be,” she says.
She also has the constant support of the man in her life, James, also from Carlisle, whom she calls ‘her hero’, and she credits her mother and grandmother with giving her the confidence to achieve her dream.
“I grew up with two strong women who treated me as an equal,” she says.
“We called ourselves the golden girls and would sing and dance around the kitchen.
“I did everything as a child, from gymnastics to the violin, and it was my mum who gave me the opportunity to try them all.
“She wasn’t a pageant mum who pushed me into things, but let me find my own way.”
From the age of 12, Roxanne knew her future lay in music and dancing. “I was a confident little girl but not an attention seeker,” she says.
“I was just comfortable in the spotlight.
“I was driven and would take school shows seriously while the others were having a laugh.
“One class mate wrote in my year book: ‘See you in Corrie or Eastenders.’
“When I was 16 I set myself a deadline of being where I wanted to be at 18. I’m still about two years behind.”
Roxanne did Media Studies at Liverpool John Moore’s University and graduated with a 2:2 in July. During her time at university, she began making in-roads into the showbiz world.
She formed a girl band, Urban Angel, with two friends and the group was offered record deals.
After they fell through, Roxanne branched out on her own and was signed to a music producer when she landed the role in Emmerdale.
But there were times when she thought she’d never get her chance.
“I’ve been told I’m too fat or not pretty enough in front of a room full of 30 people,” she says.
“I once forgot my sheet music at an audition in the West End and none of the girls would let me borrow theirs.
“I’ve travelled six hours on the train to London for three auditions and each one was over in 30 seconds.
“You’ve got to be thick-skinned and determined in this business.
“You need to get your face known and prove to people what you’re capable of.”
Roxanne eventually got her big break after building up a network of contacts through the music industry. She was recommended to a top London agent who took her on to her books in March.
Three months and 10 weeks of travelling to London four times a week for auditions later, and she had her dream part.
“When my agent phoned me, I remember thinking, ‘this is the moment I’ve dreamt about for six years’.
“I dropped the phone and called her back three times the next day to check it was true!”
She started getting fan mail before she arrived on set and is already being recognised in the supermarket.
“It’s crazy. I went to a football match a few days after my debut and a group of lads spotted me and started singing the Emmerdale tune.”
Tonight Roxanne gets the chance to show off her singing skills to millions of viewers in Disco Mania 2 where she joins the rest of the Emmerdale girls for a rendition of Car Wash.
The programme is hosted by Gloria Gaynor, and Roxanne shares the bill with Javine and Peter Andre. Typically, though, she wasn’t star struck.
“I wasn’t like ‘Oh my God, it’s Jordan’. It was more like ‘I wonder where she got those jeans that she wore in Hello last week...’.
“I go to work with people like Patsy Kensit every week – they’re doing the same job as me.
“I couldn’t believe I was sitting in a room with Peter Andre though. I had his sticker on my pencil case at school and I told him so!”
Disco Mania 2 is in on ITV1 at 9pm tonight.
Despite landing a plum role in one of the nation’s most-watched television shows, Roxanne Pallett is refreshingly still a Carlisle girl at heart.
“Famous? Me? I still pop to the Esso garage for some milk and Heat magazine on a Sunday morning,” says Emmerdale’s newest cast member.
Her big break as vampish receptionist Jo Stiles has transformed the 22-year-old from a young hopeful to the real deal.
She’s now chauffeur-driven from her plush Leeds hotel to work where she rubs shoulders with Patsy Kensit, and she spends her days off in a whirlwind of photoshoots, interviews and meetings.
But she remains unfazed by the attention. She’s simply living her dream.
“My first day on the Emmerdale set meeting the cast and crew was surreal but I wasn’t fazed by it because I’ve been preparing for something like this for years,” she says.
“Even when people patronised me or were critical, I knew it was possible.
“I looked up to people who had made it and thought ‘if they can do it why not me?’”
It’s taken Roxanne years of hard work and determination to get this far and she hasn’t stopped yet.
“Emmerdale is the break of a lifetime and I’d love to stay as long as my character allows,” she says, “but once you get a taste of it, you want it even more.
“I hope to follow in the footsteps of Catherine Zeta Jones. She was just a girl from Wales!”
With gruelling 12-hour shoots for the five-day-a-week soap and pages of lines to learn, life as a soap star isn’t as glamorous as it might appear.
“Even on my days off, I’m doing press interviews or photo shoots,” Roxanne says.
“It’s very busy. I’m looking for an apartment but I can’t fit two hours into my schedule to house hunt.
“I get driven to work and appointments and my time in the car is precious because it’s when I get to phone and text my friends and family.”
She occasionally finds time in her busy schedule to come home and usually arrives with a big bag of dirty washing for mum.
She loves catching up with friends at her favourite café, Celebrations (she loves the cakes), and has her nails done at the same salon she’s been going to for years.
The former Trinity School pupil’s tightly-knit group of family and friends are her rock and have been there during the highs and lows as she strove to carve out her career.
Long lost “friends” jumping on the showbiz bandwagon are given short shrift.
“I know the friends who have been there for me. I’m still the same Rox to them and always will be,” she says.
She also has the constant support of the man in her life, James, also from Carlisle, whom she calls ‘her hero’, and she credits her mother and grandmother with giving her the confidence to achieve her dream.
“I grew up with two strong women who treated me as an equal,” she says.
“We called ourselves the golden girls and would sing and dance around the kitchen.
“I did everything as a child, from gymnastics to the violin, and it was my mum who gave me the opportunity to try them all.
“She wasn’t a pageant mum who pushed me into things, but let me find my own way.”
From the age of 12, Roxanne knew her future lay in music and dancing. “I was a confident little girl but not an attention seeker,” she says.
“I was just comfortable in the spotlight.
“I was driven and would take school shows seriously while the others were having a laugh.
“One class mate wrote in my year book: ‘See you in Corrie or Eastenders.’
“When I was 16 I set myself a deadline of being where I wanted to be at 18. I’m still about two years behind.”
Roxanne did Media Studies at Liverpool John Moore’s University and graduated with a 2:2 in July. During her time at university, she began making in-roads into the showbiz world.
She formed a girl band, Urban Angel, with two friends and the group was offered record deals.
After they fell through, Roxanne branched out on her own and was signed to a music producer when she landed the role in Emmerdale.
But there were times when she thought she’d never get her chance.
“I’ve been told I’m too fat or not pretty enough in front of a room full of 30 people,” she says.
“I once forgot my sheet music at an audition in the West End and none of the girls would let me borrow theirs.
“I’ve travelled six hours on the train to London for three auditions and each one was over in 30 seconds.
“You’ve got to be thick-skinned and determined in this business.
“You need to get your face known and prove to people what you’re capable of.”
Roxanne eventually got her big break after building up a network of contacts through the music industry. She was recommended to a top London agent who took her on to her books in March.
Three months and 10 weeks of travelling to London four times a week for auditions later, and she had her dream part.
“When my agent phoned me, I remember thinking, ‘this is the moment I’ve dreamt about for six years’.
“I dropped the phone and called her back three times the next day to check it was true!”
She started getting fan mail before she arrived on set and is already being recognised in the supermarket.
“It’s crazy. I went to a football match a few days after my debut and a group of lads spotted me and started singing the Emmerdale tune.”
Tonight Roxanne gets the chance to show off her singing skills to millions of viewers in Disco Mania 2 where she joins the rest of the Emmerdale girls for a rendition of Car Wash.
The programme is hosted by Gloria Gaynor, and Roxanne shares the bill with Javine and Peter Andre. Typically, though, she wasn’t star struck.
“I wasn’t like ‘Oh my God, it’s Jordan’. It was more like ‘I wonder where she got those jeans that she wore in Hello last week...’.
“I go to work with people like Patsy Kensit every week – they’re doing the same job as me.
“I couldn’t believe I was sitting in a room with Peter Andre though. I had his sticker on my pencil case at school and I told him so!”
Disco Mania 2 is in on ITV1 at 9pm tonight.