Tamzin Outhwaite
Outhwaite in 2015
Born	Tamzin Maria Outhwaite (1970-11-05)5 November 1970 (age 54) Ilford, London, England
Occupations	Actress presenter narrator
Years active	1989–present
Spouse	Tom Ellis ​ ​ (m. 2006; div. 2014)​
Children	2
Awards	British Soap Award - Sexiest Female (1999, 2000) National Television Award – Most Popular Newcomer (1999)

Tamzin Maria Outhwaite (/ˈaʊθweɪt/; born 5 November 1970) is an English actress, presenter and narrator. Since playing the role ofMel Owen in theBBC soap operaEastEnders, she has starred in a number of theatre and television productions, including army seriesRed Cap and crime dramaNew Tricks.Tamzin Outhwaite played Rebecca Mitchell, the general manager of the five-star hotel Babylon, in the BBC drama seriesHotel Babylon. She appeared in the first two series of the show, which ran from 2006–2009.

The only daughter of Anna (née Santi) and Colin Frank Outhwaite, born in Ilford, Essex, Outhwaite has two younger brothers. She was educated atTrinity Catholic High School, Woodford Green. Her mother is ofItalian heritage.^[1] Her maternal great grandfather and his eldest son were born inBarga,Italy, and became naturalised British citizens in 1957, living first inGlasgow,Scotland, and then settling inFishburn,England running anice cream business.^[2]

Outhwaite attended the Stagestruck Theatre Company as a teenager, taking part in several productions during the mid-1980s. While at school, she studied part-time atSylvia Young Theatre School,^[3] and on leaving school in 1987, she joined theLondon Studio Centre to study drama and dance.^[4]

On graduation from the London Studio Centre she started her career in the theatre, taking roles in productions includingGrease andOliver!, and work at theStephen Joseph Theatre, before landing bit parts in television seriesThe Bill andMen Behaving Badly.^[5]

She found national fame in 1998 when she was cast asMel Healy in the popular BBC soap operaEastEnders. Her first appearance was aired in October 1998 and her final one was in April 2002. During nearly four years inWalford, Outhwaite's character was central to many storylines. Outhwaite leftEastEnders in 2002, shortly after the departure from the soap of co-starMartin Kemp, who had played her on-screen husbandSteve Owen.^[6]

She stated in 2006 that she would not rule out returning toEastEnders^[7] and her return was confirmed on 24 October 2017.^[8] Outhwaite departed the soap for a second and final time in November 2019, when Mel was killed off.

In 2007, Outhwaite appeared in a revival ofBoeing Boeing at theComedy Theatre, as well as the filmCassandra's Dream, which first premiered in June.^[9] In March 2008, she had a role in the ITV drama seriesThe Fixer.^[10] In 2009, she played the lead in the sci-fi crime series for theBBC entitledParadox,^[11] which first aired on BBC One on 24 November 2009. In 2010, she appeared inOver the Rainbow, a talent show casting forAndrew Lloyd Webber's stage production ofThe Wizard of Oz.^[12] That same year, she was a member of the judging panel on the UK television programmeDon't Stop Believing broadcast onChannel 5.^[13]

In July 2013, Outhwaite joined the cast of the popular BBC One comedy-drama seriesNew Tricks as DCI Sasha Miller, replacingAmanda Redman as head of the team in the show. Outhwaite had earlier appeared in series 9, episode 6 of the show, guest-starring as a different character who is brought to justice at the end of the episode.^[14] In March 2016, Outhwaite was cast to play Teresa Phillips in a revival ofAlan Ayckbourn'sHow the Other Half Loves at theTheatre Royal, Haymarket.^[15] Outhwaite has done introductory segments oftrue crime episodes of NBC'sDateline for British television audiences.^[16] In May 2020, Outhwaite played Indie Hendricks inDun Breedin, a project byJulie Graham about women who are going through themenopause during lockdown due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. Because of this, her scenes were filmed at her own house.^[17] The episodes were uploaded toYouTube weekly.^[18]

In 2021, Outhwaite appeared onThe Masked Dancer, masked as Scarecrow. She was unmasked in the final and finished in fourth place.^[19]

Outhwaite resides in London. From 2006 to 2014, she was married to Welsh actorTom Ellis, with whom she has two daughters. In 2013 the pair separated and Outhwaite had filed for divorce^[20][21][22] which was finalised in April 2014.^[23]

Outhwaite is cousin toHolly Willoughby's husband, Dan Baldwin.^[24][25]

Outhwaite acts as an ambassador for thePark Theatre in theFinsbury Park area of London.^[26]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toTamzin Outhwaite.

• Tamzin Outhwaite atIMDb

• 1970 births
• 20th-century English actresses
• 21st-century English actresses
• Alumni of the Sylvia Young Theatre School
• English film actresses
• English musical theatre actresses
• English television actresses
• English people of Italian descent
• English stage actresses
• English soap opera actresses
• Living people
• Actors from the London Borough of Redbridge
• Actresses from London
• People from Ilford

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use British English from February 2020
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