Billie Piper

Profession: Actress
Place/Date of Birth: Swindon, England, 22 September 2020
Associated with: Chris Evans

Billie’s husband Chris Evans is said to have approved the scenes, saying: "That’ll be fun." Fun for who exactly?

Biography

Billie Piper was born September 22 1982 and propelled into stardom at the young age of 15.

Her fame began when she became the youngest female solo artist ever to debut at number one in the UK charts, with the feisty ’Because We Want To’ in the summer of 1998. Three months later she repeated the feat with the follow-up ’Girlfriend’, a slower R&B-tingle tune, which proved that this was one pop baby who could sing. In October 1998, the platinum-selling album ’Honey To The B’ took Billie’s career a step on and silenced the cynics who had said her success was sure to be short lived.

Throughout 1999 she took a step out of the limelight to work on her second album, whilst playing house with Five singer Ritchie Neville. Then in early 2000 Billie made her comeback with the single ’Day & Night’, an up-tempo song that hit the top of the charts.

Accompanying this comeback was a total image overhaul that offered up a far raunchy and overtly sexy individual. However, still in her late teens, the new image created quite a lot of press, and not all of it good, launching the debate as to whether it was suitable for young girls to copy her style.

Billie’s rock’n’roll lifestyle continued at great apace with a stalker, suspected drugs issues and her eventual marriage to, 16 years her senior, Chris Evans. The relationship that followed saw Billie’s demise from the public eye and the couple became more famous for their extreme partying, which as well as costing Chris his job at Virgin, also saw Billie flounder about with seemingly not much to do other than get drunk.

In 2003 she returned to her roots and polished her acting skills in the sunny climes of Los Angeles. On her return to the UK she quickly earned roles in television and film productions, her first being The Canterbury Tales that stunned viewers and changed their perception of her from a young pop princess to that of professional actress.

She later appeared in The Calcium Kid, Spirit Trap, Much Ado About Nothing, The Ruby in the Smoke and Mansfield Park, however it was her character Rose Tyler that awarded her the most acclaim.

In 2004 Billie signed to work on the new series of Doctor Who, as sidekick and companion of the good Doctor. She won Most Popular Actress category 2005 and 2006 for her work on the series, alongside Best Actress at the TV Quick and TV Choice Awards 2006 and Breakthrough Award at the Southbank Show Awards 2006, however on June 15, 2006, it was announced by the BBC that she was to depart in the final episode of the second series.

In October 2004 Billie and Chris began a trial separation that was to end in divorce, however the couple remain close friends, living just two houses away in the desirable Belsize Park area on London.

read more on Chris Evans

October 2007