Letitia Dean

Letitia Dean: Biography in Details

Who is Letitia Dean?

Letitia Jane Dean is an English actress. She is well known for her role as Sharon Watts in the BBC serial opera EastEnders. She was an initial cast member from 1985 to 1995, returning from 2001 to 2006 and again beginning in 2012. In 2022, she was honoured with the British Soap Award for Outstanding Achievement for her performance.

Her other TV credits include Grange Hill (1983-1984), Brookside (1984), The Hello Girls (1996-1998), and Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married (1999-2000). In 2007, she finished fourth on the fifth season of the BBC dance competition Strictly Come Dancing. On stage, she appeared in the West End production of High School Musical in 2008 and the UK touring production of Calendar Girls in 2010.

 Letitia Dean: Bio, Age, Parents, Siblings, Ethnicity, Education

Dean was born in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire on November 14, 1967, to parents Leslie (a tailor) and Ellie Dean, in a home rented from the estate of English romantic author Barbara Cartland, known as Camfield Place. Dean has two older brothers.

She holds British nationality and belongs to a mixed ethnicity.

Dean’s family relocated to the north Buckinghamshire community of Stoke Goldington near Newport Pagnell when she was three years old.  She developed a passion for performing at a young age; she and her older brother Stephen attended the Sylvia Mitchell School of Dance and did a dance routine together on stage.

This eventually motivated Dean’s successful application to attend the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts at 10 years old, followed by the Sylvia Young Theatre School in Marylebone, London.

Letitia Dean: Professional life, Career

Dean’s professional career began at the age of 12 when she played Pepper in the musical Annie at London’s Victoria Palace Theatre. She is a trained vocalist who played Sandy, the lead female in the musical Grease, and she also performed with The Young Uns, a rock band that toured the country backing stage stars such as Bobby Davro and Tom O’Connor.

Between the ages of 13 and 17, Dean appeared in a variety of television shows, including Love Story, Tales Out Of School, the Matthew Kelly sitcom Relative Strangers, and Grange Hill, where she played a student named Lucinda Oliver (credited as Titia Dean), and the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside.

EastEnders

Dean auditioned to be one of the initial characters in BBC One’s new soap drama, EastEnders, in 1984 and was chosen for an interview based solely on a photograph. The makers of EastEnders, Tony Holland and Julia Smith, were seeking a “bouncy, attractive, oddly vulnerable young woman” to play Sharon Watts, and they considered that only Dean possessed all of those attributes. Dean lied about her origins to land the role.

Because the casting directors were only seeking genuine East End actors, she falsely stated that she was born and raised in Hackney, east London. The lie paid off, and she landed the role, thanks to her laugh, which Holland and Smith regarded as “the dirtiest in the world!”  She made her debut in the part in the show’s first episode on February 19, 1985.

Dean’s character Sharon, the unhappy and pampered adoptive daughter of landlords “Dirty” Den (Leslie Grantham) and Angie Watts (Anita Dobson), has become one of the serial’s most popular and enduring characters.

She appeared in one of the soap’s most popular storylines in 1994, a love triangle between Sharon, her husband Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp), and his brother Phil (Steve McFadden). The plot, dubbed “Sharongate,” earned the soap one of its biggest episode ratings in October 1994, with more than 25.3 million viewers.  Dean left the show in 1995 because he wanted to pursue other acting jobs.

During her first stay on EastEnders, she tried her hand at singing with her co-star Paul Medford (who portrayed Kelvin Carpenter). The BBC released The Banned, a song written for the two as part of an EastEnders plotline, as a single. The song “Something Outa Nothing” peaked at number 12 on the UK Singles Chart in November 1986.

Dean returned to EastEnders six years after leaving, playing Sharon from 2001 until 2006. In December 2004, the Sunday Mirror reported that executive producer Kathleen Hutchison offered to raise Dean’s salary from £150,000 to £300,000 per year to entice her to stay on the program, making her one of the top paid actresses in British soap operas.

Dean’s character exited the series again in January 2006. Her departure was announced in August 2005, and an official EastEnders press release stated that she was only taking a scheduled break and would return to set later in 2006  however, this did not occur, and in June 2006, the BBC denied press speculation that she would return to the series.

Producer Bryan Kirkwood stated in February 2012 that Dean would make a second appearance on EastEnders after a six-year absence. She returned on August 13, 2012, after fleeing her wedding to fiancé John Hewland with her sons, Dennis Rickman Jr. and Phil Mitchell. She, Gillian Taylforth, and Adam Woodyatt are the three remaining original cast members.

Other work.

Away from EastEnders. Dean has played a variety of roles in theatre and on television. She appeared in two seasons of the BBC drama The Hello Girls, set in a Derby telephone exchange in the 1960s; the medical dramas Casualty and Doctors; the ITV police drama The Bill; the romantic comedy Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married; and the Channel 4 satire Drop the Dead Donkey as a weather lady. She also appeared in the 1995 film England, My England, which portrayed the story of Henry Purcell, a musician and court composer.

On stage, she played Nurse Fay in Joe Orton’s comedic piece Loot, partnering with actor Michael Elphick.

Dean competed in the fifth season of the BBC celebrity dance show Strictly Come Dancing in 2007.

She was teamed with Darren Bennett, a professional dancer. Dean and Bennett were eliminated in the quarterfinals (week 10), one week before the semi-finals. Dean commented on her experience, saying, “It has been fantastic. I’d like to thank [Darren Bennett] for all of his patience, hard work, and injuries. “It has been wonderful.”

Dean was one of many celebrities who participated in the 2008 Strictly Come Dancing UK arena tour. The tour began in January 2008 and toured several venues around the UK, with all revenues benefiting the Children in Need charity.

In April 2008, it was reported that she would play Ms Darbus in the theatrical musical High School Musical. Dean said, “It’s a wonderful opportunity for me […]” It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done: doing an American accent and portraying this type of character. The production ran at London’s Hammersmith Apollo from June until August 31, 2008.

Dean published Letitia Dean’s Lean Routine, a fitness DVD in January 2009. The same year, she appeared in the theatre performance Calendar Girls as Cora (Miss July).

Letitia Dean: Net worth, Salary

Letitia Dean’s net worth at $8 million at the age of 56. She has accumulated most of her income from her successful career as an English singer, character actor, and actress.

Letitia Dean Rumours, Controversy

There is no record of her being involved in any rumours and buzzes.

Letitia Dean: Body features, Height, Weight

Her height, weight and body measurements are missing. Additionally, she has a fair skin complexion with dark blonde hair and brown pairs of beautiful eyes.

Social media

She is not active on any social networking sites as of 2024 her Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts are missing. If there is any detailed info provided about her social sites then it’ll be updated soon.

Also, read more about Sheri Kersch Schultz, Laura Pausini, and Phuwin Tangsakyuen

Letitia Dean's Birthday Dates