Jacqueline Leonard

Early life

Jacqueline Leonard was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, UK. She was a pupil at Greenlands High School in Blackpool. Leonard trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and was the winner of the Michael Warre Award for Best Actress in 1988.

Career

Leonard has been appearing on British television since the early 1990s. She has had roles in May to December in 1992, A Time to Dance in 1992, Inspector Morse in 1993 and Peak Practice 1993 to 1996, where she played Sarah Preston for four series. Following this she was cast as Lorraine Wicks in the BBC soap opera EastEnders from which she played the role from 1996 to 1997. She took a year off work when she left EastEnders to move from London to Lancashire and care for her sick mother.

Leonard subsequently appeared in television series including Doctors where she played one of the original characters Dr. Caroline Powers from 2000 to 2001, Nice Guy Eddie (2002), Holby City (2003), The Bill (2004), The Courtroom (2004), Goldplated (2006) and Hollyoaks (2007), Holby City (2010). In 2007, Leonard joined the cast of Scottish soap opera River City playing Lydia Murdoch. Her film credits include Chaplin (1992), ID (1995), There's Only One Jimmy Grimble (1999) and The Wicker Tree (2011). On stage she has appeared in Look Back in Anger, The Taming of the Shrew,A Midsummer Night's Dream, A Clockwork Orange, Wuthering Heights and Behind the Green Curtain.

In 2011, Leonard auditioned and was shortlisted for the role of Stella Price in Coronation Street but lost out to former EastEnders actress Michelle Collins.

In 2014, it was announced that she was joining the cast as Linda Hancock, the ex-wife of established character Owen Armstrong and mother of Katie Armstrong and Izzy Armstrong. She made her first appearance in February 2015.