Early life

Patsy Kensit was born on 4 March 1968 to James Henry Kensit (1915 - September 1987) and Margaret Rose Doohan (1935 - December 1993), a native of Ireland who died from breast cancer. Kensit has an elder brother, Jamie, born in 1963. Her mother was a publicist; her father was an associate of the notorious London gangsters the Kray twins. Nicknamed "Jimmy the Dip", he also reportedly worked for the rival Richardsons, running long firms for the gang. He served time in prison before Kensit was born; she believed he was an antiques dealer. Kensit's parents did not marry until 1986. Her paternal grandfather was a robber and counterfeiter. She attended Newland House School, St Catherine's School, Twickenham and Corona Theatre School.

Kensit is a practising Catholic, having begun attending church after her mother's death.

Career

Early work

In 1972, at the age of four, Kensit appeared in a television advert for Birds Eye frozen peas. She had her first big-screen role in the film For the Love of Ada. Her next film role was two years later in The Great Gatsby, in which she acted with Mia Farrow—whom she later portrayed in the 1995 biopic Love and Betrayal: The Mia Farrow Story. Kensit also appeared in a BBC mini series based on the famous historical novel Penmarric (1979).

As a pupil at the Italia Conti Academy stage school, Kensit's first starring roles were in British children's television programmes such as The Adventures of Pollyanna (1982) and Luna (in the title role). She also appeared as Estella in the 1981 BBC adaptation of Great Expectations and as Lady Margaret Plantagenet in the 1982 BBC Television Shakespeare production of Richard III.

Rise to fame

In 1985, Kensit led a dual career as a singer and an actress. She starred as Eppie in an adaptation of Silas Marner, with Ben Kingsley. At the time, Kensit stated: "All I want is to be more famous than anything or anyone".

In 1986, she won the lead female role in the film version of Absolute Beginners, based on the book by Colin MacInnes. In November 1987, she sang a duet with the Italian singer and songwriter, Eros Ramazzotti, entitled 'La luce buona delle stelle', which in English translates to 'The Good Light of the Stars'.

In 1988, Kensit's band Eighth Wonder had two Top 40 singles: "I'm Not Scared", written by Neil Tennant & Chris Lowe and produced by the Pet Shop Boys & Phil Harding (for PWL), which reached Number 7 in the British charts, and "Cross My Heart", which reached Number 13. Eighth Wonder appeared on Top of the Pops. Although the band's success quickly waned, "I'm Not Scared" appeared in the 1989 film Lethal Weapon 2, in which Kensit, then focused solely on acting, played Rika van den Haas, a South African consulate secretary with whom cop Martin Riggs (played by Mel Gibson) falls in love.

Following Lethal Weapon 2, she appeared in the 1991 independent feature Twenty-One, for which she received a nomination for Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. Of her role, Variety magazine wrote, "Fans of Kensit get plenty of her; her lovely face and form are always the center of attention. The cool control with which she executes the role is admirable". In 1992, she had a leading role in the British film Blame it on the Bellboy as Miss Carolyn Wright, a desperate estate agent in Venice who would stop at nothing to clinch a deal.

In 1995, Kensit starred with Kristin Scott Thomas and Mark Rylance in Angels & Insects, which was directed by Philip Haas and was nominated for an Academy Award for Costume Design. Kensit's last major lead film role was in the Newcastle-based The One and Only.

2004-present

In 2004, Kensit joined the cast of soap opera Emmerdale as Sadie King and also regularly featured in the third series of Channel 4's Bo' Selecta! and its 2005 spin-off series A Bear's Tail. Kensit's success as the soap super-bitch and in a popular comedy brought her back to the public's attention.

In September and October 2005, Kensit appeared as a celebrity contestant in Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon, progressing through to Play Your Cards Right before being eliminated by Carol Vorderman. On 23 June 2006, Kensit guest hosted The Friday Night Project with band Placebo. She appeared as the Grand High Witch of all the World at the Children's Party at the Palace in celebration of the Queen's 80th birthday in 2006. She also became the voice of online gambling website 32red.com.

In September 2006, Kensit left Emmerdale, stating that commuting to Yorkshire and the time away from her sons was too stressful. As part of a dramatic week of episodes that coincided with Jeff Hordley's exit from the show, Cain Dingle and Sadie hatched an elaborate kidnap plan involving Tom King - they set up the transfer of £2million from the Kings to Cain in order for Tom to be released, however Cain double crossed Sadie. Her last appearance was at an airstrip watching Cain fly away, leaving her penniless and alone.

In October 2006, Kensit joined the BBC One medical drama Holby City as ward sister Faye Morton. On 14 March 2010, it was revealed that she had decided to leave the show.

In August 2008, Kensit appeared in an episode of the BBC One series Who Do You Think You Are? With 7.10 million viewers, it became the highest rated of all episodes across all series, until Bruce Forsythe's episode overtook it by a small fraction in 2010, with 7.22 million. It retains the second highest ratings for any episode of the show.

On 15 May 2012, she narrated the Channel 4 documentary Sex, Lies and Rinsing Guys.

On 7 April 2014, Kensit was a guest panellist on ITV chat show Loose Women.

From 7 January 2015, Kensit took part in the fifteenth series of Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 5.

Personal life

Kensit has been married four times. In 1988, she married Dan Donovan of band Big Audio Dynamite. In 1992, she married Jim Kerr, lead singer of Simple Minds. During her second marriage, she gave birth to her first child, James, in 1993. In April 1997, she married Liam Gallagher from Oasis. Kensit and Gallagher had a son, Lennon, born 14 September 1999, who was named after John Lennon; they divorced in 2000. Lennon's godmother is actress Elizabeth Hurley.

After a reported relationship with Ally McCoist, Kensit took up with rap artist and beatboxer Killa Kela. They split up after a year, with Kensit stating that she did not see a future with Killa.

Kensit later became involved with the DJ Jeremy Healy and announced that she was marrying for a fourth time on 29 November 2007. On 31 March 2008 it was reported that the pair had split by mutual consent and had called off their wedding. They eventually married on 18 April 2009, in an event covered by a magazine, but it was reported in February 2010 that the couple had separated. Healy did not receive a mention in her 2013 autobiography.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1972	Birds Eye's Frozen Peas	Herself	TV advert
	For the Love of Ada	Little girl
1973	The Brothers	Toddler	TV series, one episode
1974	Z-Cars	Joanna Page	TV series, one episode
	The Great Gatsby	Pamela Buchanan
	Gold	Little Girl at Christmas Party	Uncredited
1975	Alfie Darling	Penny
	Churchill's People	Brewster child	TV series, one episode
	Hennessy	Angie Hennessy
1976	The Blue Bird	Mytyl
	Dickens of London	Georgina Hogarth	TV series, two episodes
1978	Armchair Thriller 'Quiet as a Nun'	Tessa	TV series, five episodes
1979	Lady Oscar	Oscar François de Jarjayes (as a child)
	Hanover Street	Sarah Sellinger	Nominated-Young Artist Award for Best Juvenile Actress in a Motion Picture
	Prince Regent	Young Princess Charlotte	TV mini-series
	The Legend of King Arthur	Morgan le Fay (as a child)	TV series
	Penmarric	Young Mariana	TV series, two episodes
	Quincy's Quest	Jennifer
1980	Hannah	Ruth Corder	TV series, four episodes
1981	Great Expectations	Young Estella	TV series, two episodes
1982	Disneyland	Pollyanna	TV series, one episode
	The Adventures of Pollyanna	Pollyanna	TV film
	Frost in May	Nanda Gray	TV series, one episode
1983	The Tragedy of Richard III	Lady Margaret Plantagenet	TV film
	Luna	Luna	TV series, six episodes
1984	Diana	Young Diana	TV mini-series, two episodes
1985	Hallmark Hall of Fame	Emilie du Cailland	TV series, one episode
	Silas Marner	Eppie	TV film
1986	Absolute Beginners	Suzette
1988	Don Bosco	Lina
	A Chorus of Disapproval	Linda Washbrook
1989	Arms and the Man	Louka	Theatre Night TV series
	Lethal Weapon 2	Rika van den Haas
1990	Kill Cruise	Su
	Chicago Joe and the Showgirl	Joyce Cook
	Bullseye!	Sick Lady on Train
1991	Adam Bede	Hetty Sorrel	TV film
	Does This Mean We're Married	Deena	TV film
	Timebomb	Dr. Anna Nolmar
	Blue Tornado	Isabella
	Twenty-One	Katie	Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead
	Beltenebros	Rebeca
1992	Screen One	Hetty Sorrel	TV series, one episode
	Blame It on the Bellboy	Caroline Wright
	The Turn of the Screw	Jenny
1993	Tales from the Crypt	Bridget	TV series, one episode
	Bitter Harvest	Jolene
	Full Eclipse	Casey Spencer
1994	Fall from Grace	Lady Deirdre Sebright	TV film
1995	Love and Betrayal: The Mia Farrow Story	Mia Farrow	TV film
	Dream Man	Kris Anderson
	Kleptomania	Julie
	Angels & Insects	Eugenia Alabaster Adamson
	At the Midnight Hour	Elizabeth Guinness	TV film
	Tunnel Vision	Kelly Wheatstone
1996	Grace of My Heart	Cheryl Steed
1998	The Last Don II	Josie Cirolia	TV mini-series, one episode
	Human Bomb	Marcia Weller	TV film
1999	Speedway Junky	Donna
	Janice Beard 45 WPM	Julia
2000	Best	Anna
	Aladdin	Princess	TV film
2001	Things Behind the Sun	Denise
	Loves Music, Loves to Dance	Darcy Scott	TV film
	Casualty	Charlotte Leith-Jones	TV series, one episode
2002	Bad Karma	Maureen Hatcher/Agnes
	Darkness Falling	Vicki
	Murder in Mind	Angela Stephenson	TV series, one episode
	The One and Only	Stella
2003	Who's Your Daddy?	Heather McKay
	Shelter Island	Alexandria 'Alex'
2004	The All Star Comedy Show	Various characters	TV series
	The Pavilion	Clara Huddlestone
	A Bear's Christmas Tail	Helen Hennerson	TV Christmas special
2004-2006	Emmerdale	Sadie King	TV series Nominated-British Soap Award for Soap Bitch of the Year Nominated-National Television Award for Most Popular Newcomer
2005	A Bear's Tail	Helen Hennerson	TV series
2006	Played	Cindy
	Children's Party at the Palace	The Grand High Witch (from The Witches)	TV special
2007	The Magic Door	Rachel
	A Bucket o' French & Saunders	Various characters	TV series, Two episodes
2007-2010	Holby City	Faye Byrne	TV series
2010	Strictly Come Dancing	Herself/Contestant	Series 8
2014	Loose Women	Herself, Guest panellist	2 episodes
2015	Celebrity Big Brother	Housemate	Series 15

Guest appearances

• Celebrity Juice (17 March 2011) - Panellist
• Would I Lie to You? (18 May 2012) - Guest
• The Million Pound Drop Live (2012) - Contestant with Keith Lemon
• The Chase: Celebrity Special (27 September 2014) - Contestant

[ Source: Wikipedia ]