Gillian Wright
English actress (born 1959)
title: "Gillian Wright" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["actors-from-the-london-borough-of-southwark", "actresses-from-london", "alumni-of-bretton-hall-college", "english-soap-opera-actresses", "english-television-actresses", "living-people", "people-from-bermondsey", "year-of-birth-missing-(living-people)"] description: "English actress (born 1959)" topic_path: "arts/film" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillian_Wright" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary English actress (born 1959) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Gillian Wright |
| image | Gillian Wright – Stevenage Christmas Lights Switch-on 2013 (11353766486) (cropped).jpg |
| caption | Wright in 2013 |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Bermondsey, London, England |
| occupation | Actress |
| television | ChuckleVision |
| Sir Gadabout: The Worst Knight in the Land | |
| EastEnders | |
| years_active | 1993–present |
| :: |
| name = Gillian Wright | image = Gillian Wright – Stevenage Christmas Lights Switch-on 2013 (11353766486) (cropped).jpg | caption = Wright in 2013 | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Bermondsey, London, England | occupation = Actress | television = ChuckleVision Sir Gadabout: The Worst Knight in the Land EastEnders | years_active = 1993–present Gillian Wright is an English actress, known for playing Jean Slater on the BBC soap opera EastEnders since 2004, for which she has won numerous awards. She previously worked as a drama teacher and a theatre director before occupying acting roles.
Career
Wright's first television role was in an episode of ChuckleVision as Mrs. Stone in 1994. She went on to portray guest roles in Casualty and Holby City, before portraying the nanny in the CITV children's comedy Sir Gadabout: The Worst Knight in the Land for two series between 2002 and 2003. She also appeared in episodes of Doctors, Calendar Girls and Heartbeat, before taking on her prestigious role of Jean Slater in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Wright was originally signed for one episode in December 2004, but bosses brought her back into the series a year later for four more episodes. After guest starring in two episodes of rival soap opera Coronation Street, she then returned to EastEnders on a recurring basis until her character moved into Albert Square in November 2007. In 2006, she collected a Mental Health Media Award for her portrayal of Jean, a person living with bipolar disorder. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Gillian_Wright.JPG" caption="BBC]] soap opera ''EastEnders'' since 2004"] ::
Wright's departure from the series was announced in 2010, along with her on-screen daughter Stacey Slater, played by Lacey Turner, but it was later confirmed that she would return in spring 2011. In 2012, she won the 'Best Actress' award at the Inside Soap Awards. Wright departed EastEnders again in 2013 and returned for a short stint in August 2014. She also guest starred in one episode of hospital drama, Holby City in early 2015. After making numerous guest appearances from 2015 to 2017, the character of Jean was reintroduced in 2018 by former executive consultant John Yorke. In 2019, Wright won the award for Best Dramatic Performance at that year's British Soap Awards.
Theatre
Wright is also an established theatre actress, and is a visiting director and workshop leader at drama schools, universities and with young people with special needs. She is a co-founder of Pilot Theatre, at York's Theatre Royal.
In December 2011, she played the Fairy godmother in the pantomime Dick Whittington and His Cat at the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, starring alongside Jonathan Wilkes.
In September 2013, she appeared in the world premiere of five visceral new short plays, under the collective title Religion and Anarchy, at the Jermyn Street Theatre. From December 2013 to January 2014, she appeared as the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella at the Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage. She also performed at the Theatre Royal, Norwich during a production of Sleeping Beauty in 2017.
Filmography
::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | ChuckleVision | Mrs. Stone | Episode: "Mind over Marrow" |
| 1998 | Casualty | Amber Stevens | Episode: "The Ties That Bind" |
| 2003 | Holby City | Candice Holloway | Episode: "Can't Always Get What You Want" |
| 2002–2003 | Sir Gadabout: The Worst Knight in the Land | Nanny | 2 series; main cast; 19 episodes |
| 2003 | Calendar Girls | Eddie's woman | Film |
| Doctors | Carol | Episode: "The Time Is Right" | |
| 2004 | Heartbeat | Barbara Simner | Episode: "Scent of a Kill" |
| 2004–present | EastEnders | Jean Slater | Series regular |
| 2005 | Coronation Street | Yvonne | 2 episodes |
| 2006 | Dalziel and Pascoe | Pat Richardson | |
| Silent Witness | Dr. Angeline Parry | Episode: "Terminus: Part 1" | |
| The Bill | Sharon Little | 3 episodes | |
| 2007 | Spooks | Karen Dugan | Episode: "The Virus: Part 2" |
| 2013 | Tamwar Tales – The Life of an Assistant Market Inspector | Jean Slater | Episode: "Jean" |
| 2015 | Holby City | Lydia Rathbone | Episode: "Tug of Love" |
| :: |
Awards and nominations
::data[format=table]
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Inside Soap Awards | Funniest Performance | ||
| 2012 | Inside Soap Awards | Best Actress | ||
| 2013 | TV Choice Awards | Best Soap Actress | ||
| 2019 | TV Choice Awards | Best Soap Actress | ||
| 2019 | The British Soap Awards | Best Female Dramatic Performance | ||
| 2019 | Inside Soap Awards | Best Actress | ||
| 2019 | I Talk Telly Awards | Best Soap Performance | ||
| 2022 | The British Soap Awards | Best Leading Performer | ||
| 2022 | The British Soap Awards | Best Dramatic Performance | ||
| 2022 | The British Soap Awards | Best On-Screen Partnership (shared with Lacey Turner) | ||
| 2022 | 27th National Television Awards | Serial Drama Performance | ||
| 2022 | Inside Soap Awards | Best Double Act (shared with Turner) | ||
| 2022 | Inside Soap Awards | Best Actress | ||
| 2022 | TV Choice Awards | Best Soap Actress | ||
| 2022 | I Talk Telly Awards | Best Soap Performance | ||
| :: |
References
References
- Brine, Claire. (14 March 2025). "Gillian Wright: 'A lot of my early acting experience came from The Salvation Army'".
- Harp, Justin. (12 March 2019). "EastEnders' Gillian Wright earns huge praise for Jean Slater's breakdown scenes". [[Digital Spy]].
- (14 February 2022). "BBC EastEnders: Gillian Wright's life from forgotten role on Coronation Street to short-lived marriage with famous musician and why she doesn't 'regret' not having children".
- (30 April 2021). "BBC EastEnders' star you probably didn't know became famous after appearing on ChuckleVision".
- "Gillian Wright – Credits".
- "Jean Slater – BBC EastEnders".
- (November 2009). "EastEnders scoops mental health media award".
- Green, Kris. (29 April 2010). "Stacey and Jean to leave 'EastEnders'". [[Digital Spy]].
- Kilkelly, Daniel. (25 November 2010). "Jean Slater to stay on 'EastEnders'". [[Hachette Filipacchi UK]].
- "2012 Winners « Inside Soap Magazine".
- Patterson, Stephen. (19 December 2018). "From big returns to huge issues, how boss John Yorke has saved EastEnders".
- "Gillian Wright has won Best Female Dramatic Performance in the Soap Awards 2019".
- "Let's talk about Walford and lots more besides as Gillian Wright comes to Berkhamsted to chat about her career".
- (15 March 2018). "EastEnders Jean Slater actress Gillian Wright's very impressive career revealed".
- Dunne, Martin. (23 November 2013). "Panto round-up: EastEnders star comes to town". Archant Community Media.
- (4 April 2023). "Who plays Jean Slater in EastEnders and what else has she starred in?".
- (6 July 2015). "EastEnders stars in Snow White at Pavilion".
- Millar, Paul. (26 September 2011). "Inside Soap Awards 2011: The full winners list".
- Kilkelly, Daniel. (17 September 2012). "'Coronation Street' leads ''Inside Soap'' Awards 2012 shortlist". [[Digital Spy]].
- Rigby, Sam. (1 July 2013). "'Enders leads TVChoice soaps shortlist".
- "2019 Winners". [[TV Choice]].
- "Here are the British Soap Awards 2019 winners in full". [[Digital Spy]].
- Harp, Justin. (30 September 2019). "''Inside Soap'' Awards 2019 full shortlist revealed – which stars are up for prizes?". [[Hearst Magazines UK]].
- (2 November 2019). "I TALK TELLY AWARDS 2019 Nominees". I Talk Telly.
- (11 June 2022). "British Soap Awards 2022 winners list - updated live". ([[Hearst Communications]]).
- Earp, Catherine. (13 October 2022). "National Television Awards: Full winners list". [[Digital Spy]].
- (10 October 2022). "Inside Soap Awards announce final shortlist for 2022 ceremony". ([[Hearst Communications]]).
- (17 October 2022). "EastEnders and Emmerdale win big at the Inside Soap Awards 2022".
- (9 August 2022). "TV Choice Awards nominations list announced in full". ([[Reach plc]]).
- (12 November 2022). "Mo Gilligan leads the I Talk Telly Awards 2022 Nominations". I Talk Telly.
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