Michelle Danielle Collins (born 28 May 1962) is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Cindy Beale in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, and has also appeared as Stella Price in ITV's Coronation Street. Her other notable TV roles include the BBC dramas Real Women (1998–1999), Sunburn (1999–2000) and Two Thousand Acres of Sky (2001–2003).
Collins was born on 28 May 1962 at Hackney Hospital, Homerton High Street in Hackney, east London, to a Welsh mother, Mary, and a father of English and Flemish heritage.[1][2] Her Flemish grandfather was Belgian from Antwerp and had emigrated to the UK in 1915 when aged five.[3] She, alongside her elder sister Vicki, were brought up by their mother in Highbury, London.[1][4] When Collins was 14, her mother went back to university to obtain a law degree.[5] In the 1970s, Collins was a member of the youth organisation the Woodcraft Folk, and visited Romania with the group.[6]
Collins trained at the Royal Court Activists and Cockpit Youth Theatre from the age of 14, and Kingsway Princeton College, where she studied drama and theatre at O/A-level.[7]
After her exams, Collins landed a role in Mikhail Bulgakov's The Crimson Island, directed by Lou Stein, at the Gate Theatre. Her career changed direction after performing in the 1978 video for the Squeeze song "Cool For Cats", and as a backing singer for Mari Wilson and the Wilsations. The band spent 18 months touring the country.[8] When the band broke up in 1982, she went back into acting and with the help of her friend, the British actor Tim Roth, she gained a part in a musical with Gary Hutton and Gary Shail.[9]
Collins's first TV appearance was with Gary Oldman in the BBC drama Morgan's Boy. Other TV credits included: two series of the sitcom Running Wild, where she played Ray Brooks daughter; a part in ITV drama The Bill; a Screen Two production Lucky Sunil, directed by Michael Caton Jones and a BBC play Pressures. She later appeared in three films: Personal Services, Empire State and Stephen Poliakoff's Hidden City. Collins appeared in an episode of the BBC's Bergerac (series 4) in 1985.[10]
While she was filming the BBC play Pressures in 1988, Collins was spotted by EastEnders producer Julia Smith, who asked her to audition for the role of Cindy Beale, who was to feature in 11 episodes of the soap. The manipulative, reckless nature of her character was a hit with viewers so her contract was extended and the character became a major villain in the series. Cindy was the unfaithful wife of EastEnders stalwart Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt), between 1988 and 1998. During breaks from EastEnders she filmed the drama Real Women for the BBC, with Pauline Quirke and Frances Barber. On 14 November 2014, Collins reprised the role of Cindy for a short stint for Children in Need.[11]
In May 2023, it was announced that Collins would be returning to the soap after 25 years, alongside Woodyatt, thus resurrecting the character from the dead.[12] Collins returned to the role permanently in June 2023, where it is revealed that Cindy hadn't died in childbirth, but had entered a witness protection programme and had taken on the identity of 'Rose Knight', the wife of George Knight (Colin Salmon) and the mother of Gina (Francesca Henry) and Anna (Molly Rainford).[13]
After leaving EastEnders in 1998, her career saw a series of drama roles. These included: two series of Real Women (BBC One); two series of Sunburn (BBC One), for which Collins sang the theme song (which was a no. 28 hit in the UK Singles Chart in 1999);[14] Daylight Robbery (ITV); The Sleeper (BBC One); Uprising (ITV): three series of Two Thousand Acres of Sky (BBC One):[15] the two-part series Perfect (ITV); Lloyd and the Hill (ITV) and Ella and the Mothers (BBC One). In 2003, Collins played Sarah Barton in Single.[16]
In 2003, Collins filmed the BBC drama Sea of Souls and then went on to star in a film for Granada/Channel 4 called The Illustrated Mum, which told the story of two girls coping with the unpredictable behaviour of their depressed, alcoholic mother. The film, written by Jacqueline Wilson, was based on the children's novel of the same name. It was screened over Christmas 2003 and won an Emmy Award and two BAFTAs.[17]
In 2004, she starred in an episode of French and Saunders and also starred with fellow EastEnders actor Martin Kemp in the ITV drama Can't Buy Me Love.[18] In 2005, Collins starred in the ITV drama The Last Detective and in the BBC drama The Family Man, alongside Daniela Denby-Ashe, which aired in March 2006. She starred in the West End musical Daddy Cool, and while working during the night there shot sequences for a cameo in the short film Broken written and directed by Vicki Psarias, which went on to win the several international awards. She also featured in the film Don't Stop Dreaming, released in 2007. She left Daddy Cool in January 2007 to shoot the Doctor Who episode "42".[19]
On 2 July 2007, it was announced that Collins has been cast for the lead role of Karina Faith in new ITV drama series, Rock Rivals, produced by Shed Productions.[20] In 2009, Collins took part in the BBC Wales programme Coming Home about her Welsh family history. On 21 May 2009, it was rumoured that Collins had auditioned to star in US drama Desperate Housewives, but she did join the cast.[21][22][23]
In June 2010, it was announced that Collins would make a six-episode guest appearance as a patient's mother in Casualty.[24] In 2010, she also guest-starred in Romeo & Juliet at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton, playing the Nurse. From 7 April-7 May 2011, Collins starred as Sheila Grundy, Fred Dibnah's third wife, in The Demolition Man at Octagon Theatre, Bolton.[25]
"I am honoured to be joining the cast of Coronation Street. The show has been part of my life since I was a child, so to become a part of it is extremely exciting."
In January 2011, a rumour was posted on Digital Spy that Collins was in talks to join EastEnders' main rivalling soap Coronation Street, after she allegedly met with soap's producer and close friend Phil Collinson.[26] Three months later it was confirmed Collins had joined the cast as Stella Price, new landlady of the Rovers Return pub, beating Lisa Maxwell for the role.[27] Her first episode aired on 16 June 2011 and gained a rating of 8.4 million.[28] It was announced on 22 August 2013 Collins had decided to leave Coronation Street.[29] In January 2014, Collins claimed she was "unhappy" over the lack of screen time for her and her character. Collins filmed her final scenes on 19 February 2014, and made her final appearance as Stella on 2 April 2014.[30]
Since leaving Coronation Street, Collins has had various guest roles in television dramas: Casualty as Samantha Kellman (2014), Death in Paradise as Annette Burgess (2015), and Midsomer Murders as Nadine Campbell (2016). In October 2019 Collins appeared in Casualty as Lorna Rowle/Hammond.[31] In 2016, Collins took part in the ITV reality series Bear Grylls: Mission Survive.[32]
Collins has a daughter by ex-partner Fabrizio Tassalini, Maia Rose (b. 29 September 1996).[33]
In 2014, Collins revealed that in 1998 – distraught by the end of her relationship with Tassalini and feeling career pressure – she attempted suicide while filming Sunburn in Cyprus. She took an overdose of sleeping pills but later woke up and asked her costar to take her to hospital.[34]
After their split, Collins had an amicable relationship with Tassalini, who lived close by, and they raised their daughter together until he died in 2014.[5] In April 2022 Collins announced she was engaged to her partner of 10 years, Mike Davidson. They married in August that year.[35]
In August 2014, Collins was one of 200 public figures to sign a letter to The Guardian in opposition to Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.[36]
Collins is involved in charitable causes. She is an ambassador for Oxfam and has visited Brazil, South Africa and Armenia, promoting the need for the basic right to education.[37] She is also an ambassador for Ambitious about Autism and a patron for the Alexandra Wylie Tower Foundation.[38][39]