Laura Rollins

Laura Rollins
Born
Birmingham, England
NationalityBritish-Bajan[1]
Education
OccupationActress
TelevisionDoctors

Laura Rollins (born 20 December)[2] is a British-Bajan actress, known for portraying the role of Ayesha Lee on the BBC soap opera Doctors, a role which she played from September 2014 to June 2020. For her portrayal of Ayesha, she won the award for Best Female Dramatic Performance at the RTS Midlands Awards. Since leaving Doctors, Rollins has appeared in various television series including Innocent and Miss Scarlet and The Duke.

Early life and education

Laura Rollins is of British and Barbadian heritage.

She began her acting training at the Carlton Junior Television Workshop, and while studying there, she made her television debut on the children's series The Demon Headmaster at the age of 10.[3] She was also featured in various advertisements and performed at the British Academy Children's Awards.[4]

After leaving the workshop, Rollins began attending the University of Leeds, studying English and theatre. She then did a one-year course at Arts Educational Schools in London.[4]

Career

In 1999, Rollins starred in Welcome To Orty Fou as Caroline Saunders.[5]

In 2013, she appeared in the feature film Communion, and in 2014, she auditioned for a role in the BBC soap opera Doctors. She took a sick day from work to attend the audition, and after a two-week process, she was given the role of Ayesha Lee.[5][6] While on the series, Rollins' character's storylines included romances with co-workers Sid Vere (Ashley Rice) and Bear Sylvester (Dex Lee), facing prejudice due to her race and troubled upbringing, and struggling with her mother's alcoholism and subsequent death, for which she won a Royal Television Society award for Best Female Dramatic Performance.[7][8]

She then starred in the 2016 short film From Noya,[9][10] and the 2018 short film Shining Tor, for which she won Best Performance for at the 2019 Short Film Awards.[11]

In January 2020, Rollins appeared in an episode of the BBC crime drama Silent Witness as Kate Langley.[12] On 20 May 2020, it was announced that Rollins would be leaving Doctors after six years in the role of Ayesha.[13] Her final scenes aired on 5 June 2020.[14]

In 2021, she starred in the second series of the ITV drama Innocent.[15] Then in 2022, she made appearances in Father Brown and Miss Scarlet and The Duke.[16]

Filmography

2018 Antique Maia Short film
1998 The Demon Headmaster Game Show Winner 1 episode
1999 Welcome to Orty-Fou Caroline Saunders 4 episodes
2013 Communion Anna Film
2014–2020 Doctors Ayesha Lee Series regular
2016 From Noya Paige Short film
2018 Details to Follow Gaia Short film
2018 The Reserves Jamie Also executive producer
2018 Shining Tor Amber Short film
2019 That Phone Call Willow Short film
2020 Silent Witness Kate Langley Episode: "Hope: Part 1"
2020 Fortune Cookie Natalie Short film
2021 Innocent DS Suzy Jones Main role[17]
2021 There's Always Hope Sanya Film
2022 Father Brown Helen Delaney Episode: "The Wayward Girls"
2022 Miss Scarlet and The Duke Clementine Recurring role
2023 Death in Paradise Cheryl Horner Episode: "#12.3"

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Work Result Ref.
2015 Screen Nation Female Performance in TV Doctors Nominated [18]
2016 The British Soap Awards Best Actress Doctors Longlisted [19]
2018 National Television Awards Serial Drama Performance Doctors Longlisted [20]
2018 The British Soap Awards Best Female Dramatic Performance Doctors Nominated [21][22]
2018 RTS Midlands Awards Best Female Dramatic Performance Doctors Won [23]
2018 Inside Soap Awards Best Daytime Star Doctors Longlisted [24]
2019 The British Soap Awards Best Actress Doctors Longlisted [25]
2019 Short Film Awards Best Performance Shining Tor Won [11]

References

  1. ^ "British-Bajan Actor, Dinosaur lover, Sneaker-geek & Sun-worshipper. Reps: Darren Rugg @AHAactors UK, Alissa Goodman @authenticmgmt US & @voicebankie for VO". Twitter. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  2. ^ Rollins, Laura [@IanMalcolmsWife] (21 December 2019). "Thank you for my birthday well wishes yesterday. I felt very loved.😘" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  3. ^ "Laura Rollins, Doctors". Birmingham Living. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  4. ^ a b "'Get out there' Doctors actress Laura Rollins on how she bagged the part, tips for actors and more". Mandy News. 29 July 2018. Archived from the original on 25 May 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Doctors – Ayesha Lee – BBC One". BBC. Archived from the original on 6 January 2017. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  6. ^ "Doctors casts new regular Ayesha Lee". Digital Spy. 18 July 2014. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  7. ^ "Doctors star: 'Ayesha has a wonderful love story ahead'". Digital Spy. 11 May 2016. Archived from the original on 9 January 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  8. ^ "Doctors spoiler: 'The Good Mother'". Digital Spy. 15 October 2017. Archived from the original on 9 January 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  9. ^ Anderson, Daniel (November 2016), From Noya, Husnaa Anderson, Laura Rollins, Daniel Anderson, archived from the original on 13 February 2017, retrieved 9 January 2018
  10. ^ "From Noya – Short Movie". beracahmusic.co.uk. Archived from the original on 9 January 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  11. ^ a b Barker, Andrew David [@ADBarker] (4 September 2019). "The wonderful @IanMalcolmsWife with her Best Performance Award for our short film SHINING TOR, which she won @TheShortCinema festival. #shortfilm #actor #filmfestival #award #filmmaking #GoMake" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  12. ^ "Silent Witness – what time is it on TV?". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  13. ^ Jones, Allison (30 May – 5 June 2020). "'Leaving Doctors was a scary decision!'". Inside Soap. No. 22. pp. 48–49.
  14. ^ Writer: Henrietta Hardy; Director: Steve M Kelly; Producer: Carol Harding (5 June 2020). "Stepping Stones". Doctors. BBC. BBC One. Archived from the original on 5 June 2020. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  15. ^ West, Amy (21 September 2020). "ITV's Innocent returning for series 2 with ex-Coronation Street actress taking over as star". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  16. ^ Fogarty, Paul. "Father Brown season 9 episode 8 cast: The Wayward Girls". HITC. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  17. ^ "ITV announce a second series of hit series, Innocent". ITalkTelly. 21 September 2020. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  18. ^ "Screen Nation Awards: 2015 Nominees Announced". SceneTV. 25 January 2015. Archived from the original on 29 May 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  19. ^ "British Soap Awards 2016 - longlist nominees announced". BBC Doctors. Archived from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  20. ^ "The VOTE For The National Television Awards (NTAs) 2018 Is Now Open". TellyMix. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  21. ^ "Corrie's Helen Flanagan leads glamorous arrivals at British Soap Awards". The Irish News. 2 June 2018. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  22. ^ "British Soap Awards 2018 - full list of winners on triumphant night for Corrie". Manchester Evening News. 2 June 2018. Archived from the original on 8 June 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  23. ^ "RTS MIDLANDS AWARDS 2018". Royal Television Society. 20 November 2018. Archived from the original on 21 September 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  24. ^ Davies, Megan (23 July 2018). "Inside Soap Awards 2018 full longlist revealed". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  25. ^ Dainty, Sophie (9 April 2019). "British Soap Awards 2019 nominations revealed: Which Coronation Street, EastEnders, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks and Doctors stars are up?". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 3 August 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2020.