Daniela Denby-Ashe first gained film experience on the children’s video Nursery Rhymes 2 from Pickwick Video. She appeared in many television commercials as a child actor which then led on to children’s drama such as Kevin & Co, as well as the Channel 4 sitcom Desmond’s. Denby-Ashe also appeared alongside Jennifer Saunders and Julia Sawalha in Absolutely Fabulous. Her big break came in 1995 when she landed the role of Sarah Hills in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She played this character until 1999.
The following year she got the role of Janey Harper in the BBC sitcom, My Family. Denby-Ashe took a break from My Family for the fourth series in 2003, but returned to the role in 2004. The eleventh and final series first aired on BBC One from June 2011.
In December 2008, Denby-Ashe appeared in BBC Four’s supernatural drama series Crooked House, and in October 2010 she starred in an episode of the ITV detective drama Midsomer Murders. In April 2009 she appeared in the fourth series of the BBC drama Waterloo Road as deceitful supply teacher, Jem Allen. In April 2012, she returned to the drama as a new regular character, Lorraine Donegan. The character, a former pupil taught by current head teacher Michael Byrne (Alec Newman), played an important role in a storyline that has seen the current school move from its location in Rochdale to a new site in Greenock, Scotland at the end of the seventh series.
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