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Billie Paul Piper (born Lianne Paul Piper on 22 September 1982) is an English singer and actress.
She began her career as a pop singer when she was a teenager but is now best known for portraying Rose Tyler, companion to the Doctor in the television series Doctor Who from 2005 to 2006, a role she reprised in 2008. In 2007, Broadcast magazine listed Piper at #6 in its "Hot 100" list of influential on-screen performers, the top woman on the list.
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Quotations
No one had much faith in me because I was so young. They imagined a little brat with a flash-in-the-pan single. It was inevitable... Thankfully, I proved people wrong.
Encyclopedia
Billie Paul Piper (born Lianne Paul Piper on 22 September 1982) is an English singer and actress.
She began her career as a pop singer when she was a teenager but is now best known for portraying Rose Tyler, companion to the Doctor in the television series Doctor Who from 2005 to 2006, a role she reprised in 2008. In 2007, Broadcast magazine listed Piper at #6 in its "Hot 100" list of influential on-screen performers, the top woman on the list. She has also portrayed the prostitute Belle de Jour in Secret Diary of a Call Girl.
Career
1998-2003: Honey To The B and Walk of Life
Piper's first break in the entertainment world came as a teenager, when she was selected to appear on the Saturday morning children's television show Scratchy and Co. Piper later landed a role in a television commercial promoting the pop magazine Smash Hits. It is a common misconception that she was the featured vocalist on the 1996 track "Nobody's Business" by H2O featuring Billie, however this singer was Robin Brown-Loetscher, also known as 'Ms. Billie' or 'Billie". Piper was offered a record deal at the age of fifteen, and in 1998 became the youngest artist ever to debut at number one in the UK singles chart with "Because We Want To", released under the stage mononym "Billie". Her follow-up single "Girlfriend" also debuted at number one and her first album, Honey to the B (released immediately afterwards) debuted at Number 14 in the UK album charts. She released two further singles off the album, "She Wants You" and "Honey to the Bee"; both songs debuted at Number 3.
Piper then took a year off to record her second album. She decided to release further records under her full name, Billie Piper. She returned to the Singles Chart in May 2000 with a new, sexier sound. She hit the Number 1 spot with "Day & Night". She waited until the following September to release "Something Deep Inside", which hit #4, but her success wasn't to continue. In October 2000, Piper released her second album, Walk of Life, which reached Number 14 in the UK Album Chart. The song "Walk of Life", the final single off this album, was released in December 2000 and reached Number 25 in the UK Singles Chart.
In 1999, Piper was nominated for two BRIT Awards and was named Best Female Star at the Smash Hits Poll Winners' party, although at the latter ceremony she was reduced to tears after being viciously booed by jealous fans of Ritchie Neville, member of boyband Five, whom she was dating at the time.
On 15 January 2007, BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles started a campaign to get "Honey to the Bee" back into the Top 100 on download sales as a way of testing out new chart rules that favour download sales. The campaign was highly successful, with "Honey to the Bee" re-entering the official UK singles chart at #17, eight years after it was first released.
Piper preferred lip syncing during performances. She backs this up with the reason that she is afraid she would not be able to sing live. However, in 1999 she decided to try actually singing during her tour in America. The audience loved it, but Piper said it was too nerve-racking to do in Britain, where her much larger fan base lives.
Despite having limited success outside of the UK, all of Billie Piper's singles reached the top ten in New Zealand except for Something Deep Inside which peaked at #19 and Walk of Life which failed to chart at all despite being released there. Also, Piper's debut album reached #14 in the UK while it reached #3 in New Zealand. Piper's 2nd album reached #18 in New Zealand.
2003-present: Acting Career
After an extended break, Piper decided to end her pop career in 2003 and return to her original ambition, acting. She took acting lessons while living in London. Piper gained very positive reviews for these appearances, critics seemingly feeling that she was a far better actress than she was a singer.
In 2004, Piper appeared in the films The Calcium Kid, as the romantic interest of Orlando Bloom's character, and Things to do Before You're Thirty. Shortly before starting work on Doctor Who, she filmed a starring role in the horror movie Spirit Trap alongside Russian pop star Alsou, released in the summer of 2005 to generally poor reviews.
In November 2005, Piper starred as Hero in a BBC adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing, updated for the modern day in a similar manner to the Canterbury Tales series in which she featured, with Hero now being a weather presenter in a television station.
Piper has completed work on two stand-alone television productions. In the first, a BBC adaptation of Philip Pullman's historical novel The Ruby in the Smoke broadcast in December 2006, Piper played protagonist Sally Lockhart, a Victorian orphan. The BBC plans to film all four of Pullman's Sally Lockhart novels, with Piper continuing in the role in The Shadow in the North which was shown in December 2007. In 2007 she appeared as the main character, Fanny Price, in an adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Mansfield Park, screened on ITV1. This was her first acting role on television for a broadcaster other than the BBC.
Piper has provided voiceovers for various television commercials, including one for Comfort Fabric Softener airing in June 2007.
Piper also stars in Secret Diary of a Call Girl, an ITV2 adaptation of Belle de Jour's The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl, a memoir detailing the life of a high-class prostitute. The series, which aired from 27 September 2007, saw Piper in several semi-nude scenes, including a lesbian romp and one scene featuring her saddling a client and riding him like a horse. A second series, with Piper in the starring role, started filming in May 2008, during which two body doubles were hired in order to hide Billie's pregnancy.
Doctor Who
In May 2004, it was announced that Piper was to play the character Rose Tyler, companion to The Doctor, (then played by Christopher Eccleston), in the long-running BBC television series Doctor Who, beginning in 2005.
Piper won the Most Popular Actress category at the 2005 and 2006 National Television Awards for her work on Doctor Who. BBC News named Piper as one of its "Faces of the Year" for 2005, primarily due to her success in Doctor Who. At The South Bank Show Awards on 27 January 2006 Piper was awarded The Times Breakthrough Award for her successful transition from singing to acting. In March 2006, the Television and Radio Industries Club named Piper as best new TV talent at their annual awards ceremony. In September 2006, Piper was named Best Actress at the TV Quick and TV Choice Awards.
After the completion of the very successful first series of the revamped Doctor Who, the British media regularly released conflicting reports about how long Piper would be staying with the programme. In March 2006, she claimed that she would continue on Doctor Who into its third season in 2007. On 10 May 2006, however, she was reported to be considering quitting the series, although she did express an interest in playing a female version of the Doctor in the future (possibly related to a proposed Doctor Who spin-off series about Rose which was later dropped). On 15 June 2006, the BBC announced that she was to depart in the final episode of the second series, "Doomsday". Piper's decision to leave had been taken a year previously, but remained a secret until news of her departure became public.
On 27 November 2007, the BBC confirmed that she would reprise her role as Rose Tyler in the fourth series for three episodes. Later, it was confirmed by Russell T Davies in Doctor Who Magazine that this return had been planned since she left. It was also revealed in the Turn Left Doctor Who Confidential that Billie had made arrangements to return as Rose since she decided to leave and lied to journalists when she claimed that she would never return.
The series began in April 2008, and after several cameos, Piper made her official return as Rose in the series four final episodes "Turn Left", "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End". She has not said whether she will be reprising the role again, although on Doctor Who Confidential she said that she thinks "It's never really the end for the Doctor and Rose" but it probably was "for the foreseeable future".
Theatre
Piper made her stage debut in a touring production of Christopher Hampton's play Treats, which opened in early 2007 in Windsor. Treats was to have ended its tour in the West End, at the Garrick Theatre, starting on 28 February 2007 with previews from 20 February. The play officially finished as of 26 May.
Personal life
Piper was born in Swindon, Wiltshire, England to Paul Piper and Mandy Kent. Her parents changed her given name from Lianne to Billie three weeks after registering her birth. Piper has one younger brother, Charlie, and two younger sisters, Harley and Ellie.
Piper married businessman, DJ and television presenter Chris Evans in a secret ceremony in May 2001 in Las Vegas after six months of dating. Their marriage attracted much comment due to the sixteen-year age gap between the two. The couple had separated in 2004 and were later divorced in May 2007.
A story in The Independent on 27 June 2006 stated that Piper has declared that she does not wish to claim any money from Evans' reported £30m wealth or his £540,000 salary from Radio Two. "I'm not taking a penny from him," she told the Radio Times, "I think that's disgusting." Piper also revealed in her interview with Radio Times that she left her pop star career with very little money.
Evans has admitted that the age gap was a reason in seeking the divorce.
Piper dated and lived with law student Amadu Sowe from 2004 to 2006.
She married actor Laurence Fox, son of James Fox, on 31 December 2007 at St Mary's Church in Easebourne, West Sussex. They live in their home in Easebourne, Midhurst in West Sussex. Their first child, Winston James Fox, was born by Caesarean section at 1am on 21 October 2008.
Awards and nominations
Awards
- 1999 - Smash Hits Awards: Best Female
- 1999 - Smash Hits Awards: Best Dressed Female
- 1999 - Smash Hits Awards: Princess of Pop
- 2005 - The National Television Awards: Most Popular Actress
- 2005 - BBC Face Of The Year
- 2005 - BBC Drama Awards: Best Actress
- 2006 - The South Bank Show Awards: The Times Breakthrough Award - Rising British Talent
- 2006 - TV Choice/TV Quick Awards: Best Actress
- 2006 - The National Television Awards: Most Popular Actress
- 2006 - BBC Drama Awards: Best Actress
- 2006 - Tric Awards: Best New Talent
- 2006 - GQ Magazine Awards: Woman of the Year
- 2006 - BBC Drama Awards: Exit of the year
Nominations
Filmography
Television
- Brit Awards 1997 (ITV, 1997) - herself
- Channel 4 Schools (Channel 4, 1997) - herself
- Smash Hits Poll Winners Party (BBC1, 1998) - herself
- Billie Wants You! (Channel 4, 1999) - herself
- Melinda's Big Night In (BBC One, 1999) - herself
- Never Mind the Buzzcocks (BBC Two, 1999) - herself
- Young Entertainers (BBC Two, 1999) - herself
- Dale's All Stars (BBC1, 2000) - herself
- Party in the Park 2000 (BBC One, 2000) - Performer
- winton's wonderland (Five, 2000) - Performer
- Top of the Pops (BBC Two, 2000) - herself
- The Canterbury Tales: The Miller's Tale (BBC One, 2003) - Alison Crosby
- Bella and the Boys (BBC Two, 2004) - Bella
- Doctor Who (BBC One, 2005-2006, 2008) - Rose Tyler
- ShakespeaRe-Told: Much Ado About Nothing (BBC One, 2005) - Hero
- The Friday Night Project (Channel 4, 2006) - herself (guest presenter)
- Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (BBC One, 2006) - herself
- The Paul O'Grady Show (Channel 4, 2006, 2009) - herself
- The Ruby in the Smoke (BBC One, 2006) - Sally Lockhart
- The Charlotte Church Show (Channel 4, 2007) - herself (guest)
- Mansfield Park (ITV, 2007) - Fanny Price
- Parkinson (TV series) (ITV, 2007) - herself (guest)
- Top Gear - Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car posted a time of 1:48.3
- Secret Diary of a Call Girl (ITV2, 2007-) - Belle De Jour
- The Shadow in the North (BBC One, 2007) - Sally Lockhart
- Almost Famous (BBC Three, 2008) - Herself at the age of 12
Film
Discography
Albums
Singles
Ranking in polls
Ranking in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women In The World
Since turning 17 Billie has regularly appeared in the FHM Top 100:
- 1999: #56
- 2000: #86
- 2001: #48
- "Ten Years of FHM's Sexiest Women polls" - 1995-2004: #142
- 2005: #62
- 2006: #11
- 2007: #47
- 2008: #94
Footnotes
External links
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- at BBC Wiltshire (October 2006)
- at BBC Somerset (February 2007)
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