Cerrie Burnell
Encyclopedia
Cerrie Burnell is an English
actress, singer, playwright
, and television presenter for the BBC
children's channel CBeebies
. She was born with a right arm which ended below the elbow.
, Kent
, United Kingdom
, and grew up in Eastbourne
, Sussex
. Her mother is a dance teacher, and her father a telecoms manager. She has one younger brother. She was originally named "Claire", but started asking people to call her "Cerrie" at the age of ten.
Burnell was born with her right arm ending slightly below the elbow. Burnell's parents encouraged her to wear a prosthetic arm, but she resisted from the start, and stopped wearing one entirely when she was nine. She says her disability did not hinder her from doing what she wanted, including "sports, swimming, windsurfing, singing in the choir or joining the Army cadets." Burnell also suffered from dyslexia
, which left her unable to read until the age of ten. She learned with extra tuition and the Letterland
system. As a teenager, she worked as a hotel chambermaid during summers, and travelled widely, working in a leprosy
clinic in India, and volunteering in Brazil
.
Burnell is unmarried, and has a daughter, Amelie, born in 2008. Burnell's father, now retired, takes care of Amelie during Burnell's ten hour shifts filming CBeebies continuity.
, where she studied acting
. She has performed in theatre
in the UK, where she received favourable reviews, and in Brazil
with the CTORio Political Theatre Company. She has appeared in UK television parts in Holby City
, EastEnders
, Grange Hill
, The Bill
, and Comedy Lab
. She is the author of Winged - A Fairytale, a play about Violet, a one-winged fairy
in a London
inner city
fairy community, which she also starred in when it was staged at the Tristan Bates Theatre, London
in 2007.
Besides acting, she has worked as a teaching assistant
in a special needs
school.
' presentation department on 26 January 2009, as a continuity presenter for Discover and Do and The Bedtime Hour, alongside Alex Winters
.
Within a month of her beginning co-presenting, she attracted controversy from parents complaining that the one-armed presenter was scaring children, and prompting difficult conversations to explain her disability. She and the BBC have been defended by multiple disability groups
stating that the problem was with the prejudices of the parents projected on to the children.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
actress, singer, playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, and television presenter for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
children's channel CBeebies
CBeebies
CBeebies is the brand used by the BBC for programming aimed at children 6 years and under. It is used as a themed strand in the UK on terrestrial television, as a separate free-to-air domestic British channel and used for international varients supported by advertising, subscription or both...
. She was born with a right arm which ended below the elbow.
Personal life
Burnell was born in Petts WoodPetts Wood
-History:The name appeared first in 1577 as "the wood of the Pett family", who were shipbuilders and leased the wood as a source of timbers. William Willett, a campaigner for daylight saving time, lived in nearby Chislehurst for most of his life, and is commemorated by a memorial sundial in the...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and grew up in Eastbourne
Eastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
, Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
. Her mother is a dance teacher, and her father a telecoms manager. She has one younger brother. She was originally named "Claire", but started asking people to call her "Cerrie" at the age of ten.
Burnell was born with her right arm ending slightly below the elbow. Burnell's parents encouraged her to wear a prosthetic arm, but she resisted from the start, and stopped wearing one entirely when she was nine. She says her disability did not hinder her from doing what she wanted, including "sports, swimming, windsurfing, singing in the choir or joining the Army cadets." Burnell also suffered from dyslexia
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a very broad term defining a learning disability that impairs a person's fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read, and which can manifest itself as a difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory, or rapid...
, which left her unable to read until the age of ten. She learned with extra tuition and the Letterland
Letterland
Letterland is a synthetic phonics approach to teaching reading, writing and spelling to 3-8 year olds. Children are taught shapes and sounds of letters by assigning them imaginary names and shapes and presenting them as living in the fictional land of Letterland. Letterland characters transform...
system. As a teenager, she worked as a hotel chambermaid during summers, and travelled widely, working in a leprosy
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
clinic in India, and volunteering in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
.
Burnell is unmarried, and has a daughter, Amelie, born in 2008. Burnell's father, now retired, takes care of Amelie during Burnell's ten hour shifts filming CBeebies continuity.
Career
Burnell graduated from Manchester Metropolitan UniversityManchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University is a university in North West England. Its headquarters and central campus is in the city of Manchester, but there are outlying facilities in the county of Cheshire. It is the third largest university in the United Kingdom in terms of student numbers, behind the...
, where she studied acting
Acting
Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....
. She has performed in theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
in the UK, where she received favourable reviews, and in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
with the CTORio Political Theatre Company. She has appeared in UK television parts in Holby City
Holby City
Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...
, EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, Grange Hill
Grange Hill
Grange Hill is a British television drama series originally made by the BBC. The show began in 1978 on BBC1 and was one of the longest running programmes on British television...
, The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
, and Comedy Lab
Comedy Lab
Comedy Lab is a British television series which showcases pilots of experimental comedy shows. Series have been aired irregularly on Channel 4 and E4 since 1998....
. She is the author of Winged - A Fairytale, a play about Violet, a one-winged fairy
Fairy
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...
in a London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
inner city
Inner city
The inner city is the central area of a major city or metropolis. In the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, the term is often applied to the lower-income residential districts in the city centre and nearby areas...
fairy community, which she also starred in when it was staged at the Tristan Bates Theatre, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 2007.
Besides acting, she has worked as a teaching assistant
Teaching assistant
A teaching assistant is an individual who assists a professor or teacher with instructional responsibilities. TAs include graduate teaching assistants , who are graduate students; undergraduate teaching assistants , who are undergraduate students; secondary school TAs, who are either high school...
in a special needs
Special needs
In the USA, special needs is a term used in clinical diagnostic and functional development to describe individuals who require assistance for disabilities that may be medical, mental, or psychological. For instance, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the International...
school.
CBeebies
Burnell joined CBeebiesCBeebies
CBeebies is the brand used by the BBC for programming aimed at children 6 years and under. It is used as a themed strand in the UK on terrestrial television, as a separate free-to-air domestic British channel and used for international varients supported by advertising, subscription or both...
' presentation department on 26 January 2009, as a continuity presenter for Discover and Do and The Bedtime Hour, alongside Alex Winters
Alex Winters
Alex Winters is a Welsh children's television presenter and actor, who studied Drama and Theatre Studies with Psychology in Liverpool before working on a range of theatre projects and as a supporting artist in the hit, locally filmed, programmes Torchwood and Doctor Who.Winters was named as one of...
.
Within a month of her beginning co-presenting, she attracted controversy from parents complaining that the one-armed presenter was scaring children, and prompting difficult conversations to explain her disability. She and the BBC have been defended by multiple disability groups
Disability rights movement
The disability rights movement is the movement to secure equal opportunities and equal rights for people with disabilities. The specific goals and demands of the movement are: accessibility and safety in transportation, architecture, and the physical environment, equal opportunities in independent...
stating that the problem was with the prejudices of the parents projected on to the children.