RACHEL TUCKER

"Would you be happy in the back row of the chorus for the rest of your life?"

"Absolutely!" was my reply to a very short but definite conversation with my mum at the age of fifteen. There was never any question about me wanting to take to the stage for a living; it felt as though it was the only option in front of me, and a very natural thing for me to do as a career.

From the age of nine I started singing with my dad around the local cabaret circuit, which is now pretty much non-existent in Belfast. It was a very young age to get such an adrenalin rush from a crowd but I was hooked, and the more I did it the more I longed to do it!

My weekends were mainly spent singing with my dad accompanied by live bands, with me choosing and preparing 6-10 songs for that night's performance. It wasn't long before I was acting out scenes from 'Singing In The Rain' with my brother, so I decided to take myself along to my local Saturday drama classes at The Golden Thread Theatre, where I played my first lead role... which happened to be a male role - Bugsy Malone! This was the part that gave me the 'acting bug'; I was in my element up there acting, singing and dancing round my umbrella at the age of 11 and now, there was nothing I didn't want to be involved in!

I spent every summer and every spare minute auditioning for shows, television, film, workshops and advertisements in Belfast. I always had a fantastic network of family, mentors and coaches giving me full encouragement, especially my school, Little Flower secondary school. I had a great springboard from school into higher education at Belfast’s Institute for further and higher education where I studied a diploma in performing arts, It was there that I audition for my first professional show, landing a lead role, playing Maureen in the musical Rent, at Dublin‘s Olympia Theatre!

It was only then did I know in my heart of hearts and deep down that there was nothing else I could possibly do for a living! I was very fortunate to get a place at the Royal Academy of Music where I studied a one year post grad in musical theatre. It was a true eye-opening year where I learnt so much from so many people and more than just how to get it right on stage!

The door to my London dreams now lay wide open and as they say ..... the rest is history!