Billie Piper

Billie Paul Piper (born 22 September 1982) is an English actress and former singer.

She initially gained recognition as a singer after releasing her debut single "Because We Want To" at age 15, which made her the youngest female singer to enter the UK Singles Chart at number one; her follow-up single "Girlfriend" also entered at number one.

Piper was born in Swindon, Wiltshire, on 22 September 1982.

She was initially named Leian Paul Piper, but her first name was legally changed to Billie on 25 April 1983 by her parents, Mandy Kent and Paul Piper.

She has one younger brother, Charley, and two younger sisters, Harley, and Elle.

She first took dance classes at age five.

Two years later, she appeared in soft-drink commercials for American TV before taking a role as an extra in the 1996 film Evita, starring Madonna.

She attended Bradon Forest School in Purton, near Swindon, but left at around the age of 12 after winning a scholarship to the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London.

Piper's career began when she was selected to appear on the Saturday morning children's television show Scratchy & Co. She later landed a role in a television commercial promoting the pop magazine Smash Hits.

In 1998, Piper released her debut studio album, Honey to the B, which was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

She was offered a record deal at the age of 15, and in 1998, became the youngest artist 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.

Piper's debut album Honey to the B was released immediately afterwards, and entered and peaked at number 14 on the UK Albums Chart, selling more than 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom alone along with a platinum certification, and a double-platinum certification in New Zealand, where it peaked at number three on the New Zealand Albums Chart.

However, Honey to the B found limited success in other territories, such as Australia, where it entered and peaked at number 31 on the ARIA Albums Chart despite the success of "Honey to the Bee", and in the US it went almost completely unnoticed, peaking at number 17 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart.

At the 1998 Smash Hits Poll Winners' party, Piper was nominated for Best New Act (for which she came second, it being won by B*Witched) and won Princess of Pop (she was the first to win this award).

She then released "She Wants You" as the third single from the album.

The song reached number three.

"Honey to the Bee" was released as the fourth single from the album; like the previous single, it reached number three.

At the same time, "She Wants You" was released in the US, reaching number 9 on the "Hot Club Dance Play" chart.

In 1999, Piper was nominated for two BRIT Awards and won two awards at the 1999 Smash Hits Poll Winners' party, although she was reduced to tears at the latter ceremony after being booed by fans of Ritchie Neville, whom she was dating at the time.

She then started to tour and release in Asia.

The singles and the album were released in mid- to late 1999.

In August of that year, the follow-up to "Because We Want To" was released in Japan, a single comprising "Girlfriend" and "She Wants You" combined.

She recorded a song for Pokémon: The First Movie titled "Makin' My Way (Any Way That I Can)".

During that time, Piper recorded her second album.

She decided to release further records under her full name of Billie Piper.

Her second studio album, Walk of Life, was released in 2000 and spawned her third number-one single, "Day & Night".

She returned to the Singles Chart in May 2000 with her third number-one single "Day & Night".

She waited until September to release "Something Deep Inside", which reached number four, but her success waned.

In October 2000, Piper released her second album, Walk of Life, which reached No. 14 in the UK Album Chart, but quickly fell off the charts and was certified silver in the UK.

The album charted in two other countries: New Zealand, where it reached No. 17, and Australia, where it peaked at No. 23.

In Piper's autobiography, she states that the album was a "commercial bomb".

The song "Walk of Life", the final single off the album, was released in December 2000 and reached No. 25 in the UK Singles Chart.

In February 2001, Piper appeared in court to testify against a woman named Juliet Peters.

In 2003, Piper announced that she had ended her music career to focus on acting.

Piper appeared in the BBC One sci-fi series Doctor Who as Rose Tyler, companion to the Doctor, as a regular between 2005 and 2006, and additionally in 2008, 2010, and 2013.

She starred as Belle de Jour in the drama series Secret Diary of a Call Girl (2007–2011), as Brona Croft/Lily in the Showtime horror series Penny Dreadful (2014–2016), and as Karen Mars in Netflix Original series Collateral (2018), for which she was nominated for a British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Piper has starred in five plays since 2007 and won the 2017 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for her performance in Yerma, described as a "generation's best".

She went on to win a total of six Best Actress awards for that performance, including the Olivier Award, making Piper the only actor to have won six out of an available six Best Actress awards for a single performance.

Piper co-created and starred in the Sky Atlantic series I Hate Suzie (2020–2022), for which she earned a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress in 2021 and 2023.