Lorna Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald in 2016
Born
Lorna Katie Fitzgerald

(1996-04-17) 17 April 1996[1][2]
Northampton, England
OccupationActress
Years active2005–present

Lorna Katie Fitzgerald (born 17 April 1996)[1][2] is a British actress from Northampton. Her most notable role to date is that of Abi Branning in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders. Since leaving EastEnders in January 2018, Fitzgerald has developed her acting career on the stage and in movies.

Personal life

Fitzgerald started attending Stagecoach Drama Classes at the age of four.[3] She has two older sisters and is a keen dancer.[4] Fitzgerald also plays the guitar.[4][5]

In November 2009, Fitzgerald was involved in a charity project in Northampton called Talking With Hands, a charity for people with hearing impairments and deafness. The project featured on ITV's Anglia News, alongside deaf actor Alex Nowak, and Fitzgerald helped with this project.[6]

Career

Fitzgerald has appeared in the Casualty episode "Animals",[4][5][7] and a short film called Big Girl, Little Girl.[3][8] She also appeared in the ITV drama The Golden Hour,[5] as well as playing Sarah Lancashire's daughter Jade Cannings in Cherished,[4][5][9] and Young Bex in According to Bex.[10] She has appeared in adverts for Childline and Nescafe.

After attending acting classes, Fitzgerald joined the Stagecoach Theatre Arts School in Stony Stratford, and Derngate Theatre School.[3] Her agent put her forward for a role in BBC One soap opera EastEnders, and after attending three auditions[3] she was cast as Abi Branning. She made her first appearance as Abi in July 2006.[11] On 10 September 2017, it was announced that Fitzgerald would be leaving the role after almost 12 years, with her exit airing on 19 January 2018.[12]

Fitzgerald made her professional stage debut in February 2018, starring as Jackie Dimmock in the world premiere of Howard Brenton's The Shadow Factory in Nuffield Theatre, Southampton.[13] She won acclaim for her debut performance[14][15][16] and was shortlisted in the nominations for 'Best actress in a Play' at The Stage Debut Awards.[17] In October 2018, Fitzgerald played the role of Eve Douglas in the regional premiere of Her Naked Skin by Rebecca Lenkiewicz at Salisbury Playhouse[18][19]

Sustaining an early 20th century theme, in 2019 Fitzgerald starred as Iris Henderson in a stage version of Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes. Adapted for stage by Bill Kenwright, this was a seven month National Tour.[20] Later in 2019 Fitzgerald was cast alongside Joan Collins and Luke Goss in the UK Comedy Drama Movie The Loss Adjuster. Filming began in October 2019, with release due on 1 December 2020.[21] The movie is a straight to DVD release due to COVID-19.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
2005 Cherished Jade Cannings Television film
2005 According to Bex Young Bex TV series
2005 Casualty Polly Farrell Episode: "Animals"
2005 The Golden Hour Jasmine Campbell 1 episode
2006–2018 EastEnders Abi Branning Series regular; 917 episodes
2019 London Kills Petra Roscoe 1 episode
2020 The Loss Adjuster Emeline Film.[22][23]

Stage credits

Year Title Role Venue
2018 The Shadow Factory Jackie Dimmock Nuffield Southampton Theatre
2018 Her Naked Skin Eve Douglas Salisbury Playhouse
2019 The Lady Vanishes Iris Henderson National Tour

Awards and nominations

YearCeremonyAwardWorkResult
2010Inside Soap AwardsBest Young Actor[24]EastEndersShortlisted
2012British Soap AwardsBest Young Performance[25]Won
2014Radio 1 Teen AwardsBest British Actor[26]Won
2015Inside Soap AwardsBest Bad Girl[27]Longlisted
2017Inside Soap AwardsBest Partnership (with Aaron Sidwell)[28]Longlisted
2017Inside Soap AwardsBest Bad Girl [29]Shortlisted
2018Inside Soap AwardsBest Exit [30]Longlisted
2018The Stage Debut AwardsBest Actress in a Play [31]The Shadow FactoryShortlisted

References

  1. 1 2 Lorna Fitzgerald on Twitter: "Thanks for all your messages. But it's not actually my birthday until April.. Is it wrong if I still celebrate today with cake? #2birthdays🎂"
  2. 1 2 Madeline Duggan on Twitter: "So excited to see @LornaFitz0 tonight I could explode... "OMG it's ABI from eastenders" that's what I'll be shouting #birthdaygirl"
  3. 1 2 3 4 Brosnan, Anna (18 May 2006). "Lorna's off to Albert Square". Northants Evening Telegraph. Johnston Press. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2008.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "BBC – EastEnders – Characters & Cast – Lorna Fitzgerald". BBC. Archived from the original on 17 August 2009. Retrieved 27 June 2008.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Lorna Fitzgerald on IMDb". Internet Movie Database. Archived from the original on 27 March 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2008.
  6. ↑ "Call to help deaf charity to £30,000 TV windfall". Northampton Chronicle and Echo. 18 November 2009. Archived from the original on 20 November 2009. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
  7. ↑ "Casualty – Animals (Season 19 Episode 28)". LocateTV. Archived from the original on 15 April 2009. Retrieved 29 June 2008.
  8. ↑ "Big Girl, Little Girl – BBC Film Network". BBC. 19 March 2007. Archived from the original on 25 August 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
  9. ↑ "Cherished". LocateTV. Archived from the original on 15 April 2009. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  10. ↑ "Lorna Fitzgerald – Actor". LocateTV. Archived from the original on 1 February 2009. Retrieved 29 June 2008.
  11. ↑ "BBC – EastEnders – Characters & Cast – Abi Branning". BBC. Archived from the original on 18 September 2009. Retrieved 29 June 2008.
  12. ↑ "EastEnders cast shake-up sees Jacqueline Jossa and Lorna Fitzgerald written out as Lauren and Abi Branning". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. 29 November 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  13. ↑ "EastEnders' Lorna Fitzgerald on Abi exit and new project". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. 31 January 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  14. ↑ "Review: The Shadow Factory, NST City, Southampton". Southern Daily Echo. 19 February 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  15. ↑ "Review: The Shadow Factory at NST City". The Edge. 16 February 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  16. ↑ "Theatre Review | The Shadow Factory – Nuffield Southampton Theatres". Jo Fisher Writes. 19 February 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  17. ↑ "The Stage Debut Awards 2018: the nominees in full". The Stage. The Stage Media Company Limited. 16 August 2018. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  18. ↑ "Casting Announced For Regional Premiere Of Rebecca Lenkiewicz's HER NAKED SKIN". Broadway World. Wisdom Digital Media. 9 August 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  19. ↑ "Her Naked Skin review at Salisbury Playhouse – 'a timely revival'". The Stage. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  20. ↑ "The Lady Vanishes UK Tour". British Theatre.com. BRITISHTHEATRE.COM. 13 November 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  21. ↑ "The Loss Adjuster". imdb.com. IMDb.com. December 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  22. ↑ "EastEnders star Lorna Fitzgerald moves in on movie role with Luke Goss". Metro. 5 December 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  23. ↑ The Loss Adjuster, retrieved 5 December 2019
  24. ↑ "In Full: Inside Soap Awards 2010 Nominees". Digital Spy. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  25. ↑ "British Soap Awards 2012 – winners in full". Digital Spy. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  26. ↑ "BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards Winners 2014". BBC. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  27. ↑ "Inside Soap Awards 2015 longlist". Digital Spy. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  28. ↑ "The Inside Soap Awards 2017 Nominations are revealed". Metro. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  29. ↑ "Revealed – the final four nominations in the Inside Soap Awards 2017". Inside Soap. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  30. ↑ "Inside Soap Awards 2018 full longlist revealed". Inside Soap. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  31. ↑ "Aidan Turner, Adrienne Warren and Bryan Cranston among The Stage Debut Awards nominees". Retrieved 19 August 2018.
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