Brian Conley

Conley was born on 7 August 1961 in Paddington, London. His father, Colin, was a taxi driver, later working for the BBC in production as a prop man, including for BBC outside broadcast units. His brother, Alan, is a BBC floor manager, including for Strictly Come Dancing. Conley was brought up in Kilburn, North West London, and studied Performing Arts at the Barbara Speake Stage School. As a teenager, Conley had a few minor television appearances, including a commercial for hot dogs and a small role in a 1977 episode of the science fiction series Survivors. At the age of 16, by lying about his age, Conley started work as a Pontin's Bluecoat. ==Career==

Conley's first major showbusiness success was fronting a comedy showband called Tomfoolery, who performed in pubs and clubs across England and Wales, sometimes as a support act for artists such as Johnny Mathis and the Nolans. In 1995, He played Al Jolson in the musical Jolson at the Victoria Palace Theatre, which went on to win the prestigious award of Best New Musical at the 1996 Laurence Olivier Awards, and Conley himself was nominated for Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. On 7 November 2012, ITV confirmed that Conley would feature in the 2012 series of ''I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!''. On 19 November 2012, Brian left the jungle on medical grounds. On 18 August 2017, it was announced that Conley would be taking part in the fifteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing. He was partnered with Welsh professional dancer Amy Dowden. Conley and Dowden were voted off the show in Week 5 after their Jive to Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual". In February 2021, it was announced that he would be joining the BBC soap opera EastEnders as series regular Terry Cant, the long-lost father of established character Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy). However, it was later revealed that his character was not Terry Cant and was in fact Tom "Rocky" Cotton. In September 2023, Conley confirmed that he had decided to leave EastEnders. He spoke at length about his exit from Albert Square during his appearance on award-winning motoring podcast Fuelling Around. Conley was on the show to talk about motoring, one of his biggest passions away from the stage and screen. In December 2024, Conley starred as Billy Barnum at the Bristol Hippodrome's pantomime production of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. ==Film, television and theatre credits==

Television As title star • Brian Conley: This Way Up (1989–90) • The Brian Conley Show (1992–95) • Time After Time (1994–95) – as Kenny Conway • Jolson (as Al Jolson), Victoria Palace Theatre, 1995–98 • Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (as Caractacus Potts), London Palladium, 2005, Palace Theatre, Manchester and Birmingham Hippodrome, 2006 • Hairspray (as Edna Turnblad), Shaftesbury Theatre, 2009–10 and UK tour, 2010 ==Discography==

• Sings (Columbia, 1993 and 2002) • Stage to Stage (Telstar Records, 1996) • Songs from the Shows (Music Digital, 2002) • Brian Conley Sings (Sony, 2002) • Let the Good Times Roll (Universal, 2002) ==Awards and nominations==

;Wins • 1995 National Television Awards, Most Popular Comedy Performer • 2004 Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards, Most Popular Performer • 2008 TMA Best Performance in a Musical Award for The Music Man ;Nominations • 1996 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical for Jolson • 2000 National Television Awards, Most Popular Comedy Performer ==References==