Rushworth attended
St. Mary's Catholic High School, Menston. In 1997, Rushworth had small roles in
ITV television programmes such as
Heartbeat, and in 1998, at the age of 12, she took on her most notable role,
Donna Windsor in the
ITV soap opera
Emmerdale. She took the role over from Sophie Jeffery, who played the part from 1993 to 1997. After appearing on
Emmerdale for over 10 years, Rushworth filmed her final scenes at the end of 2008 which were later aired in January 2009. From 2 February 2009, she made her West End debut in the role of
Penny Pingleton in a production of
Hairspray, taking over the role from Elinor Collett. Rushworth then played the leading role of Maria von Trapp in the 2011 UK tour of
The Sound of Music, before taking on the role of Velma in
Chicago at Curve Theatre, Leicester from November 2013 to January 2014. On 6 January 2014, it was announced that Rushworth would be returning to
Emmerdale to reprise the role of Donna, after a five-year-absence. Rushworth began filming in February, and returned on screen on 19 March 2014. It was announced that she would be back as Donna for 5 months and departed on 15 August 2014. She shared the role of Holly Golightly with
Pixie Lott during the 2016 tour of ''
Breakfast at Tiffany's. She then appeared in the West End production of Kinky Boots until from 2017 to 2018. In June 2020, she began appearing in the BBC soap opera Doctors'' as receptionist
Lily Walker, making her final appearance in February 2021. ==Filmography==