Laura Rollins

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Laura Rollins
Born (1984-12-20) 20 December 1984 (age 36)
Birmingham, England
Education
OccupationActress
TelevisionDoctors

Laura Rollins (born 20 December 1984)[1] is an actress, known for portraying the role of Ayesha Lee on the BBC soap opera Doctors, a role which she played from September 2014 to June 2020. For her portrayal of Ayesha, Rollins won the award for Best Female Dramatic Performance at the RTS Midlands Awards.

Life and career[]

Rollins began her acting training at the Carlton Junior Television Workshop, and while studying there, she made her television debut on the children's series The Demon Headmaster at the age of 10.[2] She was also featured in various advertisements and performed at the British Academy Children's Awards.[3] After leaving the workshop, Rollins began attending the University of Leeds, studying English and Theatre. She then did a one-year course at Arts Educational Schools in London.[3] In 1999, she starred in Welcome To Orty Fou as Caroline Saunders.[4]

In 2013, Rollins appeared in the feature film Communion, and in 2014, she auditioned for a role in the BBC soap opera Doctors. She took a sick day from work to attend the audition, and after a two-week process, she was given the role of Ayesha Lee.[4][5] Whilst on the series, Rollins' character's storylines included romances with co-workers Sid Vere (Ashley Rice) and Bear Sylvester (Dex Lee), facing prejudice due to her race and troubled upbringing, and struggling with her mother's alcoholism and subsequent death, for which she won a Royal Television Society award for Best Female Dramatic Performance.[6][7] She then starred in the 2016 short film From Noya,[8][9] and the 2018 short film Shining Tor, for which she won Best Performance for at the 2019 Short Film Awards.[10] In January 2020, Rollins appeared in an episode of the BBC crime drama Silent Witness as Kate Langley.[11] On 20 May 2020, it was announced that Rollins would be leaving Doctors after six years in the role of Ayesha.[12] Her final scenes aired on 5 June 2020.[13] In 2021, she starred in the second series of the ITV drama Innocent.[14]

Filmography[]

2018 Antique Maia Short film
1998 The Demon Headmaster Game Show Winner 1 episode
1999 Welcome to Orty-Fou Caroline Saunders 4 episodes
2013 Communion Anna Film
2014–2020 Doctors Ayesha Lee Series regular
2016 From Noya Paige Short film
2018 Details to Follow Gaia Short film
2018 The Reserves Jamie Also executive producer
2018 Shining Tor Amber Short film
2019 That Phone Call Willow Short film
2020 Silent Witness Kate Langley Episode: "Hope: Part 1"
2020 Fortune Cookie Natalie Short film
2021 Innocent DS Suzy Jones Main role[15]

Awards and nominations[]

Year Award Category Work Result Ref.
2015 Screen Nation Female Performance in TV Doctors Nominated [16]
2016 The British Soap Awards Best Actress Doctors Longlisted [17]
2018 National Television Awards Serial Drama Performance Doctors Longlisted [18]
2018 The British Soap Awards Best Female Dramatic Performance Doctors Nominated [19][20]
2018 RTS Midlands Awards Best Female Dramatic Performance Doctors Won [21]
2018 Inside Soap Awards Best Daytime Star Doctors Longlisted [22]
2019 The British Soap Awards Best Actress Doctors Longlisted [23]
2019 Short Film Awards Best Performance Shining Tor Won [10]

References[]

  1. ^ Rollins, Laura [@IanMalcolmsWife] (21 December 2019). "Thank you for my birthday well wishes yesterday. I felt very loved.