Fantine
Ruthie Henshall
was born on March 7 in Bromley, the youngest of four daughters to parents
David and Gloria. Beginning with ballet classes whilst still at
school,
Ruthie eventually attended Laine Theatre Arts and was determined to make
the stage her career. Pantomime and summer seasons gave her the initial
taste,
the excitement
and the love of entertaining, and she successfully auditioned for the national
tour of 'A Chorus Line' in which she played Maggie, followed closely by
her first
West End show 'Cats'. Then followed by Ellen in 'Miss Saigon', Aphra in
'Children of Eden', a season at Chichester in 'Henry VIII', Moliere's 'Sisterhood'
and 'Valentine's
Day' based on Shaw's You never Can Tell and Fantine in 'Les Miserables'.
She was chosen to play Polly in 'Crazy For You' at the Prince Edward
Theatre
directed by Mike Ockrent and more recently played Amalia Balash in 'She
Loves Me' at the Savoy Theatre, directed by Scott Ellis, for which she
won the
1995 Laurence
Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Concert appearences include
the Royal Albert Hall, 'Ruthie Henshall in Concert' at the Royal Festival
Hall, a
number of appearances with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and recordings of
'Miss Saigon', 'Crazy For You', 'She Loves Me', 'Godspell', 'Children of
Eden'
and her
own debut album 'Love is Here to Stay' - A Celebration of Gershwin. More
recently Ruthie led musical stars from the West End in the annual 'National
Music
Day Singalong'
for Radio 2 at the Royal Albert Hall.