Verity Rushworth

Verity Charlotte Rushworth (born 15 August 1985) is an English actress. She is known for portraying the role of Donna Windsor in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale from 1998 to 2009, with a guest appearance in 2014. She has twice played leading roles in various West End theatre productions, amongst many other theatre roles throughout the UK, and in 2020, she began appearing in the BBC soap opera Doctors as Lily Walker.

Verity Rushworth
Rushworth in April 2009
Born
Verity Charlotte Rushworth

(1985-08-15) 15 August 1985
Bradford, West Yorkshire, England
OccupationActress
Years active1997–present
TelevisionEmmerdale
Doctors
Spouse(s)
Dominic Michael Shaw
​
​
(m. 2013)​
Children2

Life and career

Rushworth attended St. Mary's Catholic High School, Menston.[1][2] In 1997, Rushworth had small roles in ITV television programmes such as Heartbeat, and in 1998, at the age of 12, she went on to play her most notable role of Donna Windsor in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale, having taken over the role from Sophie Jeffery who played the part from 1993 to 1997.[3] 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.[4]

From 2 February 2009, she made her West End debut by playing the role of Penny Pingleton in a production of Hairspray, taking over the role from Elinor Collett.[5] Rushworth then played the leading role of Maria Von trap in the 2011 UK tour of The Sound of Music for Andrew Lloyd Webber which led to many other theatre roles for her. She took on the role of Velma in Chicago at Curve Theatre, Leicester from November 2013 to January 2014 [6] 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.[7] On the 2016 tour of the Breakfast at Tiffany's, she shared the role of Holly Golightly with Pixie Lott.[8] She then appeared in the West End production of Kinky Boots until from 2017 to 2018.[9] In June 2020, she began appearing in the BBC soap opera Doctors as receptionist Lily Walker.[10]

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1997 Heartbeat Lucy Keen Episode: "Friendly Fire"
1998–2009, 2014 Emmerdale Donna Windsor Series regular; 1311 episodes
2007 Soapstar Superstar Herself Contestant
2007 Soapstar Superchef Herself Contestant
2020–present Doctors Lily Walker Recurring role

Stage

References
  1. "The West End Girl: Meet Leeds' own Verity Rushworth INTERVIEW". www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 January 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  2. "Rawdon's Verity comes home in musical classic". Wharfedale Observer. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  3. Derbyshire Council (Verity Rushworth interview) Archived 9 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Doctors spoilers: Ex-Emmerdale star Verity Rushworth guest stars". What's on TV. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  5. Playbill.com Archived 22 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. Brown, David (8 January 2014). "Emmerdale: Verity Rushworth to return as Marlon's ex-wife Donna". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 8 January 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  8. "Verity Rushworth To Star In Richard Greenberg's Adaption Of Breakfast At Tiffany's". 10 November 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  9. "Exclusive: First look at Simon-Anthony Rhoden and Verity Rushworth in Kinky Boots". WhatsOnStage. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  10. Director: Merlyn Rice; Producer: Caroline Slater; Executive Producer: Mike Hobson (9 June 2020). "Wild Assumptions". Doctors. BBC. BBC One. Archived from the original on 8 June 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  11. Mark Shenton (10 May 2012). "The Stage / Reviews / Merrily We Roll Along". Thestage.co.uk. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  12. "Simon-Anthony Rhoden and Verity Rushworth join Kinky Boots cast". 5 May 2017. Archived from the original on 17 August 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
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