Emma Jane Fletcher was born in London, England. She was raised by her maternal grandparents and occasionally found herself in the care of her baby-sitter, the popular Irish singer Dana. Her birth mother was a model for Christian Dior, whilst her father was a member of the band The Gobbledegooks. The band found success in the 60's with a number of chart hits and toured as support act to the legendary soul singer Dusty Springfield and also to The Rolling Stones at The Royal Albert Hall.
Born into a show-business dynasty (her cousins are actor Warren Mitchell Till Death do us Part and In Sickness and in Health and writer Ronald Wolfe, On the Buses and The Rag Trade, her uncle Martin Drew was the drummer in Ronnie Scott's quintet and her great-uncle married legend Josephine Baker), Emma was bitten by the acting bug from a young age and became inspired by the art of performing early in life. From the age of five, she became actively involved with amateur dramatics, acting and singing and was later classically trained in piano.
Emma's career in the public eye started as a teenager, with a successful modelling career. Modelling various shoots for Cosmopolitan photographer Angelo Valentino and for the TV show The Clothes Show, she also appeared on the catwalk in the prestigious London department store Selfridges and at The Ministry of Sound, in conjunction with Flame Modes, Scene and OK! Magazines and Sky TV, alongside FHM's super-model, Lucy Becker. Emma recently modeled for a calendar shoot for Breakthrough Breast Cancer and The Firefighters' Benevolent Fund.
She later went on to train at the prestigious acting school East 15, on their classical theatre course. Immediately after graduating in October 2006, Emma understudied for both Sabina Franklyn (Full House) and Sarah Manners (Moving Wallpaper and the The Bill), in a national tour of Ian Dickens' production of The Decorator starring Leslie Grantham (EastEnders).
After The Decorator Emma was offered her first commercial, becoming the face of the advertising campaign for Activia Yoghurt in the UK, alongside British presenter Nell McAndrew. On the back of this advert, she found herself being offered a number of acting roles and it wasn't long before she started carrying out many high profile productions, both on stage and in film.
Since this time, her theatre credits include: the lead of Elfriede Geiringer at London's famous Criterion Theatre and UK tour of the award winning play And then they came for me - Remembering the World of Anne Frank. This production of the show, which was directed by politician Nic Careem in association with Anne Frank's stepsister Doctor Eva Schloss, was the first theatre production to perform at London's Scotland Yard. Emma reprised her role in 2011 for a special one-off performance filmed for British Television. Other theatre performances include Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues, in association with The Helen Bamber Foundation (chaired by actress Emma Thompson), at London's Gatehouse theatre and a main character in the play The Muddy Pool, by new writer Jill Bristow. The play was chosen by acclaimed author Fay Weldon for an award, as part of The Windsor Marriott awards. Emma also reprised this role in 2011 as part of the renowned Lost Theatre Company's annual festival. She also appeared as Wanda in The Power and the Glory at London's prestigious Soho Theatre in a night of one-act plays, alongside actress Alicia Duvall. More recently she has appeared onstage as co-lead to legendary actress Hildegard Neil (Antony and Cleopatra and The Professionals) and television star Ben Onwukwe (London's Burning) in Stephen Hunt's play Impossible Steps (a.k.a. I Am Not An I) and as part of the ensemble in Ditch, at Kevin Spacey's The Old Vic Theatre in London. She has also taken the lead in a rehearsed reading for director Peter-Frank Dewulf, for the new play Into the darkness at the famous Shakespeare Globe in London.
Television commercial credits have seen Emma appear as lead in a number of prolific TV commercials such as: The No! No! hair removal, Wink Bingo, Balfor Legal and Claims Today Solicitors, Andrea Bocelli's album release, The Circulation Booster, Nintendo, Gamucci, Lytess Body Shaper, Relate, Juvederm, JML, Lightwave, the Light n Easy range (UK & US airings), The Snore Wizard and Scale Wizard, Tampap, My WUN, We Read For You, Lyons Learning, AMV Internet dating and more recently in a commercial for a new game show produced by international entrepreneur Youcef Aden. She was also in the series of popular British television adverts for the 118 118 telephone campaign and more recently could be found promoting a new product called the Ecoegg, alongside Britain's famous Queen of Clean, Kim Woodburn (commercial nominated for an award). Emma also filmed a commercial against DVD and Film piracy, for well known film company Constantine Film AG. Virals include: BT, JD Wetherspoon, Virgin, Twinings Tea, Kraft Foods, Homebase, Argos, Hypnia, Zleeps, the Ministry of Defence and a series of infomercials for the NHS. She also carried out a TV ident for American owned channel Current TV and a viral for Simple TV in association with the British Film Institute. More recently she filmed an ident for Bizcrowd and CNBC, in sponsorship with The Business Class Show. Photo-stills include: Halifax and T-Mobile international campaigns, Sony VAIO, Pilsner beer, The War Against Rape and a series of shots for Getty Images. Additionally Emma has also recently been turned into a 3D CGI character for a commercial for Bold washing powder, which was aired in both Britain and the US. One of Emma's latest television appearances also saw her playing a cheeky wedding guest in a mock-up of Will and Kate's Royal Wedding, for a series of short vignettes filmed for the competition slot, for the popular British morning television show, The Lorraine Show, on ITV's Daybreak.
Emma's film & television credits include cameo appearances alongside Frazer Hines in full-length feature Two Days in the Smoke, starring Matt Di Angelo, Velibor Topic and Stephen Marcus and Darkly Dreaming Billy Ward, which was partly directed by award-winning director Ian David Diaz. She has also taken lead roles in two of director Paul Burton's films for satellite television, Amy and Resentment, playing alongside Vicki Michelle (Allo Allo! and Emmerdale) in the latter. More recently Emma played the controversial Tudor, Queen Elizabeth, in Season 2 of Parthenon's ever popular, award winning television series The Mystery Files, which aired on both the National Geographic Channel in the UK and Discovery Channel in the USA. Emma has also appeared as one of the main characters in a DramaNet and Evans & Finch Production of the children's soap Children of Herne. In 2011 she played a school teacher in director Obi Emelonye's multi-award winning feature The Mirror Boy. The film, which was profiled by CNN on their New Nigeria Cinema trail on the Inside Africa programme and also by Afrobuzz and The Magazine Show on Ben TV, won 17 awards, including 3 African Movie Academy Awards (AMMAs). The film sold out on its first day of release, making it the biggest opener for Odeon Cinemas in the UK. Other film work has seen Emma play the sufferer of Bi-Polar disorder in a feature length film for award winning company Artefacts Edutainment, in association with the famous British theatre the Albany, titled Hoods n Halos.
She can also be found on screen in various music videos for bands Diamond Chique, playing a 40's movie star alongside Leon Lopez (Brookside), the lead role in the chart-topping dance video Hold On for the band Tune Shock, playing the lead of a nefarious mother in rock band Sanguine's music video For love and a brief appearance in If You Allow Him, by up and coming new rap artist Lemoy the Siamese Empress. Emma also played a Hillbilly in KTD's first music video release, Intimacy Dies, directed by Matthew Cummins and prestigious, world renowned, DP Genki McClure (Captain America: The First Avenger). She more recently appeared as a dancer in a music video with up and coming, exciting new band Rebel Control, for their new single Whine Your Body Down. Emma was also featured in Dizzee Rascal's comeback video 'Bassline Junkie' and Kwes' music video 'Bashful' and plays a lead role in Laady MJ Warrior's video 'Keep on Fighting' as well as in Shawn Ward aka FM Attack's re-release of his track 'Sleepless Nights'.
Emma's singing credits include: Friday nights at Bill and Tom Kenwright's restaurant Azzuro, singing her own compositions at the London Palladium, at Cutting Crew Tony Moore's famous Kashmir Klub and also at the premiere of Drew Barrymore's film Never Been Kissed. She also appeared again at the London Palladium in the charity performance Broadway Melodies.
She also found herself following her father's footsteps and treading the famous tiles of the Royal Albert Hall stage in 2011, for a charity performance in aid of MacMillan Cancer. The performance For Dusty was in memory of the late, great 'white lady of soul' Dusty Springfield. The show was directed by renowned musical director Matthew Jones and celebrated Dusty's work with performances from a host of stars, ranging from both past and present alike, including: Mike Hurst and The Springfields, Joanna Marie, Lucie Silvas, Kenny Lynch, Mica Paris, Julie Felix, Rick Astley, Hazel O'Connor, Dennis Locorriere, Shelby Lynne, Carol Decker and Boy George. Other music work includes producing studio recordings for the BBC and working with music producer and composer Roger Limb from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. She has also worked with prolific record producer Denis Ingoldsby (First Avenue Records) and Guy Sigalov (OptiMusic).
Emma has also presented on television for the channels R.E.D. TV and Legal TV and hosted Vox Pops for actress Aisylene Horgan Wallace's Celebrity Stars at Work.
In February 2011 Emma launched her autobiography If the Shoe Fits both in the UK and the USA. The book launch in the States took place at the Doctor Who Catch 22, Gallifrey One Convention. She also appeared in the live game-show for TV and radio Just a Minute, at the convention, alongside fellow actors Chase Masterson (Star Trek and Deep Space) and Ian McNeice (Doctor Who and Winston Churchill), comic writers Richard Dinnick and Tony Lee (Doctor Who) and Ken Deep.
She was offered lead roles in television commercials for All Bran Cereal and The Saturday Times and approached to star in the Minxy Bingo TV commercial. She was also offered a featured role in a music video for the band Lightspeed Champion. She had to turn all four roles down due to other acting commitments. The latter was to be filmed by director Saam Farahmand at Partizan Films, who is renowned for shooting videos for Janet Jackson. More recently Emma was approached by director Obi Emelonye to play a pilot in his film The Last Flight to Abuja, alongside leading Hollywood star Hakeem Kae-Kazim (24, Lost, Pirates of the Caribbean and X-Men: Wolverine). Unfortunately Emma had to turn the role down due to a prior commitment to another acting project.
