Background information

Birth name Martine Kimberley Sherri Ponting
Born May 14, 1976 (age 30)
Origin London, England
Genre(s) Pop, adult contemporary
Occupation(s) Singer, actress
Years active 1992–1994 (group)
1999–2002 (solo)
Label(s) Polydor Records
(1992–1994)
Virgin Records
(1999–2002)

Martine McCutcheon (born Martine Kimberley Sherri Ponting[1] on May 14, 1976) is an English singer, television personality and Olivier award-winning actress.

Early life
McCutcheon was born at the Salvation Army Mothers Hospital in Hackney, London, England, when her mother Jenny was just 19. She endured a turbulent early childhood due to the abusive and irrational behaviour of her drug-addict father, Thomas Hemmings.[2] Her earliest memory of her father is him dangling her over a balcony by her ankles, 30ft up in the air, threatening to drop her unless her mother did what he wanted.[3] Despite her father leaving when McCutcheon was 2 years old, he would return periodically to threaten her mother, so her early years were spent running and hiding in order to escape him. When McCutcheon was nine, her mother finally won sole custody and an injunction was made against her father seeing her until she was 18.[3]

When McCutcheon was 10, her mother met and married window cleaner John McCutcheon (the father of Martine's younger brother), which led to Martine taking her step-father's surname.[2] She knew she wanted to be a performer from a young age, but as her family couldn't afford the fees for a drama school, she had to find an alternative method to learn her trade. McCutcheon met a woman at a local dance-class who had been to the Italia Conti stage school and suggested it would be a good environment for her. After a persuasive letter from McCutcheon, a Church of England trust agreed to sponsor her. She trained after school and every Saturday (learning tap, ballet, jazz, and drama) in order to catch up with the more privileged children who were competing with her for a place at the prestigious school.[2]

Career
At the age of 12 McCutcheon obtained her first acting role and was paid £350 to appear in an American television commercial for the drink, Kool-Aid, which was followed by modelling assignments and bit parts in TV shows such as in the ITV police drama The Bill.[2] By the time she was 15, she had formed an all-girl band, 'Milan', with two fellow students and landed a record contract and a gig touring as the 'warm up' group for the British Boyband, East 17. Milan were reasonably successful. They entered the dance charts three times but were not successful enough for McCutcheon who didn't like playing in seedy clubs and she ended up leaving the group.[2]

Mainstream success
Her unwavering determination finally paid off in 1995 when, while working as a shopgirl at 'Knickerbox', McCutcheon was offered the small part of Tiffany Raymond on the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders. As McCutcheon received more exposure from the soap, press interest also increased, and what should have been a triumphant experience was marred in 1996 by a series of salacious stories sold to the press, first by her father and then by her boyfriend, Gareth Cooke.[2] Despite this, the role of Tiffany grew, as did McCutcheon's popularity, and 22 million viewers tuned in to see her final scenes in Albert Square in 1998, when her character was killed in a special episode screened on New Years Eve.[4] In reality McCutcheon had decided to quit the soap in order to embark on a pop career, and the death of her on-screen character was not viewed favourably by the actress. Since leaving the show she has publicly slammed Mal Young, the executive producer who made the decision to kill her character, for treating her unfairly and bringing her role to an end so irrevocably merely to punish her for quitting.[2] In turn, Young has hit back at McCutcheon, saying that her anger only arose because she wanted him to keep her role in EastEnders open as a 'safety net' in case her pop career failed and he was not prepared to do this. McCutcheon has subsequently written an autobiography entitled Who Does She Think She Is?: My Autobiography , which depicts a less than favourable account of the producer.[2]

Pop career

In 1999 McCutcheon unleashed herself as a new solo pop-artist with Virgin Records, surprising critics and doubters alike by scoring a number 1 in the UK Singles Chart with the ballad Perfect Moment (originally recorded by Edyta Górniak in 1997). The song was a global success reaching number 1 not only in the UK, but in Israel, Italy, Switzerland & Ireland too. That same year she scored two more top 10 hits, reaching number 6 with the singles I've Got You and later Talking in Your Sleep, which featured the AA Side Love Me, an album track that was re-recorded for the Children in Need appeal with all proceeds being donated to that cause. All three singles were taken from her debut album You, Me and Us, which peaked at number 2 in the British Album charts and was certified as double platinum.

In 2000 McCutcheon released her second album Wishing, which was less successful, charting at number 25 in the UK album charts. The album spawned two singles - the number 2 hit I'm Over You and her follow up song On The Radio, which was famously used as the theme tune for Hibernian striker Amadou Konte. Despite only peaking at #25 the album still managed to sell around 250,000 copies. McCutcheon released her third album Musicality, a Broadway influenced cover album, in 2002. It reached number 55 in the albums charts, however her pop career stalled when due to poor sales her contract was cancelled.[2]

McCutcheon is currently in the process of recording what will be her 4th studio album 'Funkship', due to be released in late 2007.


[edit] Film, stage, television appearances and other work
McCutcheon went on to play Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady in London's West End. Despite being plagued by health problems during her run, she won the award for best actress in a musical at the 2002 Laurence Olivier Awards.

In 2002 McCutcheon presented the National music awards for ITV1.

In 2003 McCutcheon featured in her first major film role. She appeared as tea-lady Natalie in the Richard Curtis romantic comedy Love Actually, where the British Prime Minister (played by Hugh Grant) falls in love with McCutcheon's character. The film received good reviews and was a box office smash. McCutcheon headed off to America in the wake of the film's success, but a Hollywood career failed to materialise. She did however, win Best Trans-atlantic breakthrough at the 2004 MTV Movie Awards.

In 2004 Martine, along with many other global stars, featured in a promotional film for London's successful bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

In 2004 Martine McCutcheon: Behind the Scenes - A Personal Diary, a book published by Harper Collins was released.

In September 2005 she appeared in two episodes of hit BBC drama series Spooks, playing a waitress who witnesses a terrorist bombing. In December of the same year, she took part in the Christmas Day edition of ITV's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? with Louis Walsh as well as appearing on the Christmas Eve edition of Parkinson (also on ITV1).

In December 2005 she released the Martine McCutcheon: Dance body workout, a fitness DVD and presented and performed on the entertainment programme Moviemusic mania.

One of her latest projects was screened on the UK television station ITV in December 2005. In The English Harem she played a woman in love with a Muslim man (Art Malik), who marries him despite knowing he already has two wives.

In August 2006, the supermarket chain, Tesco, announced that they would be using McCutcheon in a series of adverts to promote a new green scheme for recycling used plastic carrier bags.[5] She is also the new face of the washing powder brand, Lenor.

McCutcheon is currently working on two acting projects entitled Withdrawal (2006) & Jump! (2006).

In January 2007, Martine was a judge in the second series of ITV1's Soapstar Superstar. Her appearance on the show drew criticism, with reports alleging that she was becoming a hate figure for the contestants who are said to have found her comments relentlessly critical and at times patronising.[6]

Personal life
McCutcheon's turbulent love life has been widely documented in the British media.

McCutcheon was engaged to DJ Gareth Cooke, but broke off the relationship in 1996 and he then sold salacious stories of their sex life to the press.[7]

Following this McCutcheon thought she'd found happiness with a friend and lover, Jonathan Barnham, but that relationship soured with a reported miscarriage and the revelation that Barnham had attended sex parties behind her back.[2] McCutcheon also had to stump up £75,000 in bail money for him, when he and his father were charged with importing cannabis into the UK.[8] McCutcheon ended the relationship in 2001 after allegedly discovering a string of his affairs and withdrew the bail surety.[9]

In 2001 McCutcheon started dating actor Steve John Shepherd, who played her brother in TV drama The Knock. McCutcheon ended their seven-month relationship when she became fed-up of reading about how he was cheating on her in the press.[8]

McCutcheon then settled down with property developer James Tanner. The couple dated for over a year but had to shrug off speculation about Tanner's link with the TV presenter Sophie McDonnell. The couple eventually split in 2004, allegedly for career reasons.[7]

Among the other men McCutcheon's been romantically linked with are EastEnders co-star Paul Nicholls, snooker player Ronnie O'Sullivan, and Simply Red singer Mick Hucknall.[10]


[edit] Paparazzi
McCutcheon, like many celebrities, has had her run-ins with the paparazzi. In late 2000 she was photographed topless while swimming in a private pool along with her boyfriend. When she realized the paparazzi were watching she continued to swim nude, even stopping to smile at the camera several times. The smiling turned to posing and the violation of her privacy became an impromptu magazine spread, earning McCutcheon several thousand pounds from British taboid The Sun. This remains the only time McCutcheon has appeared nude on camera.

Trivia
The notorious website Popbitch credited her with inventing the phrase 'Pop and Chop' , relating to recreational use of combining the drug cocaine and champagne.
McCutcheon appeared in the video for Caribbean Blue by Enya, playing a fairy.
Martine was a bridesmaid to Liza Minnelli at her wedding to David Gest in 2002.
McCutcheon gave only the minimum number of performances in My Fair Lady, to qualify for the Olivier award. Her understudy gave the bulk of the performances. When her name was read out at the ceremony, Jonathan Pryce (McCutcheon's co-star) was so shocked at this announcement that he simply put his head in his hands and shook his head, rather than make the effort to applaude her. Footage of this behaviour is now used by RADA to teach aspiring actors how not to respond at an awards ceremony.[citation needed]
Despite many valiant attempts, Martine has never learned to swim
McCutcheon's single 'Perfect Moment' was on the soundtrack of the popular Taiwanese Drama, "Meteor Garden."

Discography

[edit] Albums
Cover Information
You Me & Us
Released: 1999
Chart positions: #2 UK
UK certification: Double Platinum
UK sales: 660.000
Worldwide sales: 800.000

Wishing
Released: 2000
Chart positions: #25 UK
UK certification: Gold
UK sales: 255.000
Worldwide sales: 300.000

Musicality
Released: 2002
Chart positions: #55 UK
UK certification: Silver
UK sales: 50.000
Worldwide sales: 60.000

Funkship
Released: 2007
Chart positions: TBR
UK certification: TBR
UK sales: TBR
Worldwide sales: TBR

Singles
Year Single Album Chart positions Uk Certification
UK IRE CH ITA IL
1999 Perfect Moment "You Me & Us" 1 1 1 1 1 Platinum
I've Got You 6
Talking In Your Sleep / Love Me 6 Silver
2000 I'm Over You "Wishing" 2
2001 On The Radio 7

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