Billie Piper biography

Date of Birth: 22 September 1982, Swindon, Wiltshire, England, UK
Birth Name: Leian Paul Piper
Height: 5' 5" (1.65 m)

Billie Piper studied at the prestigious Sylvia Young Theatre School. She caught the eyes of record producers who were interested in signing a young vocalist when she was the poster girl for the ad campaign of a British pop music magazine, "Smash Hits". She released her first single, "Because We Want To", which debuted at #1 at age 15. Her second single, "Girlfriend", was also a #1 hit. By the time she turned 16, Billie had released 4 singles that all made the top three on the charts. She has been labeled the "Pop Princess" of England, UK.

Spouse: Chris Evans (6 May 2001 - 31 May 2007) (divorced)

Chris Evans bought her a red sports car worth over £100,000 after they had been dating for just three days. She couldn't even drive.

During her singing career she suffered from insomnia due to the pressure of fame.

She is the daughter of builder Paul Piper.

Her ex-husband Chris Evans is a popular and wealthy radio DJ in England.

She was nominated for two BRIT Awards (the UK equivalent of the Grammys) in 1999, for Best British Newcomer and Best British Female, but lost to Belle & Sebastian in the former category and Des'ree in the latter category.

She won the Breakthrough Award For Rising British Talent at the 10th annual South Bank Show Awards at the Savoy Hotel in London, England on Friday 27th January, 2006.

She won the most popular actress award at the 11th annual National Television Awards in London, England on October 25, 2005 for her portrayal of "Rose Tyler". Her "Doctor Who" (2005) co-star Christopher Eccleston, won for most popular actor.

She has a brother named Charlie, and two sisters, Harley and Ellie.

Her singing career included some misfortunes: Billie's PR company dropped her because of Chris Evan's interference with her image. Virgin dithered about releasing a new single, and Billie's manager, Nikki Chapman, the Pop Idol judge, canceled their three-year contract.

While she was at Sylvia Young's, Billie was spotted by Hugh Goldsmith, managing director of Innocent Records, who was looking for a singer to take on the Spice Girls. He liked her vocals, and at age 14, Billie signed a three-album deal. At 15, she had a number-one hit with 'Because We Want To'. Two more number ones followed and an album, Honey to the B, went double platinum, selling half a million copies in the UK alone.

She refused to take any money from her divorce settlement with Chris Evans.

Her parents only found out by listening to Virgin Radio that she had married Chris Evans in a Las Vegas chapel called Little Church of the West, when she was 18 and he was 34. Billie wore flip-flops and Danny Baker was best man. Billie and Chris took the second most expensive wedding package the chapel offered.

Despite becoming the youngest British pop singer to have a No 1 hit at the age of 15, with "Because We Want To", Piper revealed that her earnings from her early singing career were negligible due to being young and taken advantage of. She claimed that she is working twice as hard now because there was a massive financial rip-off and was then left with hardly any money.

David Tennant (The Tenth Doctor) was born in 1971 when Jo Grant and The Master made their first appearances in "Terror of the Autons", Christopher Eccleston (The Nineth Doctor) was born in 1964 when Susan left the series in "The Dalek Invasion of Earth", Camille Coduri (Jackie Smith) was born in 1966 when William Hartnell left the original series and Patrick Troughton took over the role, Billie Piper (Rose Tyler) was born in 1982 when Adric died in "Earthshock" and Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith) was born in 1975 when Davros, the creator of the Daleks made his first appearance in "Genesis of the Daleks".

Auditioned for the role of Nikki in Alfie (2004).