Martine McCutcheon

Martine Kimberley Sherrie McCutcheon (formerly Ponting, born 14 May 1976) is an English actress and singer. She began appearing in television commercials at an early age and made her television debut in the children's television drama Bluebirds in 1989. In the early 1990s, she had minor success as one third of the pop group Milan, but it was her role as Tiffany Mitchell in the BBC's soap opera EastEnders and her role in the 2003 romantic comedy Love Actually that brought her stardom. For the former she won the National Television Award, while the latter earned her the Empire and MTV Movie awards. She was written out of EastEnders at the end of 1998 and then embarked on a pop career, this time as a solo artist. McCutcheon's debut studio album, You Me & Us (1999), peaked at number two in the UK, and spawned the UK number one single "Perfect Moment" and two UK top 10 entries, "I've Got You" and the double-sided "Talking in Your Sleep/"Love Me". Its follow-up, Wishing (2000), was less commercially successful but produced two UK top 10 singles: "I'm Over You" and "On the Radio". Her pop career stalled because of the poor reception of her 2002 third album, Musicality (2002). She returned to music in 2017 with the album Lost and Found. Outside of music, McCutcheon continued to appear in television programmes, films and stage productions in My Fair Lady, where her portrayal of Eliza Doolittle won her a Laurence Olivier Award in 2002. She released her autobiography Who Does She Think She Is? in 2000. Martine Kimberley Sherrie Ponting was born on 14 May 1976 at the Salvation Army Mothers' Hospital in the London Borough of Hackney to Jenny Ponting and Thomas "Keith" Hemmings. While in a relationship with Keith, Jenny experienced domestic violence, which continued for many years after their split. After one of many incidents in which he attempted to kill both Jenny and Martine, he was arrested and later charged and remanded in custody for six months. Jenny then met John McCutcheon, whom she later married. When Martine was nine, Keith contacted Jenny and asked for access to her. Jenny refused, prompting him to seek sole custody of Martine through the courts. He eventually lost the case, was denied any access to Martine until she was 18 and told that he could not apply for it again due to his past behaviour. Shortly after, her surname was changed to her stepfather's, McCutcheon. When Martine was sixteen, her mother gave birth to her half-brother, Laurence "LJ". Jenny and John eventually divorced and she married Alan Tomlin in 2000.