Kelly

Kelly is the daughter of a hearing mother, Vicky. Kelly has experienced abuse and trauma, but she has an underlying strength and has managed to maintain a warm, easy-going personality.

'Playing Kelly has been a fantastic experience for me, evoking lots of different emotions,' says Samantha Baker, at 19 the youngest member of the cast.

Samantha was born hearing but at the age of 10 months caught meningitis, which left her completely deaf. 'My parents and family are hearing but they do sign at various different levels,' she told VEE-TV.

'I've really enjoyed being amongst people my own age who are also deaf signers,' she says. 'The experience of going to school with other deaf children has given me an awareness of Deaf culture and a strong sense of identity and deaf pride. This can be a difficult issue sometimes for deaf children with hearing parents.'

Samantha started acting in primary school, when she was cast as Sandy in Grease. 'This gave me the bug,' she says. Her first television role was in the BAFTA-winning Dream On, a Channel 4 drama for schools written by RUSH director Ray Harrison Graham. As a result of her performance in RUSH, she was cast in the role of Elena in The Inspector Lynley Mysteries series.

'I would definitely love a career in TV acting full time,' Samantha says, 'but I realise the business is not too reliable, not a steady job. I would love to take on a main character role in one of the top soaps – I think having a deaf character could add depth and loads of issues to any soap.'

Samantha was nominated as best actress for her role as Kelly in RUSH at last year's Deaf Oscars. She is currently working full-time as a residential social worker in a deaf school.

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