From the Oaks to Hollywood: An ex-Hollyoaks actress has only gone and won an Oscar
We've seen plenty of actors and actresses leave the soap land and try to make it big in Hollywood but only a few have actually made it. Now, former Hollyoaks actress Rachel Shenton, who played Mitzeee Minniver, has won an Oscar.
Yes, really.
The 30-year-old actress won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in which she plays a social worker who teaches a four-year-old girl sign language as she can't speak.
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Alfie Nightingale AKA Richard Linnell
Snapchat username: richardlinnell
She picked up the award alongside her fiancé Chris Overton, who worked on the movie with her, and took her celebration one step further by delivering her speech in sign language too.
She explained to the audience: "I made a promise to our six year old lead actress that I would sign this speech but my hands are shaking a little bit, so I apologise.
"Our movie is about a deaf child being born into a world of silence. It's not exaggerated or sensationalised for the movies this is happening."
She continued: "Millions of children all over the world live in silence and face communication barriers - and particularly access to education.
"So deafness is a silent disability, you can't see it and it's not life threatening, so I want to say the biggest of thank yous for the Academy for allowing us to put this in front of a mainstream audience."
The former Hollyoaks actress first learned sign language after her dad passed away when she was 12; at the time he lost his hearing after having chemotherapy.
Rachel has since appeared on This Morning and admitted that winning an Oscar still hasn't sunk in, she told Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield: "No I don’t think it has.
"We were being serious when we were saying we’re so honoured to be nominated, we really, really meant it.
"We’ve said all along, if this is where it ends, at the nomination, we’re so happy with that and then they read out The Silent Child. We still can’t believe it now."
Congrats!
Rachel isn't the only soap star who has appeared in a Hollywood movie; Martine Mccutcheon who played Tiffany Mitchell was in Love Actually, EastEnders' Ben Hardy aka Peter Beale has starred in X-Men: Apocalypse and Game of Thrones star Nathalie Emmanuel played Sasha Valentine in Hollyoaks.
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