Danielle Harold

Danielle Amy Harold (born 30 May 1992) is an English actress and Producer, Harold Hill Productions.^[1] She rose to prominence playing Lola Pearce in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Her portrayal of Lola's glioblastoma brain tumour storyline, that ultimately resulted in the character's death, earned her a win at the National Television Awards for Serial Drama Performance and three nominations at the British Soap Awards, of which she won Best Leading Performer, as well as a TRIC award for Soap Actor and the Inside Soap award for Best Actress. Following her exit from the soap, she became a contestant on the twenty-third series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.

Danielle Harold
Harold in 2023
Born	Danielle Amy Harold (1992-05-30) 30 May 1992 (age 32) Lewisham, London Borough of Lewisham, Greater London, England
Occupation	Actress/Producer
Years active	2010–present
Known for	Lola Pearce in EastEnders
Television	Jamie's Dream School EastEnders

Early life

Danielle Amy Harold was born on 30 May 1992 in Lewisham, Greater London.^[2][3] Before Harold's acting career began, she was featured in the television series Jamie's Dream School. Harold got one GCSE as she had lost a year of school due to an illness and missed out on being able to study for exams. On Jamie's Dream School, she was seen as one of the brightest of the students, and was rewarded by Jane Poynter and Robert Winston with the chance to stay in the biosphere which Poynter had lived in for two years. She was also given a tour of Cambridge University by David Starkey as he found her to be very intelligent and thought that it might be a good choice of university. However, she decided to study acting and auditioned for several roles.^[4]

Career

EastEnders

In June 2011, EastEnders producers announced that Harold had been cast as Lola Pearce, the granddaughter of established characters Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick) and Julie Perkins (Cathy Murphy).^[5] She made her first appearance in EastEnders on 12 July 2011.^[6][7] Harold's first major storyline involved her character's pregnancy at the age of 15. In July 2012, the character gave birth in a special live broadcast, coinciding with her on-screen grandfather carrying the Olympic Torch through Walford. Harold is the first EastEnders actress to portray giving birth live on air, and the second British soap actress, after Coronation Street actress Jennie McAlpine.^[8] In June 2015, it was announced that Harold would be leaving EastEnders later that year.^[9] In December 2018, it was announced that Harold would reprise her role of Lola Pearce. She returned to the series with her on-screen daughter, Lexi Pearce, in April 2019.^[10][11] Then in 2022, it was announced that Harold would be starring in a brain cancer storyline for Lola, which resulted in the character's death on 31 May 2023. After which, Harold continued to appear as Lola sporadically via the character's video diaries until 25 December 2023, and made further appearances via video footage on 20 June 2024 and 11 September 2024.^[12]

Other ventures

In November 2023, Harold appeared in an EastEnders special of The Weakest Link alongside several of her co-stars.^[13] The same month, she was announced as a contestant on the twenty-third series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. She was the fifth celebrity to be eliminated, finishing in sixth place.^[14] Harold is also set to participate in the sixth series of Celebrity Hunted in 2024, which she filmed in 2023 following her exit from EastEnders.^[15]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role
2017	Fanged Up	Katie Makepeace
2018	Pleasureland	Dina
	Two Graves	Leanne
	Monster	Sarah
	Dead Ringer	Melissa Prince
2019	The Tombs	The Presenter
2020	Next Door	Dani

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	Jamie's Dream School	Herself	Main role
2011–2015, 2019–2024	EastEnders	Lola Pearce	Regular role
2012	Billy's Olympic Nightmare		Television special
	Pointless Celebrities	Herself – Contestant	Children in Need Special
2013	Children in Need	Street Dancer	1 episode
2017	Casualty	Georgie Manning	Episode: "Roadman"
2023	The Weakest Link	Herself – Contestant	EastEnders Special
	I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!		Series 23
2024	Celebrity Hunted		Series 6 Stand up To Cancer
	Celebrity Bridge of Lies	Herself	[16]
2024	Celebrity MasterChef	Herself – Contestant	[17] series 19

Awards and nominations

Year	Organisation	Award	Work	Result	Ref.
2012	TVTimes Awards	Best Newcomer	EastEnders	Won	[18]
2013	Inside Soap Awards	Best Actress		Nominated	[19]
2014	The British Soap Awards	Sexiest Female		Nominated	[20]
2022	Digital Spy Reader Awards	Best Soap Actor (Female)		Won	[21]
2023	The British Soap Awards	Best Leading Performer		Won	[22]
		Best Dramatic Performance		Shortlisted
		Best On-Screen Partnership (with Jamie Borthwick)		Shortlisted
	TRIC Awards	Soap Actor		Won	[23]
	National Television Awards	Serial Drama Performance		Won	[24]
	Inside Soap Awards	Best Actress		Won	[25]
	TVTimes Awards	Favourite Soap Actor		Won	[26]
	I Talk Telly Awards	Best Soap Performance		Won	[27]
	Digital Spy Reader Awards	Best Soap Actor		Won	[28]
	Digital Spy Reader Awards	Best Soap Couple (with Jamie Borthwick)	Eastenders	Second	[29]
2024	TV Choice Awards	Best Soap Actress	Eastenders	Shortlisted	[30]

References

1. "Team".
2. Harold, Danielle [@DHaroldOfficial] (30 May 2013). "21 today !!! :)" (Tweet). Retrieved 31 May 2013 – via Twitter.
3. "I'm A Celebrity Danielle Harold: Age, Boyfriend And TV Shows". Capital. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
4. "Danielle Harold: 'EastEnders has been a whirlwind'". Digital Spy. 24 July 2011. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
5. "Press Office – Danielle Harold joins the cast of EastEnders". BBC. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
6. "EastEnders – Lola Pearce played by Danielle Harold". BBC. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
7. "Jamie Oliver's Dream School pupil Danielle: People think we're scum but we're not". Now. 25 March 2011. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
8. "'EastEnders' Lola to give birth in live Olympics episode – EastEnders News – Soaps". Digital Spy. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
9. Fletcher, Harry (13 June 2015). "EastEnders' Danielle Harold is leaving Lola Pearce role: "I'll miss everyone here"". Digital Spy. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
10. Harp, Justin (20 December 2018). "EastEnders confirms return for Danielle Harold as Lola Pearce". Digital Spy. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
11. Rodger, James (20 December 2018). "EastEnders' Lola set for explosive return – and she's not alone". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
12. Knight, Lewis (29 October 2022). "EastEnders star Danielle Harold explains why Lola's story has changed her". Digital Spy. (Hearst Communications). Retrieved 14 May 2023.
13. "EastEnders special confirmed as The Weakest Link returns". Digital Spy. 13 November 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
14. "Who is Danielle Harold? I'm a Celebrity 2023 contestant and EastEnders actress". Radio Times. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
15. "EastEnders favourite Danielle Harold to star in Celebrity Hunted for special cause". Radio Times. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
16. Bridge of Lies 2/2. BBC.
17. "EastEnders and Strictly stars confirmed for Celebrity MasterChef 2024".
18. TVTimes [@tvtimesmagazine] (1 December 2012). "WINNER! @DHaroldOfficial scooped the TV Times Award for Favourite Newcomer! Well done, Danielle! #tvtimesawards" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
19. Dainty, Sophie (22 July 2013). "Inside Soap Awards 2013".
20. "British Soap Awards 2014: full list of winners revealed". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
21. Rowan, Iona (20 December 2022). "The Digital Spy Reader Awards 2022 full results". Digital Spy.
22. Cormack, Morgan (11 April 2023). "British Soap Awards 2023 longlist: EastEnders' Ravi vs Corrie's Stephen". Radio Times. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
23. Hibbs, James (27 June 2023). "EastEnders' Danielle Harold wins TRIC Award for best soap actor". Radio Times. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
24. Cormack, Morgan (23 May 2023). "National Television Awards 2023 longlist revealed: SAS Rogue Heroes, Call the Midwife and more". Radio Times. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
25. "The Inside Soap Awards 2023 – cast your vote now!". Inside Soap.
26. Selwood, Sarah. "TV Times Awards 2023 — voting is now open!". What to Watch. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
27. Rowan, Iona. "Awards 2022".
28. Rowan, Iona (20 December 2023). "Awards 2023". Digital Spy.
29. Rowan, Iona (20 December 2023). "Awards 2023". Digital Spy.
30. "TV Choice Awards nominees 2024: All Creatures Great and Small, Happy Valley and James Martin all up for awards".

External links

• Danielle Harold at IMDb