The EastEnders icon once had a very normal job before landing her Linda Carter role. She has since risen in the ranks to become one of the show’s most legendary characters
For more than a decade, Linda Carter has been a jewel in Walford’s crown and is currently caught up in a murder plot that has gripped EastEnders viewers since February 2013.
As fans of the long running BBC soap will know, Linda killed Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) on Christmas Day 2023 and has so far framed Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) for the cold-blooded crime.
But being the matriarch of the Carter family, Linda has really gone through the drama mill since stepping foot in the square back in 2013. She’s suffered with alcohol addiction, been a victim of a terrible sexual assault, had a fling with Max Branning (Jake Wood) – plus she’s also now a killer.
Actress Kellie Bright portrays Linda Carter on EastEnders, and away from the bright lights of Walford, the star lives a quiet life with her husband and three children. She’s also starred in some popular TV shows including an Only Fools and Horses spin-off.
The 48-year-old, who is from Brentwood in Essex, has been acting since she was 11. She trained at the Sylvia Young Theatre School in Central London, befriending Spice Girls member Emma Bunton.
She took up roles as a child actress in T-Bag, on CITV, and Maid Marian and her Merry Men, another children’s TV programme broadcast on BBC1. Kellie starred in the sitcom, The Upper Hand, from age 13, playing Joannam and has previously spoken about getting rejected from roles and struggling to make ends meet.
She previously told The Daily Record: “I was getting rejected from one job after another and no matter how much I tried not to take it personally, a part of me couldn’t help but think ‘I was too ugly to get that part’.”
When The Upper Hand ended, Kellie turned to waitressing: “I had just spent all my money from The Upper Hand on my first flat. I didn’t have any acting work, so I got a job waiting on tables to pay the mortgage, but it waswhile The Upper Hand was still on air.
