Connie Fisher

Connie Fisher (born 17 June 1983, Lisburn, Northern Ireland) is a British actress and singer who won the BBC Talent Show How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? in 2006. She starred as Maria Von-Trapp in the West End revival of The Sound of Music from November 2006 to February 2008. She resumed the role of Maria in The Sound of Music UK tour starting in July 2009. Connie has released two albums, Favourite Things in 2006 and Secret Love in 2009. Both feature songs from popular musicals. Fisher was born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, and is daughter of a British Army Royal Corps of Signals major. Fisher lived in Dorset, England until the age of six, when she moved to a village near Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire, Wales. She is a fluent Welsh speaker. During her teenage years she was a member of Haverfordwest Operatic Society where she performed in The Pirates of Penzance and played Nellie Forbush in South Pacific. She was also a member of The Torch Youth Theatre where she performed in George Buchner's play Woyzek. She successfully became a member of National Youth Music Theatre (1999–2002), where she played Lady of the Lake in the UK Tour of Pendragon, and played the lead role, Morgan Le Fay, when the production toured Japan in 2001. From an early age Fisher was a member of Côr Newyddion Da (English translation - "Good News Choir"), which introduced her to the Eisteddfodic field and encouraged her to perform as a soloist. She competed annually in the Urdd Gobaith Cymru, National and International Eisteddfods. In 2002 Fisher won the Wilbert Lloyd Roberts Scholarship in the National Eisteddfod "Songs from the Shows" competition and the Milford and West Wales Mercury talent competition. Fisher received her professional vocational training at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, winning a Dance and Drama Award to have her training fully funded by the Government. She graduated in 2005 with a First Class BA Hons degree in Musical Theatre, as well as the Gyearbuor Asante prize for the highest score. Fisher has made television appearances on Jane McDonald's Star for a Night when she was sixteen; Owen Money’s Just Up Your Street, and BBC Children in Need. She has also recorded a Welsh song called Curiad Calon (Heartbeat) which was released on the compilation album Cân i Gymru (A Song for Wales). She also released a charity single for the Noah's Ark Appeal entitled 'Eyes of a Child'. Fisher's first professional theatre appearance was at Milford Haven Torch Theatre, Christmas 2005, where she played Princess Samina in the pantomime Aladdin. She then took the £1,000 cash prize and the Gower Trophy in the final of the 2006 Welsh Musical Theatre Young Singer of the Year Competition, held at Swansea Grand Theatre. Before being cast as Maria, she worked in media telesales, whilst auditioning for several West End parts – often getting down to the final two but never getting the part. Fisher cites Julie Andrews and Ruthie Henshall as her musical theatre role models. She claims to be a bit of a tomboy, and says that as an only child, she is very independent. In early March 2007, she was ordered by her doctor to take two weeks' rest from The Sound of Music, after straining her vocal cords singing through a cold. On her return to the show, it was announced that Fisher would be reducing her workload to six shows a week, with Maria being played in the Monday evening and Wednesday matinee shows by Aoife Mulholland, one of the runners-up in How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?. On 1 July 2007, Fisher performed alongside artists including Sarah Brightman, Josh Groban, Donny Osmond and Andrea Bocelli in Andrew Lloyd Webber's segment of the Concert for Diana at London's Wembley Stadium in front of 63,000 people. She also appeared at Bryn Terfel’s Faenol Festival during the August Bank Holiday weekend, 2007. She also featured on the 50th Anniversary studio recording of West Side Story, singing "Somewhere". On Christmas Eve 2007 Fisher performed with Lee Mead and some of the other Maria and Any Dream finalists in a BBC special 'festive' reunion show called When Joseph met Maria! - celebrating both the hit Andrew Lloyd Webber BBC shows - it was recorded earlier on Dec 2nd 2007. Fisher ended her run as Maria on 23 February 2008 and was replaced by Summer Strallen. It was rumoured that after her contract as Maria came to an end that she would play the lead in a Lloyd-Webber revival of Funny Girl. Fisher had been due to embark on an Andrew Lloyd Webber-sponsored solo concert tour of several cities in the UK, however the tour was cancelled on 13 February 2008 due to poor ticket sales. Also on 13 February 2008, it was announced that the planned Simply Bernstein concert celebrating the work of composer Leonard Bernstein, which Fisher was part of, had been cancelled. The event was due to run for five performances from 4 to 6 April 2008 at Cadogan Hall. In 2008 Fisher co-starred with Alistair McGowan in a revival of the musical They're Playing Our Song at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Also, in November Fisher appeared in concerts at Truro Cathedral and at the Great Fosters Hotel in Surrey. On 11 December 2008 Fisher appeared in The Christmas Sparkler Concert at The Royal Festival Hall London and sang the Welsh lullaby "Suo Gan", but she had to pull out of the second song, which was supposed to be a duet of "O Holy Night" with Jonathan Ansell, as she had to go to The London Palladium to introduce an act for The Royal Variety Performance. Also in December 2008, Fisher appeared with her mother in an episode of Bargain Hunt, Famous Finds. She also starred in her first TV drama. Caught In A Trap aired on ITV1 on 26 December - in it she plays a young woman with an Elvis Presley obsession. Between Monday 1 June and Friday 5 June 2009, Fisher guest presented the Scottish lifestyle show The Hour, alongside the show's main host Stephen Jardine. http://www.conniefisher.co.uk/ Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.