Billie Piper

Born: September 22 1982
Where: Swindon, Wiltshire, UK

The singer and actress emerged from the shadow of being ex-partner of DJ Chris Evans when she won praise as Dr Who's assistant in the BBC's acclaimed revamp.

A teenage pop sensation, she is now branching out into film with a role in the comedy spoof The Calcium Kid and the horror tale Spirit Trap.

After studying at the Sylvia Young Theatre School, Piper was chosen as the poster girl for the pop magazine Smash Hits.

She caught the eyes of record producers who were interested in signing a young vocalist and her first single Because We Want To debuted at number one when she was just 15.

Her second single Girlfriend also hit the top and by the time she was 16, Piper had released four singles that all made the top three on the charts.

Parallel to her chart career, she also had uncredited roles in movies including The Leading Man and Evita.

After her pop career foundered (the pressure gave her insomnia), she began dating Radio 1 enfant terrible and TV mogul Chris Evans, who is 17 years her senior.

(Evans bought her a red sports car worth over £100,000 after they had been dating for just three days. She couldn't even drive.)

The couple split up in 2004 with Evans blaming the break-up on Piper's commitments to filming Dr Who.

On the small screen she starred in The Canterbury Tales befor getting her first real big screen role in the spoof documentary The Calcium Kid with Orlando Bloom.

Recent work includes the British horror yarn Spirit Trap and her critically acclaimed role of Rose Tyler opposite Christopher Ecclestone in Dr Who.