Claire Sweeney

Claire Sweeney

Claire Sweeney is an English actress, singer, musical theatre performer and television personality from Walton, Liverpool in the United Kingdom. She trains at the Elliott-Clarke Theatre School in Liverpool and then attends the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London.

Early career and television

After leaving drama school, she takes a series of singing engagements before playing Lindsey Corkhill briefly in the television soap Brookside in 1991. She later spends four years singing on P&O cruise ships before returning to England, where she resumes the role of Lindsey and remains in the series until it ends in 2003.

In 2001, she appears on Celebrity Big Brother in aid of Comic Relief. The appearance raises her public profile and leads to further work in musical theatre and television. From 2003 to 2005, she is a regular panellist on the ITV revival of Loose Women.

Music and stage work

Following Celebrity Big Brother, Sweeney plays Roxie Hart in the West End production of Chicago. In 2002, she releases the album Claire on Telstar Records. The album combines original songs with cover versions and reaches the UK Top 20.

She returns to the stage in 2003 as the lead in the world tour of Fosse. Her later theatre and pantomime work includes Snow White and Aladdin at Theatre Royal, Nottingham in 2005 and 2006, Guys and Dolls at the Piccadilly Theatre in London’s West End in 2006, touring the UK in the same production opposite Patrick Swayze, Snow White at the Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent in 2008, Shout! alongside Su Pollard, and Sleeping Beauty at The Churchill Theatre, Bromley in 2009. In 2010, she takes part in a national tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Tell Me On A Sunday.