Jan Graveson

Jan Graveson is an English actress, singer, and dancer born in 1965 in Easington, England. She began performing on the club circuit at age six and started dance classes at age seven. By twelve, she had won the British Tap Dancing Championships, the English Tap Dancing Championships, and the North East Tap and Song and Dance competition. At eighteen, she acquired her dance teacher's qualifications before relocating to London to pursue work in television, West End musicals, and theatre.

Graveson launched her professional stage career in 1983 at the Live Theatre in Newcastle, appearing alongside Robson Green. Her first major theatrical role came in Blood Brothers, in which she played Linda at London's West End venues, the Albery and Phoenix theatres, as well as in Toronto and on Broadway. Her Broadway appearance came in 1993, and her performance as Linda earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical that year. She has also appeared in Hard Times at the Piccadilly Theatre in London's West End, played Stella in a national tour of Stairway to Heaven, performed in Raving Beauties with John McArdle at the Liverpool Playhouse from 1991 to 1992, portrayed Helen in And a Nightingale Sang at the Octagon Theatre, and played Catherine Cookson in Tom and Catherine at the Customs House Theatre in South Shields.

Her television career began with a debut appearance in White Peak Farm in 1988, followed by a role in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet in 1986. She became widely recognized for portraying the pregnant runaway Disa O'Brien in the BBC soap opera EastEnders from 1990 to 1991. Subsequent television credits include Spender (1991), Casualty (1989, 1992, and 2012), The Glass Virgin (1995), A Touch of Frost (1996), Wycliffe (1998), Heartbeat (2001 and 2007), Byker Grove (2004–2006), Holby City (2006), Benidorm (2007), The Bill (2008), and Doctors.

In film, Graveson starred opposite Ray Winstone in the 2005 psychological thriller Everything, directed by Richard Hawkins. She played Naomi, a Soho prostitute engaged by Winstone's character primarily for conversation rather than sex. The film was shot over nine days in Soho on a budget of £47,500. Her performance earned her the Best Newcomer to Screen award at the Sydney Film Festival in 2006. She appeared in the 2011 feature film Bash Street, written and directed by Everything co-star Ed Deedigan. Graveson also starred in Elysium Hernalsiense, filmed in Vienna in 2017, which won Best Feature Film at the Arthouse Film Festival in Chicago in November 2018. Additional film credits include Khufiya, Gully Boy, Made in Heaven, and Dr. Max.

As a musician, Graveson sang in bands during her teenage years and released a cover of Cilla Black's 1964 hit "Anyone Who Had a Heart" in 1991. She performed at the British Acoustic Festival with her band Disco Indians in July 2007, composes her own material, and has attained Grade 8 with the Royal Schools of Music on pianoforte. Graveson also operates her own performing arts school, WOW Performing Arts, offering instruction in acting, singing, and dance for adults, and has written educational material on musical theatre and theatre skills for actors. She currently divides her time between Mumbai, London, and Chicago.