ACTRESS KACEY AINSWORTH TALKS TO STEVEN SMITH ABOUT JUGGLING AND WHY SHE IS A FAN OF DIVERSITY
KACEY AINSWORTH IS BEST known for playing long-suffering Little Mo in the BBC soap EastEnders between 2000-2006.
The 48-year-old actress has recently been starring alongside Robson Green in the hit ITV drama Grantchester. She is currently has four films in the pipeline and can be seen in the award winning short movie, Black Eyed Susan, along with her friend Denise Welch.
You are the only soap actress to win three awards in one year. But if awards were given out for your personal life, what would you win one for?
Juggling large objects! And juggling life in general. I’m pretty hands-on with my family life - I’ve got two children, five dogs and two horses and I’m lucky to be a busy actress.
Was it your childhood dream to be an actress?
When I was three, I remember at nursery playing the part of an angel and singing “Twinkle, twinkle little star." Everyone applauded and the feeling stuck with me. From that moment on I wanted to be actress. It was either that, or a lawyer - both roles are full of drama so they’re quite similar.
Who inspired you to start acting?
My class three teacher, Miss Cannon. I was doing music and movement class and she called my mum in to watch. She felt I had something and suggested that my mum enrolled me in drama classes. It wasn’t the fancy ones they have these days, but they gave me some good grounding and got me into the Central School of Speech and Drama.
You have recently become an ambassador for the charity Anna Kennedy Online. How did that come about?
My son has Asperger’s and dyspraxia and Anna and I move in the same world. I am involved with Advanced Autism, a local charity where I live in Hertfordshire. Anna and I noticed each others tweets so we met up and Anna offered to combine the two charities to make it more national. I am judging the Autism hero awards later this year, one of the many events Anna has created. www.add-vance.org