Zoë Ball

Zoë Ball
Ball at the 2014 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards
Born	Zoë Louise Ball (1970-11-23) 23 November 1970 (age 46) Blackpool, Lancashire, England
Residence	Hove, East Sussex, England
Occupation	Presenter, broadcaster
Employer	BBC
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Spouse(s)	Norman Cook (m. 1999; separated 2016)
Children	2
Parent(s)	Johnny Ball Julia Ball (née Anderson)

Zoë Louise Ball (born 23 November 1970) is an English television and radio personality, best known as the first female host of The Radio 1 Breakfast Show, as well as for presenting the 1990s children's show Live & Kicking.

Ball was a contestant in the third series of Strictly Come Dancing. Following this she replaced Claudia Winkleman hosting the BBC Two spin-off show Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two and has been since 2011. Ball also hosted the Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour in 2011 and 2015.

Ball was born in Blackpool, Lancashire and grew up in Buckinghamshire. She attended Holy Cross Convent School in Chalfont St. Peter and also attended the Young Theatre at Beaconsfield where she trained as an actress. Her first TV appearance was as a child in the studio audience of the 1980s Saturday morning children's show, Saturday Superstore, on which her father, Johnny Ball, was appearing as a guest.

She began her television career as a runner at Granada Television and researcher on BSkyB. She worked as a researcher for quiz shows for two years. Her presenting jobs have included hosting The Big Breakfast and The Priory on Channel 4, BBC One's Saturday morning children's programme Live & Kicking and the pre-school programme Playdays. In 1994 Zoë Ball presented SMart with Mark Speight and Jay Burridge until she left in 1996. Between 1996 and 1998, she was a regular presenter on Top of the Pops, usually alternating with fellow presenters and DJs Jayne Middlemiss and Jo Whiley. The three only ever presented together once, on Christmas Day 1997.