Cherylee Houston | |
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Born | 1975 (age 41–42) Morecambe, Lancashire, United Kingdom |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 2003–present |
Cherylee Houston (born 1975) is a British actress. She grew up in Morecambe, Lancashire, in the United Kingdom. She is currently playing Izzy Armstrong, ex-girlfriend of Gary Windass in Coronation Street.
Houston's parents, Bill and Coral, ran their own photography business. She has two older brothers Lee and Vincent. Her love for entertainment began at the age of seven after she watched the film Annie. As a teenager she began appearing in school plays and later trained at the Arden School of Theatre in Manchester. It was only after she graduated at 23 that she was diagnosed with the rare connective tissue disorder, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Type III hypermobility type. She has used a wheelchair ever since.
In 2003 she landed a part in the daytime TV soap Doctors, playing a girl with multiple sclerosis. More TV work followed, including appearances in The Bill, Holby City, Emmerdale and the cult comedy series Little Britain, where she played the girlfriend of wheelchair-user Andy Pipkin, played by Matt Lucas. In 2006 she was one of the main characters in the BBC3 comedy I'm with Stupid playing Dorothy. In 2010 she landed the part of Izzy Armstrong in Coronation Street, becoming the show's second disabled character, and the first to be played by a genuinely disabled actress, although she is in reality ten years older than the character she plays.