Linda Lusardi

Linda Frances Elide Lusardi (born 18 September 1958) is an English actress, television presenter and former glamour model.

Early life Lusardi was born in Wood Green, London, to Lilian (née Glassman; 1932–2023) and Nello Lusardi (1930–2017). Her mother was born in Edmonton, Middlesex and her father in Hackney, east London, to Italian parents. Lusardi grew up in Palmers Green.

Career Modelling In 1976, at the age of 18, she began posing for pictures as a Page 3 girl in The Sun, where she continued to appear until 1988. She appeared nude in the men's magazines Mayfair in February 1977 and Fiesta in November 1977.

Television, film and stage acting As an actress, Lusardi has appeared in the drama series The Bill playing the girlfriend of corrupt officer DS Don Beech and also in Hollyoaks and Brookside. On 12 February 2007, she joined the cast of Emmerdale as Carrie Nicholls, an ex-girlfriend of Tom King and mother of his secret child, Scarlett. She left the programme after a year.

Lusardi has appeared in films including Snappers, The Zero Imperative, Oh Minnie, Consuming Passions and The Krays: Dead Man Walking.

Lusardi has starred as Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion at the Malvern Festival and toured in Happy as a Sandbag, Funny Peculiar, Bedside Manners, Not Now, Darling, Rock with Laughter, No Sex Please, We're British, and Doctor on the Boil. Lusardi took her own show to the British Forces in Belize, the Falklands and Northern Ireland.

She is a supporter of UK pantomime and often stars with her husband Sam Kane each Christmas at major theatres in the UK. Recent venues have been Woking, Southend-on-Sea, Plymouth, and Llandudno. Lusardi has starred in over 25 pantomimes.

Other television work Lusardi appeared in two series of A Kind of Magic, as assistant to Wayne Dobson on ITV, and a season of Loose Women in 2002. She later returned in 2014 to 2015 and made a few guest panellist appearances. She regularly presented Wish You Were Here...?, Miss Northern Ireland, chat show It's Bizarre, Film Review and No Smoking on ITV. Lusardi took part in the reality show The Games in 2004, ITV daytime programme Have I Been Here Before? and BBC One's Hole in the Wall in 2009. She also sells Lusardi My Miracle, a range of skin-care products, on the shopping television channel Ideal World.

In 1992, she appeared in the "Dead Ringer" observation round of The Krypton Factor and appeared in a special edition of Bullseye presented by Jim Bowen. Lusardi appeared on Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on ITV and in the Royal Variety Performance, as well as Celebrity Eggheads and Pointless Celebrities on the BBC. She also appeared briefly as herself in the BBC sitcom Detectorists.

Reality TV In January 2008, Lusardi joined ITV's Dancing on Ice, finishing in sixth place. Her professional skating partner was Daniel Whiston, who temporarily moved into her family home to make training more convenient. Lusardi had to catch up with her fellow skaters after falling and breaking a bone in her foot during her first hour on the ice. She also won the Channel 4 show Celebrity Come Dine With Me in 2008. In the show, she was voted the best dinner host by her fellow contestants Abi Titmuss, Rodney Marsh, Lesley Joseph and Paul Ross. Lusardi participated in the 2011 series of Celebrity Masterchef, where she reached the final five. In December 2020, she took part in The Real Full Monty on Ice for charity.

Personal life Lusardi has been married to actor Samuel Kane since August 1998 and they share a son and daughter.

Charity work She is a patron of two charities, the Willow Foundation and the Rhys Daniels Trust.

Selected filmography

Year Title Role Notes 1982 The New Kenny Everett Naughty Video Various Characters Straight-to-Video 1988 Consuming Passions French Beauty Supporting Role Olympus Force: The Key Suzie 1990 Family Fortunes Alice Guest Role (1 Episode) 1991 A Kind of Magic Wayne’s Assistant Recurring Role (5 Episodes) 1994 P.R.O.B.E Louise Bayliss Guest Role (1 Episode) 1996 Noel’s House Party House Guest 1 Episode 1998 Brookside: Friday the 13th Franki Main Role 1998–1999 Brookside Franki Morgan Recurring Role (3 Episodes) 2000–2004 The Bill Maggie Recurring Role (9 Episodes) 2006 Dancing on Ice Herself Contestant (10 Episodes) 2007–2008 Emmerdale Carrie Nichols Series Regular (52 Episodes) 2009 Hole in the Wall Herself Contestant (1 Episode) Ready, Steady, Cook Come Dine With Me Participant (5 Episodes) 2011 Celebrity Masterchef Contestant (5 Episodes) 2012–2014 Big Brother’s Bit on the Side Regular Panelist (4 Episodes) 2014 What’s the Score? Gloria Supporting Role 2017 Detectorists Herself Guest Role (1 Episode) 2018 The Krays: Dead Man Walking Sally Mitchell Supporting Role The Wright Stuff Herself Guest Panelist (1 Episode) 2019 Lorraine Guest (1 Episode) 2020 The Real Full Monty Participant (2 Episodes) Wonderbirds Herself/Lovely Lolly Lender Online Series (1 Episode) 2021 Celebrity Ghost Trip Herself Participant (4 Episodes) 2024 Mandy Linda Guest Role (1 Episode)

Selected theatre credits

Year Title Role Notes 1988–1989 Cinderella Cinderella Dartford Orchard, Dartford 1989 Pygmalion Eliza Doolittle Malvern Festival 1989–1990 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Snow White The Hexagon Theatre, Reading 1992–1993 Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon 1993–1994 Wolverhampton Grand, Wolverhampton 1994–1995 Darlington Civic, Darlington 1995–1996 Dick Whittington Fairy Bowbells Bradford Alhambra, Bradford 1997–1998 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Snow White The Hexagon Theatre, Reading 1998–1999 Robin Hood Maid Marian Wolverhampton Grand, Wolverhampton 1999–2000 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Wicked Queen Theatre Royal, Nottingham, Nottingham 2000–2001 Wimbledon Theatre, Wimbledon 2001–2002 New Theatre, Cardiff 2002–2003 Darlington Civic, Darlington 2003–2004 Churchill Theatre, Bromley 2004–2005 New Victoria Theatre, Woking 2005–2006 Cliffs Pavilion, Southend 2006–2007 Theatre Royal, Plymouth, Plymouth 2008–2009 Wycombe Swan, High Wycombe 2009–2010 Royal & Derngate, Northampton 2010–2011 Cinderella Fairy Godmother Venue Cymru, Llandudno 2011–2012 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Wicked Queen Wolverhampton Grand, Wolverhampton 2012–2013 Sleeping Beauty Maleficent Darlington Civic, Darlington 2013–2014 Royal & Derngate, Northampton 2014–2015 Cinderella Fairy Godmother New Theatre, Cardiff 2015–2016 Aladdin Spirit of the Ring 2016–2017 Cinderella Fairy Godmother Crowns Theatre, Hull 2017–2018 Sleeping Beauty Maleficent Gravesend, The Woodville, Gravesend 2018–2019 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Wicked Queen The Playhouse Theatre, Weston-super-Mare 2019 The Wizard of Oz Wicked Witch of the West Theatre Royal, St Helens 2019–2020 Cinderella Fairy Godmother The Playhouse Theatre, Weston-super-Mare