“I'll always be a Berkshire girl”

Despite her international acclaim as the star of TV’s Tracy Beaker, Dani Harmer has never strayed far from her roots

- Bernard Bale

“I was born in Bracknell, went to school in Bracknell and grew up in Bracknell, and have always loved it so it has never really entered my head to live anywhere else than in Berkshire,” says Dani Harmer, star of Strictly Come Dancing and CBBC’s Tracy Beaker series.

“I think I started singing and dancing as soon as I could walk and talk,” says Dani, who went to Wildridings Primary School. But she had already embarked on her acting career by the time she was six. “My mother was a children’s casting agent but she was never pushy – she didn’t need to be – I just loved entertaining and when I went to Stagecoach drama lessons, I took to it like a duck to water.

“When I was six I was given the role of a four-year-old boy, which seemed a bit odd, but since it was in the West End and the boy was Tommy, it was really exciting and a fantastic experience. I wasn’t allowed to get carried away though. Winning a scholarship to the Redroofs Theatre School when I was seven was a big step. Quite a few well-known people went there, including Kate Winslet. It was brilliant because you had a normal school education, which led to me getting three GCSE passes which surprised me, but also you learned all aspects of drama, singing and dancing. It was great.”

Redroofs is in Maidenhead so Dani was still growing up in her favourite county.