Verity Rushworth - Life and Career

Life and Career

Verity went to St. Mary's Catholic High School, Menston. Rushworth trained at the SLP College, Leeds. In 1997 Rushworth had minor roles in ITV programmes such as Heartbeat.

In 1998, at the age of 12, she went on to play her most notable role of Donna Windsor in the ITV1 soap Emmerdale, having taken over the role from Sophie Jeffery who played the part from 1993–1997. In an interview, she stated that Mark Charnock (Marlon Dingle) is her closest friend from the show.

In December 2006, she appeared in a Emmerdale edition of Family Fortunes, with other members of the Windsors.

In January 2007 she was a contestant on the celebrity singing contest, Soapstar Superstar, in which she came 9th. Whilst on the show she performed the following songs:

• Day 1: Runaway (The Corrs)
• Day 2: I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in My Hair) (Sandi Thom)
• Day 3: I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Whitney Houston)

In September 2007 she appeared on Ghosthunting With The Dingles alongside other members of her on-screen family.

After appearing on the show for over 10 years she filmed her final scenes at the end of 2008 which were later aired in January 2009.

From 2 February 2009, she made her West End debut by playing the role of Penny Pingleton in hit musical Hairspray, taking over the role from Elinor Collett. The show continued until March 2010.

On 5 June 2010, Rushworth appeared on the BBC One programme Hole in the Wall.

In October 2010, Rushworth took on the role of Sophie in Dougal Irvine's production of Departure Lounge at the Waterloo East Theatre. She starred alongside Steven Webb, Chris Fountain, Jack Shalloo and Liam Tamne. She finished the role at the beginning of November as Sian Webber took over.

In January 2011, Rushworth took over the role of Maria in the UK tour of The Sound Of Music from Connie Fisher.

She has expressed a wish to appear in Fair City.