Jim Maloney - Amanda Holden

My motto is, Never give up.

A MANDA H OLDEN

T he face is radiant under the glare of the studio lights as the TV camera zooms in close. Wide eyed with her mouth opening in wonder, she looks up at the stage, almost mesmerised by the performers.

It could be a child enraptured by watching her first pantomime, or a teenager in awe of her favourite pop star. But this study of enthralment is one of the biggest celebrities in the country and fast becoming a star in America.

After a long and successful acting career starring in some of the top dramas and comedies on British television, Amanda Holden is at the pinnacle of her professional life. As one of the judges on the hugely popular Saturday-night prime-time series Britains Got Talent, she has the performers, along with a TV audience of millions, hanging on her every word. While her former co-judges, Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan, were often cutting and brusque in their comments, Amanda has always been kinder and more encouraging. And thats because she knows what it is like to perform on stage, and the determination and nerve required to achieve your dream. Be it dancing dogs, burlesque strippers or escapologists, Amanda has time for them all because she admires their spirit.

Over the years Amanda has taken many knocks, both privately and professionally. Her parents split up when she was four and later in her life she faced the wrath of the publics hostility when she had an affair with actor Neil Morrissey while married to Les Dennis. She has also suffered the heartache of two miscarriages within a year. Along the way she has had to endure some crushing criticisms of flop comedies, such as Celeb, Mad About Alice and Big Top. But after each blow she has bounced back stronger and shown incredible resilience.

Her work ethic is second to none. Always striving for more, she has moved from one job to another and, as well as the flops, she has starred in some of the most successful shows on British television: Cutting It, Wild at Heart, The Grimleys.

Amanda has shown she can take the knocks in life. She only ever wanted to be a famous actress and set about reaching that goal with a relentless enthusiasm.

I dont take no for an answer and pursue everything I want to do until Ive exhausted every possibility, she has said. She had rehearsed her Oscar-winning speech at nine years old!

Having tackled comedy and drama, in 2003 she took to the stage to realise a dream role as the star of the West End musical Thoroughly Modern Millie, surprising many with her singing and dancing prowess.

Following her disastrous marriage to Les Dennis, Amanda met the record-company producer Chris Hughes, whom she described as her soulmate. They have a daughter, Alexa (or Lexi), who was born in 2006, and the pair married in 2008. Today she is happy and settled with her family but she retains that drive she has had since she was a young girl to keep striving for more. And, when Simon Cowell asked her to be a judge on Britains Got Talent in 2007, she eagerly accepted. It was to send her stardom soaring.

The show became a TV phenomenon and Amanda found she loved every minute of it. To her surprise, she enjoyed it more than acting and has said she would happily continue being a judge into her 90s.

However, she is frequently reduced to tears on BGT by someone with a hard-luck story to tell or a singer with an unexpectedly beautiful voice. Her teasing co-judges have ribbed her about it and there have been some suggestions in the press that she is overacting, but she says the emotions are real. She has had to develop a hard shell to get where she is but inside she has always been soft. She adored her grandparents and being a mother has made her even more emotional so, when an elderly or young singer walks out on the stage, Amanda already feels a lump in her throat. And she says she is touched by parents who go on the show in an effort to make a better life for their families. Shes also an animal lover, so that pretty much covers all of the acts!

But Amandas ambition stretched wider than this country and she always craved success in America. She flew out frequently to be introduced to people who might help her career but each time it came to nothing. Her big break Stateside came just when she thought it would never happen. To her surprise it was BGT that did it, or more precisely a certain singer nicknamed SuBo.

When awkward-looking Susan Boyle walked out on the stage in 2009, nobody expected what was to follow. Already there were a few sniggers in the audience and, when she remarked to Simon Cowell that her voice was a bit like Elaine Paiges, he now notoriously rolled his eyeballs. But within a few moments everyone in the studio and those watching from home were transfixed by the beautiful sound that came out of her mouth.

Boyle launched into I Dreamed a Dream from the musical Les Misrables, a song that mesmerised a nation. It was such a golden TV moment that it was put on the YouTube website and SuBo also became a sensation in the US. They couldnt get enough of this unlikely-looking singing sensation and invited her onto numerous chat shows. And the clamour for SuBo led to Amanda and Piers Morgan also being invited across the Atlantic to talk about her. Amanda saw her chance and grabbed it!

Amandas sparkling appearances on American television, talking about all things SuBo- and BGT-related, led to more regular appearances until she landed the job of UK entertainment reporter on the CBS TV morning news programme The Early Show.

For years I went over to America trying to make it. But Ill be the first to say that I owe it to Susan, she said.

The year ahead is a challenging and exciting one for Amanda Holden and she is going to be as busy as ever, dividing her time between stage and TV, between Britain and America, as she juggles a transatlantic career with marriage and motherhood.

As well as BGT with new co-judges David Hasselhoff and comedian Michael McIntyre she was thrilled to be asked to cover the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on 29 April 2011 for CBS. And she has taken on another West End musical in May, playing Princess Fiona in the stage version of the hit cartoon movie, Shrek.

She has always been outspoken, and her honesty and wicked sense of humour have got her into trouble in the past. She can sometimes give the impression of being over-exuberant but she is such an honest character she probably cant help herself when she blurts out a jokey comment that she is likely to regret. But, despite the knocks and flak, Amandas adage is that the show must always go on.

Ive got my mum to thank for an absolutely brilliant and blissful childhood, which is why I think Ive got so much confidence, she has said in interview. My mum says I probably came out singing. At one time, I would write twenty letters a day to producers, and phone contacts and my agent every day to check what they were doing. There have been plenty of tears along the way and, at times, I havent always had my priorities right. But Ive never, ever considered giving up. Ive always been a bit of a performer and a show-off.