Letitia Dean was just 17-years-old when she was thrust into the limelight on EasTEnders. The legendary actress, who is an original castmember, has played feisty Sharon Watts since the BBC soap started in 1985.
Creators Tony Holland and Julia Smith were looking for a "bouncy, attractive, oddly vulnerable young woman" to play Sharon - and saw all of those qualities in Letitia.
Despite falsely claiming she had been brought up in Hackney as the bosses wanted real East End actors, when in reality it was Hertfordshire, she secured the part of Sharon.
Dirty Den and Angie Watts' spoilt adopted daughter had a troubled life but quickly became one of the most popular characters.
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