Charlie Brooks

Welsh TV starlet Charlie Brooks is best known for her work on the long-running BBC soap opera "EastEnders," on which she plays the villainous, coke-addled hustler, Janine Butcher. Brooks had early ambitions to be an actress, and trained at the Songtime Theatre Arts, Corona Theater School, and Arts Educational School to prepare herself for a professional acting career. She landed her first television role in 1998, snagging a one-off on the alcoholism-centered drama "Turning Points." She scored the role of Janine the next year, and has gone on to play her on and off for more than 10 years. She left the show in 2004 to spend time with her newborn daughter. To explain Janine's absence, the character was arrested on murder charges and not seen again until 2008, when Brooks returned and Janine was cleared of all charges. For her efforts on the show, Brooks has garnered several awards, including Best Villain from the British Soap Awards. Though "EastEnders" makes up much of her career, the young actress has begun to branch out, earning a role in the miniseries adaptation of Charles Dickens's law-centered novel, "Bleak House," and making her film debut in the independent family film "Take 3 Girls."