Hollyoaks is celebrating its 25th Anniversary. Being such a long-running soap opera there has been a high turnover of actors. Many have gone on to have successful acting careers. Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill became The Thirteenth Doctor’s companions, Wallis Day appeared in shows like The Royals and Krypton, and Carley Stenson is a musical star. These are actors who failed to make this list of most successful Hollyoaks Actors.
Some rules that need to be stated. Actors need to have played a regular character, which rules out James Corden who only appeared in one episode. The other rule is any actor who had an established career before appearing on Hollyoaks are illegible, like Danniella Westbrook and Jeff Rawle.
10. Roxanne McKee
Roxanne McKee started her career as a model before moving into acting. She was cast as Louise Summers and quickly became a memorable character. Louise started as a love rival to Lisa Hunter and she often got sucked into Hollyoaks’ criminal world due to her criminal boyfriends. Louise met her end on her wedding day where she was killed by her husband-to-be. Her time on Hollyoaks earned McKee sex symbol status in the UK.
McKee’s most recognisable role after Hollyoaks was as Doreah in the first two seasons of Game of Thrones. Doreah was one of Daenerys Targaryen’s handmaidens and gave the young Valyrian noble sex lessons. When it was revealed that Doreah betrayed Daenerys she met a horrible death by being locked in a vault.
McKee got to star in two TV shows. The first was the fantasy show Dominion, a show based on the 2010 film Legion. The show lasted for two seasons on Syfy. McKee also starred in the SAS action show Strike Back: Retribution, appearing with a fellow Hollyoaks alumnus. McKee has appeared in some films like the 3D fantasy The Legend of Hercules, the Ironclad sequel Ironclad: Battle for Blood, and most recently, a direct-to-video sequel to the heist film Inside Man.
9. Max Brown
Max Brown had a two-year stint on Hollyoaks where he played Kristian Hargreaves. Kristian was a lady’s man who got to sleep with a lot of women. Kristian was a forgettable character, the most memorable moment for me was watching him listening to an S Club 7 song and lied to his flatmates to avoid embarrassment.
Brown’s career took off after playing Edward Seymour in The Tudors. He earned regular roles in Spooks, the CW’s Beauty & the Beast and the soap opera The Royals where he got to be the king of England. He also got to play Peggy Carter’s brother in Agent Carter. Downton Abbey fans will recognise Brown for his role as the King’s valet.
8. Barry Sloane
Hailing from Liverpool, Barry Sloane was an emerging actor before he appeared in Hollyoaks. He was in Brookside and appeared in two TV movies, Pleasureland and I’m a Juvenile Delinquent – Jail Me! In 2007 he was cast in Hollyoaks as Niall Rafferty. As a baby, Niall was abandoned outside a church by Maya McQueen. His sets out to get revenge against the McQueens and his actions included injecting Michaela with heroin, revealing John-Paul was having an affair with a priest, and pushing a pregnant Tina down some stairs, resulting in her to give birth prematurely. Niall attempted to kill the McQueens in the church he was abandoned at and Tina died in the explosion. Niall met his demise when killed himself out of guilt for kidnapping Tom Cunningham.
Sloane landed a plum role in ABC’s Revenge, a popular show for the 18-49 demographic. He appeared as a regular character in the second and third seasons. After his time on Revenge, Sloane was cast in numerous American shows including the History Channel series SIX, and the Bad Boys spin-off L.A.’s Finest. Video game fans may recognise Sloane’s voice as Captain Price in the 2019 reboot of Call of Duty.
7. Emma Rigby
Merseyside actress Emma Rigby first appeared on Hollyoaks when she was 15, playing Hannah Ashworth. As Hannah, Rigby played a typical teenager – she made friends, got into fights with her younger brother, and looked for a boyfriend. The storyline that made the character was Hannah’s eating disorder. It was revealed that Hannah was bulimic, and she later befriends a model who convinced Hannah that anorexia was a lifestyle choice. The storyline earned a lot of praise for showing the harsh realities of eating disorders and Rigby won a Best Actress Award at the British Soap Awards.
After Hollyoaks Rigby got plenty of guest roles in shows like Fresh Meat, Pramface, and Endeavour. Her biggest TV role in the UK post-Hollyoaks was in the first season of Prisoner’s Wife, a drama for the BBC. Rigby was nominated for a TV Choice Award for her performance.
Her biggest role in America was in the Once Upon a Time spin-off, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland where she played The Red Queen. She also had a small role in the Ridley Scott film The Counsellor and has appeared in British films like Plastic and The Festival.
6. Rachel Shenton
Rachel Shenton has had a respectable career as an actress. She appeared in episodes of shows like Holby City, Doctors and Waterloo Road before having a three-year stint on Hollyoaks. Shenton played Mitzeee, an aspiring glamour model who used sex to get attention or blackmail people. Mitzeee started off as an unlikeable, selfish woman but she became a more sympathetic character when she gets sucked into the criminal underworld. She fell into an abusive relationship with Warren Fox.
Since Hollyoaks Shenton has worked in the US and UK. In America, she appeared in the ABC Family drama Switched at Birth whilst in the UK she had roles in the sitcom White Gold and Channel 5’s adaptation of All Creatures Great & Small. Her biggest success was with the short film The Silent Child which she wrote and starred in. The Silent Child was inspired by Shenton’s family experience and she has done a lot of fundraising for charities in the UK. The Silent Child won the Best Live Action Short Film at the 90th Academy Awards and the plan for the filmmakers was to turn it into a feature-length film.
5. Warren Brown
Warren Brown appeared in Hollyoaks in 2005 as Andy Holt. Andy was a seemingly confident student who befriended Sam Owen. However, it was revealed that Andy was a rapist who drugged women and convinced Sam to take part. His reign of terror ended in the special Hollyoaks: Back from the Dead where one of his victims stopped him raping Sam’s younger sister and he ended up dying when he tried to escape.
Brown got leading roles in a number of shows after Hollyoaks. He appeared in the popular police procedural Luther, the action show Strike Back, a season of the ITV thriller Liar, and the Canadian spy thriller X Company. Brown is an actor who knows how to get work and appears in popular shows.
4. Emmett J. Scanlan
Irish actor Emmett J. Scanlan played Brendan Brady, a gangster that quickly overtook the Hollyoaks underworld. He became a dominate force on the show and his biggest storyline was his relationship with Ste Hay which turned abusive. Brendan became a fan favourite and Scanlan won numerous awards for his role. Although Brendan was a villain, he left the soap due to loyalty to his sister because he took the fall for her.
Scalan had has a prolific career on TV post-Hollyoaks. He has appeared in numerous high-end shows like The Fall, No Offence, Safe, Peaky Blinders, and Gang of London. He has also appeared in two comic-book shows, Constantine and was Lobo in Krypton and appeared in three episodes of the USA Network’s Treadstone.
Marvel fans might have noticed Scanlan as one of the prison guards in Guardians of the Galaxy.
3 Will Mellor
Will Mellor is one of the most successful actors to come from Hollyoaks, at least within Britain. Mellor was one of the original cast members when the show started in 1995. Mellor played Jambo, the likeable, happy-go-lucky character who was comic-relief. Mellor had a three-year stint on Hollyoaks before moving on.
Mellor used his comedic skills for future roles. He was most famous for starring in the BBC sitcom Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps. It was a show that lasted for nine seasons and Mellor got to co-star with Ralf Little, Sheridan Smith, and Kathryn Drysdale. Mellor used his comedic skills for two other BBC sitcoms, White Van Man and In with the Flynns.
Mellor has also ventured into dramatic acting in recent years. He had a supporting role in Broadchurch, a show that had an all-star cast (i.e. David Tennent, Olivia Colman, and Jodie Whittaker.) His biggest role currently is in the Channel 4 police-procedural No Offence which mixes drama and dark comedy.
2. Ricky Whittle
Ricky Whittle has had a successful on TV in the UK and US and is one of the biggest well-known actors to come from Hollyoaks. Whittle started his career as a model and had a regular role on Dream Team as Ryan Naysmith, one of Harchester United’s best players.
On Hollyoaks Whittle played Calvin Valentine, who started as a young police officer and eventually a nightclub manager. His storylines include caring for his younger siblings after his mum died, forming a rivalry with local gangster Warren Fox, and becoming a corrupt cop. Calvin was also a lady’s man because of his relationships with Louise Summers and Camel McQueen. However, Calvin philandering ways led to his downfall because after impregnating Theresa McQueen from a one-night stand Theresa got revenge by shooting him on his wedding day.
Since Hollyoaks Whittle has moved to America for work. He had recurring roles on shows like Single Ladies and Mistresses and appeared in an episode of NCIS. Whittle big break came when appeared in The 100. In the YA sci-fi show, Whittle played Lincoln, a survivor on a radiated Earth. Lincoln was a recurring character in the first season and was promoted to a regular character for the subsequent seasons.
Whittle’s biggest role to date has been in Starz’s American Gods. Whittle plays an ordinary man who gets caught up with a conflict amongst the Gods. He is the lead character in a show that has an all-star cast – the likes of Ian McShane, Gillian Anderson, and Emily Browning have major roles.
1. Nathalie Emmanuel
Topping this list had to be Nathalie Emmanuel. Hollyoaks was Emmanuel’s first major role where she played Sasha Valentine, Calvin’s younger sister. In the show, Sasha started off as a good girl who befriended the other teens on the show at the time. Sasha’s biggest storyline was when she got addicted to heroin which leads her down a dark path. Her other big storyline was having a relationship with Warren Fox, her brother’s rival and a man many years her senior.
Emmanuel has gone on to bigger things since Hollyoaks. She has appeared in two big film franchises – The Fast and the Furious and Maze Runner and a miniseries remake of Four Weddings and a Funeral for Hulu. Emmanuel’s most famous role was Missandei in Game of Thrones. In Game of Thrones Missandei was a slave that Daenerys Targaryen freed and she acted as a translator, advisor, and friend to the Mother of Dragons.
