Born Denise Kathleen Outen in Basildon, Essex, England,[2] she has a brother Terry[citation needed] and sister Jackie.[citation needed] She claims that her ancestors "are all Dutch", which was the reason she added "van" into her name.[3][4][5] At the age of seven, she began modelling for knitting patterns,[4] and showed an early flair for performing. This resulted in her attending the Sylvia Young Theatre School.[6]
As a teenager, van Outen had brief roles on a number of television dramas; these included Kappatoo[9] and The Bill.[10] In 1992, she appeared in a Drinking and Driving Wrecks Lives commercial.[11] She also performed backing vocals with Melanie Blatt for the band Dreadzone.[7] In the mid 1990s, she sang with former video game soundtrack singer Cathy Warwick in a 'girl group' called Those2Girls, by which time she had become Denise van Outen. Those2Girls were signed to BMG's Final Vinyl record label and had a minor Top 40 hit in 1995, called "All I Want".[12] Van Outen was voted Rear of the Year in 1999, and was top of a poll to find the most desired "bikini body" in a 2007 poll of readers of Grazia magazine.[13]
She first played Roxie Hart on the stage in the hit musical Chicago at the Adelphi Theatre in the West End in April 2001.[17] Her run proved a hit with theatre-goers, selling out for the entire 20 weeks. Unknown in the United States, she reprised her role on Broadway in the spring of 2002, before returning to the show's London version in late April 2002.[18] Late the same year, Van Outen appeared as one of many special guest stars in a performance of The Play What I Wrote once again in London's West End.
In 2003, she returned to the London stage at the Gielgud Theatre in Andrew Lloyd Webber's one-woman show Tell Me on a Sunday,[19][20] which he reworked for her. She was a huge success and the show ran for nearly a year.[21] She then joined the cast of the established ITV sentimental drama Where the Heart Is as one of the lead characters, playing single mother Kim Blakeney, continuing for two series.[22]
Van Outen played Maureen in the 2007 London revival of Rent Remixed directed by William Baker until 22 December.[23] She was forced to cancel some performances owing to a throat infection.[24] In July 2009, van Outen played Mary in Hotel Babylon for the BBC. Her character was at the hotel for a science convention.[25] In August 2009, van Outen made her Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut in Blondes,[26] a show by Jackie Clune.
In September 2018, it was announced that she would be joining the cast of the 2018 London revival of Chicago at the Phoenix Theatre in the West End as Velma Kelly.[33] Due to start rehearsals on 10 September 2018, in preparation for her first performance on 24 September, it was discovered that Van Outen had suffered a stress fracture in her heel, postponing her return to the production with her new dates yet to be announced.[34]
Van Outen joined the cast of Australian soap opera Neighbours as Prudence Wallace in June 2019.[35] She filmed her first scenes alongside cast members Stefan Dennis and Rebekah Elmaloglou in London, before flying out to join the cast at the serial's Melbourne studios.[35] Her first scenes aired in September 2019.[36]
Van Outen has been the presenter of Matalan Presents: The Show since 2016. On 30 August 2017, she was announced as one of the four judges on the first season of Ireland's Got Talent in 2018.[37] In 2020, she competed in the ITV singing competition The Masked Singer as 'Fox', where she placed fifth.[citation needed]
Radio
On 4 February 2008, van Outen reunited with her former Big Breakfast partner Johnny Vaughan as co-host of Capital Breakfast on Capital Radio.[38] On 29 July 2008, she quit the show, halfway through her contract, because of TV commitments and the early mornings.[39] However, in April 2011 van Outen said that she left the show because relations between her and Vaughan had soured. She claims Vaughan has not spoken to her since.[40] In spring 2013, van Outen started presenting her own Saturday afternoon radio show on London's Magic 105.4, airing between 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm.
Strictly Come Dancing
In September 2012, van Outen was announced as one of the celebrities competing on the tenth series of Strictly Come Dancing. She partnered with professional dancer James Jordan. The couple secured top of the leaderboard 7 times. However, controversy arose when viewers criticised her participation in the competition because of the advantage of having had previous stage experience.[41] On 20 December 2012, van Outen and Jordan finished as runners-up alongside Girls Aloud singer Kimberley Walsh & Pasha Kovalev, behind winning couple, Olympic gymnast Louis Smith & Flavia Cacace.[42]
On 23 September 2020, van Outen was announced as one of the celebrities competing on the thirteenth series of Dancing on Ice. She was partnered with Matt Evers. On 16 January 2021, van Outen suffered a partially dislocated shoulder and tendon damage to her left shoulder after falling during rehearsals for the launch show of series 13 of Dancing On Ice; van Outen was able to perform a modified dance routine with her professional skate partner Matt Evers on the launch show. On 26 January 2021, van Outen withdrew from the competition as a result of her dislocation, as well as three bone fractures which were confirmed after further MRI scans.[43]
Other work
Van Outen has designed two collections thus far for the website Very, part of the Shop Direct Group. The first collection was a maternity range launched in March 2010 and the second an autumn/winter collection.[44]
In 1998 and 1999, she also co-hosted the ChildLine Concert in Dublin.
In 2021, she returned to music and released a cover of the Les Misérables musical song "On My Own" as a charity single in aid of the Make A Difference Trust.[45] In February 2021, she launched her first podcast alongside partner Eddie Boxshall. Before We Say I Do follows the couple as they investigate types of relationship counselling in an attempt to iron out any differences they may have before they get married. It is produced by Yahoo! UK.[46] In September 2023, Van Outen released the duet "That's What Friends Are For" with Duncan James. The single, in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support, was recorded in tribute to their friend, singer Sarah Harding, who died from breast cancer in 2021.[citation needed]
Personal life
From 1998 to 2001, she dated Jamiroquai lead singer Jay Kay. The couple were engaged,[47] but they split up in 2001. The Jamiroquai song "Little L" is said to have been inspired by their break-up.[48]
From 2009 to 2015 (separated 2013), she was married to Any Dream Will Do winner Lee Mead.[49] They have a daughter together, Betsy, who was born in 2010. From July 2014, she was in a relationship with commodities trader Eddie Boxshall; they lived together in Chelmsford. The relationship ended in January 2022.[50]
^"That's What Friends Are For" did not enter the UK Singles Top 100 but debuted and peaked at number 53 on the UK Singles Downloads Chart Top 100 on 8 September 2023.[70]
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