Phina Adannaya N. Oruche was born on the 31st of August 1969 in Toxteth, Liverpool to Nigerian parents of Igbo descent. She was brought up in Toxteth by her mother Christine after her father walked out when she was three and her mother would read to her passages from the Bible. Phina told The Mirror: "I was born on my dad's birthday and my middle name means 'Daddy's girl' in Nigerian ... when I was 24 we went to Nigeria to find him. We tracked him down to a hospital but my mum couldn't go through with it. He'd been abusive to her..." As well as being a talented student, Phina was selected to go as a gymnast in the pre-Olympic qualifying team. She then started modelling and appeared in ID and The Face before going to the States where, in New York, she became the face of Gap for five seasons and was featured as a cover model on several American magazines. She had a special relationship with Essence magazine and was often featured on its pages and on a cover and graced many a fashion campaign working alongside the modelling holy trinity; Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington.
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| as Liberty in Footballer's Wives |
She was discovered for the TV screen by British film director Tony Kaye, who featured her in many of his TV commercials, giving rise to her continued desire to act professionally. This took her to the famed Actor's Studio where she became a lifetime member. In Los Angeles at the studio she was blessed to be instructed by Martin Landau, Mark Rydell and Barbara Bain and started her film and TV career there getting parts in 'Saved by the Bell' (1995), followed by 'NYPD Blue', 'Nip/Tuck', 'Charmed', 'She Spies', 'Diagnosis Murder', 'Charmed' and 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' - in which she played Olivia (Giles's girlfriend). She is best known for Liberty Baker, a supermodel on the fifth and final series of 'Footballers Wives' (2006), shot simultaneously alongside a very different role, that of Heather Lees a solicitor on 'The Bill' (2006). The role of Liberty won her a Favorite TV star award from the prestigious Screen Nations and brought her full circle, back to the UK. She was married in August 2007 to Stephano Mariani, and she and her husband have one child, a son who played at Everton FC Academy. She made a cameo appearance in a January 2008 episode of the British sketch comedy show 'Little Miss Jocelyn'. Her film credits include 'The Forsaken' (2001) and 'Happy Ever Afters' (2009). On the 29th of March 2010, media entertainment website Digital Spy reported that Phina would join 'Hollyoaks' as Gabby Sharpe, the mother of a new four-member mixed race family as part of the soap's ongoing rejuvenation. On the 1st of November 2012 she made a return to television on the BBC1 drama 'Doctors' before taking five years off to focus on raising her son.
Her one woman show called 'Identity Crisis', based on her own life story, debuted at the International Edinburgh Festival and NYC Soho's Fringe and festival garnered great five star reviews in which she played all 'nine' Characters, proving her a very versatile character actress. It subsequently played in 2017 at the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool. In July 2020 she appeared as Aunt Venn in the poignant BBC1 drama 'Anthony' directed by Terry McDonaugh for LA Productions having previously starred as Marvellous in BBC’s 'Taken Down' (2018), a six part drama for RTE in Dublin directed by BAFTA-winning David Caffrey for Spiral pictures, and for which she garnered critical acclaim. Multifaceted in her career, she also is TV Presenter and producer and featured as the celebrity bedtime story reader reading a story a day for children the week of the Queens Diamond jubilee and was a special correspondent on North West Tonight reporting on the 30 year anniversary of the Toxteth riots. Phina now lives in her native Liverpool where she has presented, produced and hosted six of the the Saturday night radio programme 'Upfront' on BBC Radio in Liverpool, featuring up and coming artists at The Brink a non alcoholic bar in Liverpool, that she is in support of. Local singers such as Kof, Chelcee Grimes, Mic Lowry, Chi Temu and Jamie Broad performed on the show. She also hosted Merseyside Black History Month Achievers Awards at St George's Hall and a MOBO music panel, featuring local artists Eddoe Amoo of 'The Real Thing' and 'Kof'. Also a writer, she published her first book, her autobiography, 'Liberating Character' published in 2012 and started a podcast called 'Am A Tell It'. Her children’s book series 'Jacopo Jacopo Football Star' and 'Jacopo Jacopo on Lockdown', about a 10-year-old mixed heritage boy from Liverpool and his quest to become a premier league football player, are both on Amazon both published in 2020. Phina said, "I’ve just decided that I’ve found something I love to do. In my early 20’s it was all about me. And then when I had a baby I wanted to come home. I wanted my child to have Liverpool values. My aspirations have shifted around. I still want to perform other people’s writing, as an actor, but I’m now interested in leaving a legacy. I want every 9-year-old kid to have a great reading book." She also has a film company called Ibo Girl Productions, for which she directs, edits and produces digital shorts and videos.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2024/07/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians-gary.html
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