February 16: British actress and “Britain’s Got Talent” judge, Amanda Holden, is 43-years-old today.

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Amanda Louise Holden was born in Bishop's Waltham, Hampshire and was brought up in the village of Waltham Chase. She joined the Bishop's Waltham Little Theatre Company when she was nine.

When she was 16 the family moved to Bournemouth and ran a small B&B while Amanda herself studied Drama and English literature A levels with Terry Clarke and Charles Lamb at the Jellicoe Theatre, now part of Bournemouth and Poole College. She successfully auditioned for the independent drama school Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in the Wood Green area of North London when she was 18, graduating in July 1994.

Her first television appearance was as a contestant on the UK game show Blind Date in 1991, since which she has become a familiar face on British television. Holden appeared in the ITV drama Wild at Heart as Sarah Trevanion. She is currently a judge on Britain's Got Talent alongside Simon Cowell, David Walliams and Alesha Dixon and previously Piers Morgan, Kelly Brook, Michael McIntyre and David Hasselhoff.

She has appeared on various British comedy and drama series such as Smack the Pony, EastEnders, Hearts and Bones, Cutting It and as a co-star with Harry Enfield in comedy series Celeb. In April 2009, it was reported that the US network CBS had offered Holden the job of one-time guest presenter on The Early Show, a daytime talk show.

Holden confirmed that she would host the show, and presented alongside regular presenters Harry Smith and Maggie Rodriguez on 1 June. Holden has since been signed up with CBS as a British correspondent for The Early Show.

In July 2009, Holden became a gossip columnist for the News of the World's celebrity-oriented magazine Fabulous. In January 2010, she started a new three-part show called Amanda Holden's Fantasy Lives.

In 2011, Holden hosted one-off documentary The Nation's Favourite Bee Gees Song on ITV1. On 6 July 2012 she guest presented Lorraine on ITV Breakfast.

Holden has appeared in several stage musicals and in 2004 was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in the West End production of Thoroughly Modern Millie. She most recently finished playing the role of Princess Fiona in the original West End production of Shrek the Musical, which began on 6 May 2011. The show opened at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on 14 June 2011.

Holden departed the show on 3 October 2011, ten weeks earlier than planned, to focus on her unborn child. She was replaced by Girls Aloud singer Kimberley Walsh.

For this role Holden won the WhatsOnStage.com Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

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For more about Amanda, visit her Website at -

http://www.officialamandaholden.com/

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