Biography

Born in Dorset in the late 50’s, growing up with her younger brother, there was only to be one dream for Jane; to become a dancer. With dancing from the age of five, one would have expected Jane to have followed this on, but as quoted by Jane herself ‘I'd been dancing from the age of five but I never really wanted to be a dancer. I was far too lazy’, this does not seem the case.

At the tender age of only 12, Jane won herself a scholarship for a ballet school in Croydon. This lead to many dancing roles, but one in particular changed the direction of her future altogether. Whilst dancing in West Side Story in Exeter, Jane was spotted by a member of the audience. He informed Jane that he had auditioned for a Tennessee Williams play, and that she must audition for a part too. This part was as a maid in Filumena; the stepping stone to her acting success. With Jane’s childhood being focused around dancing, the change to acting would have been hard work for anyone, which Jane has previously discussed "At first I didn't have a clue about what I was doing because I'd had no drama training…I'd look at the actors and think they must be having a better time than the dancers… I suddenly realised what I'd let myself in for, I suppose I learnt everything in public, made my mistakes on stage. I'm sure I did some ghastly things".

However, being determined and of course with her amazing acting abilities, Jane’s acting career flourished, and she continues "I started to get bigger roles and marvellous actors like Joan Plowright and Colin Blakely gave me a few hints". From here onwards, Jane’s fulfilled numerous, wide range parts, particularly in theatre. Early theatre includes As You Like It, The Rivals, Julius Caesar, The Woman In White, Macbeth and The Beaux Strategem. Slightly later theatre work includes The White Devil and The Learned Ladies for the RSC, besides many many more.
 After superb appearances in many theatre roles, Jane decided to change the direction of her work slightly, this time to television. Jane began with parts in programmes such as Vote for Them, South of the Border, Birds Of A Feather and a Ruth Rendell three hander: Vanity Dies Hard. Jane also had fabulous parts in the mini films Lorna Doone, with the gorgeous Sean Bean, Drowning By Numbers and Melancholia, all proving to be a great success, both for Jane and the films.

After numerous roles, Jane was offered a fantastic opportunity to play Staff Nurse Rachel Longworth in the hit drama Casualty. Jane played Rachel from 1993-1996, in which during this time her amazing storylines, from being attacked by patients to falling in love with a married man, gave Jane even more acting stardom. It is clear to see that Jane thoroughly loved this role, as she passionately describes the character she portrayed "People think that all nurses will be lovely to them, but Rachel isn't like that. She'd love to be a bit more fun, but not everyone can be sweetness and light all the time, and Rachel's just one of those people who's a bit too serious". After being part of 72 episodes, Jane consciously decided to finish her role as Rachel in order to try new roles. One of these being a leading part in BBC’s Real Women, in which Jane played Chris, a lesbian Teacher, alongside actresses Pauline Quirke, Lesley Manville, Frances Barber and Michelle Collins. This was two, six part series', later to be produced on VHS/DVD due to its popularity.
Jane’s next role was in the hit BBC medical series; Dangerfield. Jane joined the show in 1998, as the strong and feisty Detective Gillian Cramer, alongside the very charming Nigel Havers as her co-star. This feisty on-screen relationship made the series unmissable, in which Havers described them as ‘The Mulder and Scully of Warwickshire’. After Jane took part in two successful series', her next role was as Christine Manning in the respectable film Trial By Fire, alongside Juliet Stevenson. This again proved to be another successful film and part for Jane.

Jane’s next role is one of the most significant in her acting career so far. This being, the ITV soap Crossroads. Jane played the much loved Kate Russell, and soon became the shows favourite and leading character. Kate, along side her husband Patrick (Neil McCaul), owned the Midlands’ hotel. Her portrayal as the matriarch gave Jane much earned respect from her fans, television critics, as well as her co-stars who saw her as the new Noele Gordon. Co-star Neil Granger laughs, "Even in jest, I couldn’t take Jane Gurnett down, she is fabulous. Best actress in any soap opera in the country". Successful actor Neil McCaul, who played Jane’s on-screen husband Patrick, said fondly ‘Working with Jane is one of the best things about Crossroads. We have great fun together; we’re like a couple of naughty schoolchildren sometimes!’
As well as the hugely positive response to Jane, she herself was very fond of her role in the soap: "I have played lots of strong, even terrifying, women but with Kate I get the chance to smile a lot more than usual. In many ways she’s the heart of the hotel, and she’s a warmer character than I usually get to play - a bit more like me" Sadly due to ratings not being as ITV had expected, the soap was axed in 2003, after 3 joyful years, leaving the cast and many loyal fans devastated.
ITV have since recognised that axing Crossroads was a huge mistake and have failed to pull more than 3m viewers in the same slot since. Something Crossroads was easily acheiving.

Following on from Crossroads, Jane was still very much in the public eye. She went on to play ruthless Janet Carter in A Touch of Frost, along side David Jason. Next she played the fantastic part of QC Claire Barton in The Bill, showing just how versatile an actress she was. Following on from this was her superb portrayal of Adele Flett, a callous widower in Taggart, whose blunt comments made her part most memorable. Furthermore, Jane played the odd Annie Brown in Doctors, and moved onto yet more murder mysteries in Dalziel and Pascoe as Pam Johnstone. Aswell as appearing in these hit dramas, Jane has recently also starred in numerous theatre plays, all proving to be an enormous success, particularly in gaining the critics’ admiration for Jane. In 2004/5 Jane played Mrs Linde in A Doll’s House, the leading role of Ella in Three Women and a Piano Tuner, which was such a success that it transferred to the West End and most recently The Seagull, in which Jane starred as the wonderfully flamboyant lead character Madame Arkadina.

In 2006/7 Jane starred in the UK's year-long National Tour of Musical "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" as child hating Baroness Bomburst. This was a fabulous leading role where Jane really had the chance to show off her comical side, her wonderfully powerful voice and also to show off some of her fantastic dancing skills. Now with a taste for Musicals, Jane has since taken a leading role as Dynamo Tanya in Smash Hit West End Musical MAMMA MIA! which she has so far enjoyed for 2 years.

Despite having covered a wide range of media roles, it is certain that Jane will continue to be in the public eye for a very long time to come. As Jane continues to
enjoy her work, admiration for Jane and respect for her acting abilities, continues to grow and grow.