Former high school girl now a familiar face on TV

A FORMER Birchwood High School pupil has been something of a regular on our TV screens in recent times – fulfilling the promise her former teachers always knew she had.
Yemisi Oyinloye appeared in the second series of ITV’s “Bancroft” playing a young police officer to Sarah Parish’s title role and then starred in the new series of the Bafta-winning comedy drama “Cold Feet” – also on ITV.
Add to that appearances in BBC’s “Casualty” and the daytime show “Doctors” and you can see why she is becoming a familiar face on television.
Yemisi, 26, is from Locking Stumps and attended Birchwood High and Birchwood College between 2005 and 2012
Teaching staff soon marked her out as a hard worker and high achiever. She always wanted to be an actor and she learned much from appearing in a number of school shows, working her way up from bit parts to main character roles.
She was still at college when she landed her first professional part, performing in a two-month stage production at the Leeds Playhouse and then returning to Birchwood to pick up her studies.
After leaving college, Yemisi followed the normal route of an aspiring actor, taking run-of-the-mill jobs to pay the rent mundane jobs to pay the rent while pursuing her dreams of stardom.
In 2013, she moved to London to take part in a 12 months theatre course during which time she appeared in shows in London and the Edinburgh Fringe.
When she landed her first TV role she said: “All I do was cry as things were becoming real.”
Yemisi literally beat thousands of other hopefuls to get the job of playing DC Sally Read in “Bancroft”
Asked about her first day of filming, she said: “I was terrified, but I soon found out that there was no reason to be worried as the cast and crew were amazing, so kind and supportive”.
As for working with Sarah Parish, she said: “It was a real honour. Sarah was lovely and a real pro. Working with such a good actor makes your performance better. She really gave me something to aspire to. Even when not acting myself if was fabulous to watch and learn from such a great cast.”
Kelly Forster, Yemisi’s former drama teache, said “It is wonderful to see Yemisi doing so well and very exciting to see her on TV and watch how well her career is progressing. She has already been in to speak to our next rising performers at school. They can learn so much from her. We are proud that her acting roots were laid at Birchwood. She deserves every success as she is a talented and determined young woman.”