Kimberley Southwick

Kimberley started singing, acting and dancing at the age of 4. She attended local theatre schools, and had her first taste of being on stage at the age of 7 where she was a 'babe' in the Birmingham Hippodrome's 'Mother Goose'. At the age of 11, Kimberley beat hundreds of young girls to become orphan Annie for a Birmingham production of 'Annie'. At 15 years old, Kimberley lost her brother Liam at the age of 17. Liam was born prematurely, he was physically and mentally disabled. During the years that he was alive, she cared for him and put in charity events to raise money for his special school. She has another brother Karl who is Liams' twin. Her parents, Pete and Angie run a pub in Tamworth where Kimberley grew up. She gained a place at the prestigious Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London. She attended Conti in 2004 at 16. This lead to her landing parts in many shows. In 2007, she auditioned for ITV's The X Factor as a joke. She got through to the finals but was evicted after the first live show. There was much controversy surrounding her exit as her mentor Sharon Osbourne walked out and did not send the vote to deadlock, meaning Kimberley was evicted unfairly. Kimberley has since appeared on Channel 4's Shameless, series 6 & 9. She opened a stage school in Tamworth named Aspire which she had to hand over to a friend as she was asked to appear on Glee Mania a stage tour which consisted of all TV talent show contestants. Since 2008 she signed under Nigel Martin Smith management and his acting agency Urban Talent where she is in a band called the Clubtown Freaks.