Tabitha Wady

Wady was born in Bath, Somerset, in 1974.^[1] Whilst there, she attended the Musical Youth Theatre Company. When she was four, her parents divorced, which she believes to be the catalyst of her weight problems. Her father often criticised her eating habits and she felt a pressure to be thinner. Aged nine, she joined Weight Watchers, inspired to look like Madonna. Then, at her all-girls comprehensive secondary school, she found it a trend for the girls to be anorexic, so she joined in, sometimes eating only an apple and an orange a day. When she began at drama school in London, she was slim and was happy with her weight. However, having a hard time moving away from home, she found comfort in food and put weight on again.^[2]

Wady was told by teachers that to become a lead actress, she would have to lose weight, otherwise she would be a character actress. An agent was impressed with Wady's performance in a film she had done in her early work, so she invited him to her end-of-course shows. The agent told her: "You're a really good actress, but you could lose some weight. Get down to the gym."^[2] She was tired of the comments about her weight and got a supportive agent, where she was put forward for good roles. She was surprised when she auditioned for a film that wanted a sumo wrestler, as she was told she was too thin for the role, so agreed to put more weight on.^[2] She auditioned from Guildhall School of Music and Drama with a BA in acting.^[3]

Whilst at Guildhall, Wady made her stage debut in The Innocent Mistress. Then in 1996, she toured the UK in a production of It Could Be Any One Of Us.^[4] In 1998, Wady starred in the BBC period drama Berkeley Square.^[2] In 2000, she appeared in the film Kevin & Perry Go Large as Gemma. Then from 2001 to 2002, Wady portrayed receptionist Katrina Bullen in the third series of the BBC medical soap opera Doctors.^[5][6] After Doctors, she returned to the stage, appearing in Season's Greetings at the Theatre Royal.^[4] She made more stage appearances in Humble Boy at Northcott Theatre and The Revenger's Tragedy at Nottingham Playhouse. She continued to make various appearances onscreen, including roles in Charles II: The Power and the Passion, Holby City, Planet Sketch and Sense & Sensibility until 2020, when she retired from acting to focus on a property investment career.^[7] In 2024, she won the award for Best Deal at the NMD Annual Awards.^[8]