Tameka Empson

As well as her television work, Empson has appeared in a number of films. In 1996, she appeared in the film Beautiful Thing as Leah Russell, the next-door neighbour of the main characters.^{[citation needed]} Empson worked alongside Linda Henry, both of whom would eventually join the cast of EastEnders; in 1998 she appeared as the love rival to the main character in the film Babymother.^{[citation needed]} Empson is an experienced theatre actress having performed as Billie in the original cast of Our House, a musical featuring songs from the ska/pop band Madness, which premiered at The Cambridge Theatre in October 2002 and ran on until August 2003.^{[citation needed]} She has since been a mainstay of the Hackney Empire annual pantomimes.

In 2008, Empson appeared in the BBC sitcom Beautiful People and in the ITV1 thriller Whitechapel.^{[citation needed]} In 2009, she joined the cast of EastEnders, playing Kim Fox, the half-sister of Denise Fox (Diane Parish).^[4] As a result, she has won several awards including an Inside Soap award in 2012 for "Funniest Female Performance".^[5] She took maternity leave from EastEnders and returned to screens August 2014.^[6] On 16 July 2019, it was announced that Empson would be temporarily leaving the series, with her return set to air in 2020.^[7] Empson confirmed on Loose Women that the break was her maternity leave for her second child, and that she did not deliberately keep it a secret, but that she "just wanted to enjoy it".^[8]

Empson is a regular performer at the Hackney Empire starring in the theatre's annual pantomime since 2004; she has also starred in Anansi and the Magic Mirror and has a live sketch and comedy show (The Kat and Tameka Show) with Choice FM DJ Kat B.^{[citation needed]} She has also voiced Tickbird in Tinga Tinga Tales, and Jojo's mother in the series JoJo & Gran Gran.^[9] On 22 August 2016, Empson was revealed as a contestant participating on the fourteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing. She was partnered with professional dancer Gorka Márquez. They were the second couple to leave the competition. In 2019, she appeared on Comic Relief Does The Apprentice to raise money for Comic Relief.^[10] Later that year, she appeared as a panellist on The Apprentice: You're Fired!,^[11] and voiced the role of Pearl the Police Horse on the Disney Channel series 101 Dalmatian Street.^[12]

In 2025, Empson appeared as a contestant on the first series of The Celebrity Traitors.^[13] Empson competed as a Faithful but was ultimately the second player to be banished in episode 4. When asked how she would summarise her experience on the Traitors in three words she said, "Amazing. Stressful. Brilliant.".^[14]

Empson was awarded the Honorary Game Changer Award by the Comedy Women in Print Prize in 2025, "in recognition of Tameka’s work which sits across all areas of comedic input from writing, curating a TV series, comedic acting and ‘being herself’ but always with wit at the forefront."^[15]