Storme Toolis (born 26 November 1992) is a British actress from London.[1]

Storme Toolis
Born
Storme Toolis

26 November 1992
London, England
OccupationActor
Parent(s)Dea Birkett
Kevin Toolis

Early life

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Toolis was born and raised in London. Her father journalist Kevin Toolis was born in Edinburgh; his parents originated from Achill Island in County Mayo, Ireland.[2] Her mother is Dea Birkett, a British television and print journalist from Surrey; she has a younger brother and a younger sister.[3] Toolis spent seven years as an aspiring actress at the Ovalhouse.[4]

Career

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She first appeared on film in Channel 4's The Inbetweeners as an extra, and then as a minor character in The Inbetweeners Movie, based on the earlier television series, subsequently joining the cast of New Tricks as Holly Griffin in August 2013 in series 10 episode 5, "Cry Me a River", of the show.

Toolis has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair.[5][6] She is an advocate of the rights of disabled actors to play disabled roles.[7]

For her role in New Tricks, Toolis was described as "one of the few disabled actors in Britain, and across the world, to play a minor role in a mainstream drama where the disability of her character is not a feature of the plot, and her role has been compared to Walt Jr in the US Breaking Bad series."[8]

Toolis also partook in the Malteser series of adverts for the Paralympics. The advert was praised for its portrayal of people with disabilities.[9]

Toolis was the first disabled actress to take on the title role of Josephine in the West End version of the play A Day in the Death of Joe Egg.[10]

References

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  1. ^ "Storme Toolis: We need more disabled actors". BBC News. 24 September 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  2. ^ "Daughter of Achill native hits small screen". The Mayo News. 27 August 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  3. ^ Emma Broomfield (14 August 2011). "Storme on the horizon". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 8 April 2014. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  4. ^ "Storme Toolis | Ovalhouse". Ovalhouse. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  5. ^ "Kennington actress Storme Toolis breaks TV taboos". Kennington Runoff. 28 August 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  6. ^ Dea Birkett (5 August 2011). "My daughter stars in The Inbetweeners Movie – so does her wheelchair". The Telegraph. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  7. ^ Jo Usmar (28 August 2013). "New Tricks' Storme Toolis: What you need to know about actress with cerebral palsy set to feature in 'TV's first disabled character sex scene'". Mirror Online. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  8. ^ Jo Usmar (28 August 2013). "Should only disabled actors be allowed to play disabled roles on TV?". Mirror Online. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  9. ^ O'Connor, Rory (9 September 2016). "WATCH: The 'brilliantly filthy' Maltesers advert that's got everybody talking". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  10. ^ "Storme Toolis: I put aside my fears to be first disabled Joe Egg star". Evening Standard. 16 September 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
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