Verity Rushworth

Verity Rushworth (born 15 August 1985 in  Bradford,  West Yorkshire) is an  English actress who is best known for her role as  Donna Windsor-Dingle in the  ITV1 soap  Emmerdale, having taken over the role from  Sophie Jeffery in 1998. ==Life and career ==

Verity went to St. Mary's Catholic High School, Menston. Rushworth trained at the SLP College, Leeds. In 1997 Rushworth had minor roles in ITV programmes such as Heartbeat.

In 1998, at the age of 12, she went on to play her most notable role of Donna Windsor in the ITV1 soap Emmerdale, having taken over the role from Sophie Jeffery who played the part from 1993–1997. In an interview, she stated that Sammy Winward is her closest friend from the show.

In December 2006, she appeared in an Emmerdale edition of Family Fortunes, with other members of the Windsors.

In January 2007 she was a contestant on the celebrity singing contest, Soapstar Superstar, in which she came 9th. Whilst on the show she performed the following songs:

In September 2007 she appeared on Ghosthunting With The Dingles alongside other members of her on-screen family.
 * Day 1: Runaway (The Corrs)
 * Day 2: I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in My Hair) (Sandi Thom)
 * Day 3: I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Whitney Houston)

After appearing on the show for over 10 years she filmed her final scenes at the end of 2008 which were later aired in January 2009.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">From 2 February 2009, she made her West End debut by playing the role of Penny Pingleton in hit musical Hairspray, taking over the role from Elinor Collett. The show continued until March 2010.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">On 5 June 2010, Rushworth appeared on the BBC One programme Hole in the Wall.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">In October 2010, Rushworth took on the role of Sophie in Dougal Irvine's production of Departure Lounge at the Waterloo East Theatre. She starred alongside Steven Webb, Chris Fountain, Jack Shalloo and Liam Tamne.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">In January 2011, Rushworth took over the role of Maria in the UK tour of The Sound Of Music from Connie Fisher and she is currently playing the lead role of Penny Lane in the UK Tour of Carnaby Street - The Musical.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;">She has expressed a wish to appear in Fair City. ==Works<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> ==


 * Television
 * Heartbeat: Lucy Keen (1997)
 * Emmerdale: Donna Windsor-Dingle (1998–2009)
 * Theatrical
 * Hairspray: Penny Pingleton (2009–2010 London West End)
 * Departure Lounge: Sophie (2010)
 * The Sound Of Music: Maria (2011 UK Tour)
 * Annie : Grace Farrel (2011 - West Yorkshire Playhouse)
 * Seven Year Itch - Salisbury Playhouse - March 2012
 * Merrily We Roll Along (musical) - Theatr Clwyd - May 2012