Years active: 2008 - present (started around 18 years old; 16 years in the business)
Instagram follower count: 206k (as of December 2024)
About Samantha Barks
Samantha Jane Barks (born 2 October 1990) is a Manx actress and singer who has performed on stage and screen as well as television. She rose to fame after coming in third in the BBC talent show-themed television series I'd Do Anything in 2008. In 2012, she starred alongside Jonathan Bailey in the Disney Channel series Groove High, and made her film debut as Éponine in the film version of the musical Les Misérables.
Her performance in Les Misérables was widely acclaimed, and earned nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, the Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture and the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Acting Ensemble, won the Empire Award for Best Female Newcomer and shared the National Board of Review Award for Best Cast.
Barks was born and brought up in Laxey, on the Isle of Man. She attended Laxey Primary School in Laxey and St Ninian's High School, Douglas before moving to London to study A levels at The Arts Educational Schools (ArtsEd) in Chiswick. Barks began dancing at the age of 3, training in Ballet, Modern and Tap with Dancers Barre, then Stagecoach Isle of Man, Theatrix, Stage One Drama School and the Manx Ballet Company.
