Georgina Rich

Age: 30

Currently: Playing Frances 'Baby' Houseman in the stage version of the cult 1987 film Dirty Dancing. No one puts Baby in a corner, and no one should put Rich in one either. She may have trained in dance as a teenager, but she has also become a serious actress. "I had no plans to do musical theatre or a huge desire to do it, but then this came along. It's a one-off."

Hometown: "I'm from a little village in Kent called Farningham, but I've lived in Kentish Town in North London for the last 12 or 13 years," says the refreshingly open Rich. "I came to London when I was 16 to train at the London Studio Centre in King's Cross, where I studied dancing and acting."

Finding Her Feet: In Dirty Dancing, Rich's character is taught the liberating power of dance (and more) by Josef Brown's handsome dance instructor, Johnny Castle. For Rich herself, however, dancing proved an accidental path towards her true ambition, which was to act. "I had done quite a lot of dance training when I was younger, going to a local dance class after school, but I always wanted to do acting. To get into an acting school, you have to be a bit older than I was when I left school at 16, so I was looking at colleges that offered both, and found the London Studio Centre. The dance course was much stronger than the acting one, and I fell in love with it. We did contemporary stuff and street jazz, and I then worked sporadically as a dancer doing commercial things. I also did loads of other different jobs, too—receptionist, waitress, restaurant manager and barmaid—before I finally decided I wanted to do the acting thing more seriously. So I auditioned for RADA and got in."

Georgina Rich & Josef Brown in Dirty Dancing

Age Immaterial: Rich was 24 when she joined RADA, but she wasn't the only older student there. "A handful came to RADA straight out of school at 18 or 19, but a large proportion were post-university, around 21-23, and then there were three of us who were 24 or 25, so there was quite an even spread." RADA offers a rigorous theatrical dramatic training. "You do a lot of classical and voice work, but there's also work on new playwrights and contemporary writers, as well as a bit of telly and radio training."

From RADA to Barder: Rich's first job was in a U.K. regional touring production of Twelfth Night with English Touring Theatre. "I played Viola, and it was directed by Stephen Unwin." She then went to the Sheffield Crucible, appearing as Hero in Much Ado About Nothing