Linda Henry

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Linda Henry (born 1 January 1962) is a British actress, best known for her role as Yvonne Atkins in the ITV television drama Bad Girls and now for her role as Shirley Carter in the BBC's EastEnders.

Henry was brought up in Peckham, London. She spent some time with the 'Old Vic Youth Theatre', and at sixteen was in the same acting group as Rowan Atkinson at Edinburgh. At seventeen she went to the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. Linda Henry later set up a production company, Buster, which still exists although she is no longer involved with it.

As well as her role in Bad Girls she is also remembered for her role as Sandra in the film Beautiful Thing, and has appeared in the British television programmes The Bill, Birds of a Feather, Cracker, A Touch of Frost and EastEnders, where she played Lorraine Salter, the prostitute mother of the teenage tearaway Mandy (Nicola Stapleton). (Henry and Stapleton both appeared in Bad Girls, although not in the same time, as Henry's character had been killed off by the time Stapleton arrived.)

She had a minor role in British film The Business, which also starred Danny Dyer as the main character.

On 8 September 2006 it was announced Linda would be returning to EastEnders in a different role, this time playing Shirley Carter, mother to Carly and Deano and ex-wife of Kevin. Shirley arrived in Walford in December 2006.

She is also a diabetic.